March 2024

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.

 

January and February are our first Have a Heart for Respite fundraiser. With received and promised donations we are over $1,600.

 

The next in-person fundraiser is our Spring Purse Party Bingo on Tues. May 14th at the Owosso Knights of Columbus. Tickets are on sale now and are limited to 280 persons. This is a State Lottery-licensed event, so it is Adults only. Tickets are $20 in advance, and we are not likely to still have tickets available at the door. But if available at the door, the cost would be $25. The probable date for the Fall Purse Party Bingo is Thurs. Oct. 17th.

 

Thank you to everyone who gave a Giving Tuesday donation, we appreciate this greatly. We receive Giving Tuesday donations through Dec., and as of 12/26 we are very close to receiving or promised a total of $6,400.

 

Our Volunteer Celebration and Annual Meeting is Tues. Aug.13th at Fortitude Farms & Events. Thank you to our $1000 Sponsorships promised: Diz & Muriel Clark Family, in memory of Diz & Muriel Clark, Jackie Hurd, &  Horizon Bank. 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 apologize for inadvertently leaving off the donation from the Diz & Muriel Clark Family in memory of Diz & Muriel Clark for our 30th Anniversary in our December 2023 letter. We are grateful for the loyal support the Clark family has provided to Respite Volunteers ever since Diz was a Church Liaison in our early years. The Clark family was the first three-generation family that volunteered with Respite Volunteers. $1000 Sponsorships promised for our 2024 Volunteer Celebration are: Diz & Muriel Clark Family in memory of Diz & Muriel Clark, Jackie Hurd, & Horizon Bank.

 

In-kind donations, such as Postage Stamps: 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 for electrical work to be done in the future here at our office. Thank you, Michelle!

 

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 give our office a call 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 the handicapped accessible parking space clear. Come spring, 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 DayStarr for helping at our office for their DayStarr Give Back Day & thank Owosso Horizon Bank Advisors, who came to our office for their first annual Horizon Cares Day on Giving Tuesday, and thank Kathleen Haak of Shiawassee RESD & family for helping with yard work too.

 

The Kroger Community Rewards program continues, and this 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