July 2024

July 2024

                                                                               

Dear Families and Friends of Respite Volunteers,

 

There are multiple ways that you can help sustain our program, so that we may continue to serve persons and caregiving families asking for our help. The following describes ways that you can help our program serve your family and other caregiving families. Can you arrange to display our info at your church, business, or employer?

 

In the future, please let us know if you would like to try Respite Volunteering. We can set up a Volunteer Training at a mutually convenient time. Please share this info with persons you know.

 

We thank everyone who donated toward and attended our Spring Purse Party Bingo in May. Our Fall Purse Party Bingo will be on Thurs., Oct. 17th at the Knights of Columbus in Owosso. Tickets are likely to be on sale in July.

 

Our next in-person fundraiser is our Rock-a-thon for Respite on Tues. July 30th is likely on the lawn of the St. Paul Catholic School on Oliver St. If you haven’t heard of this event yet, it is unique. See our Spring Newsletter, or check our website or facebook page for more info. So far “Rockers” (participants) are; Pat Elliott, Joane McCall (in Memory of Donna Nault), Ruth Nick, Donna Kanan, Kathy Raines, Amy Flum-Street, Denise Temple, Elizabeth Vreibel, & Helen Howard, Jackie Hurd, Helen Stump, Suzanne Schmidt. We need more participants to make this event successful though! Give our office a call if you are ready to commit to helping or for more info.

 

Our Volunteer Celebration, Annual Meeting & Silent Auction is Tues. Aug.13th at Fortitude Farms & Events. Thank you to our $1000 Sponsorships: Diz & Muriel Clark Family, in memory of Diz & Muriel Clark, Jackie Hurd, Horizon Bank, Carol Nama, & Hemenway Business Services Inc., H & R Block. Additional $1000 are being sought, in hopes of the sponsorships being able to cover the cost of tickets to the event for our volunteers. Also, $500 Sponsorships are being sought. See the front page of the upcoming Spring newsletter for more info.

 

We have received some of the donations toward the Silent Auction; Hayride & Bonfire for 12 at Peacock Road Family Farm, a large wooden American Flag with the National Anthem lyrics engraved and crafted by Sound Off Customs on S. Chipman St., a Gift Basket of treats made by Pam Giffei. Additional donations of items or gift baskets valued at $50 or more are requested.

 

In-kind donations, such as Postage Stamps are also appreciated. We are very grateful to Marcia Bird who recently donated a large supply of unique stamps and stationery in memory of her mother Doris Coy, and her aunt & godmother Barbara Hullinger. Marcia’s granddaughter helped pick these out. Maybe there is a way you could honor a loved one, a dear friend, or a Respite Volunteer, and help Respite Volunteers at the same time. Another unique gift was from Michelle Howe-Geitzen - a gift certificate for Harris Electric so that we could have electrical work done at our office. We also are the beneficiaries of walkers & canes to loan out to anyone that needs-from Legacy Estate Sales

 

Donations can be made to our program at any time, and we hope that persons and families receiving our services, please consider giving back in some way in the future. Since we have been providing services for 31 years now, we are often pleasantly surprised that a young person, young family, new volunteer, or business owner has decided to help by either volunteering with Respite Volunteers, or donating already had a connection to our program, which might be a grandmother was our volunteer, or their family was blessed with a wonderful Respite Volunteer at a critical point in caring for a loved one. Please call our office if you would like to learn about all the different volunteer opportunities we can provide.

 

We are asking for help clearing our walkways, deck, and handicapped-accessible parking space clear. We may need help watering our newly expanded perennial flowerbed near our main entrance. It is a pollinator garden, so we ask people to talk with us before weeding please. We always need help clearing the roof valleys, gutters, and downspouts in warm weather. We thank Heather Brooks for her donation of many perennials last fall.

 

We thank Steve Street, Amy Flum Street, Kathleen Haak of Shiawassee RESD & family, Cheryl Korf, Todd Wright, Julie Petty, & Tracy Temple for helping with our flower gardens and building maintenance work.

 

The Kroger Community Rewards program continues, and signing up needs to be done online. Call our office, if you would like more info. If you are not yet receiving our newsletter and would like to, please give our office a call.

 

Thank you so much for helping our program continue to serve others.

 

 

 Helen Howard RN, Executive Director      

    WISH LIST

Sponsor a Respite Volunteer Family $550

Annual membership

Help Cleaning our Office

Flash Drives 64GB or more

2-pocket folders

Postage stamps

Canopy/Awning for Outdoor Events

Persons to apply for the Kroger Customer Rewards for Respite Volunteers

#10 Plain White Envelopes

Retail Gift Cards to Purchase Office Supplies, and Building Maintenance Supplies;

Gift Cards or Gift Certificates from Home Depot, Gilbert’s, Meijer,

for office supplies

Book: Grief on the Front Lines, by Rachel Jones