Meeting #8 – Seattle Angels

We had another great meeting tonight!  I hope nobody got lost with the room change.  We so appreciate the Hilton Garden Inn donating their space and we are happy to take whatever room they want to share with us!

We only had two charities present tonight.  We know there are more that want to present in May but we would love to be able to fill out our meeting with at least three charities EVERY meeting.  If you know of any worthy charities please don’t hesitate to come forward.  We are a nice group of ladies and we promise not to bite!  AND WE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR GREAT ORGANIZATION!

The big winner tonight is Seattle Angels.  We are so happy for them!  If you were not able to attend tonight’s meeting or you forgot your checkbook you can donate through our group’s facebook fundraiser.  You can find that here.  This is an easy way to donate quickly and Facebook is kind enough to give all of the funds (no admin costs taken out) straight to the charities.  Thanks!

Here is some information on both charities we heard from tonight:

Seattle Angels – The Seattle Angels mission is to walk alongside children in the foster care system, as well as their caretakers, by offering consistent support through intentional giving, relationship building, and mentorship. www.seattleangels.com

Soulumination celebrates the lives of children and parents facing life-threatening conditions by providing professional photographs of these special individuals and their families, free of charge.  The life-affirming photographs of Soulumination are an enduring, positive record of the child’s life, and provide a loving legacy for the children of parents lost to terminal illness.  For more information please visit Soulumination.org.

Fall 2019

 

It was so much fun to come together on this blustery night!  This meeting is my favorite way to kick off fall.

We heard from three great charities tonight.  I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one crying in the corner as we heard from each charity!  (I think I’m dehydrated now.) . It’s always so hard to pick but our winner tonight is SAFE.  If you were not able to make the meeting we would love it if you could make your donation through their giving portal here.

Here are the three charities we heard from:

Jill’s House is a non-profit organization that provides local families raising children with intellectual and physical disabilities with short-term respite care and support.  Parents are regularly given 48 hours to rest and recharge, while their children are engaged through fun activities, tailored to their interests and abilities.  This may be through a weekend camp experience at Miracle ranch as well as regular parent support groups and events created for the specific needs of families raising these special children. Jill’s House serves families regardless of their background because we believe all kids are made for adventure and every family needs rest.  You can find more information here.

SAFE is the Strategic Alliance to Fight Exploitation.  They are an Alliance of businesses, people and organizations who have united to combat commercial sexual exploitation happening in our communities.  They cannot stand by anymore thinking victims aren’t being sold for sex right in our backyards.  SAFE is fighting for them and we invite you to join us in bringing freedom and hope for our sisters and daughters!  You can find more information here.

The Garage is a safe, after school drop in place for teens where they can gather with their friends and access programming and services as needed.  You can find more information here.

 

 

 

May 6th Meeting

Thanks so much to all who came tonight to hear about three more deserving charities!  We had a fun evening with new friends (who got coffee on us just for attending!) and old.  I love that we get to catch up AND do good.  Win win!

One of the things we talked about tonight is a new way to pay.  We have received all sorts of requests for members to be able to pay with a credit card.  We hear you!  Our challenge has always been that we don’t have a bank account for this group (intentionally) so taking cards directly has not been an option.  Once we started checking in with other 100 Women groups we found an organization that works exclusively with giving circles like ours.  We can now take cards directly on our website (click here) and this organization will forward all of the funds to our chosen charity.  Woo hoo!  Please note that there is a charge ($4) for this service and we are hoping if you choose to use it that you will cover that fee so the charity will get a full $100 from you.  There is a box to click when you pay online.  We’d appreciate it if you would!

So now we have three ways to pay.  Our favorite way is for you to come to our meeting and pay with a check.  This is the easiest for us and the charity all the way around.  If that doesn’t work for you (you forgot your checkbook or could not attend) then you can check our Facebook Page for the fundraising link we will have for the winning charity.  This goes directly to the charity and FaceBook covers all the fees so we love this option but we recognize that not everybody has Facebook.  (Please share the link when you see this in your feed because, surprisingly, we had non-members donating too.  More money for the winning charity!)  Finally, we now have the online option through GrowFund.  (See above.)   All these options should make it super easy to donate to our winning charities!

The big winner tonight is Hilinski’s Hope.  So happy for these guys!  If you were not able to attend please click this Facebook link to donate or click the link above to donate online through our site.

Here is some information about all of the charities that presented tonight.  We’ve also included a link to their sites so you find out even more!

Northwest Immigration Rights Project – NWIRP works to defend and advance the rights of immigrants and those seeking asylum in the United States by providing direct legal services, advocacy and community education.  NWIRP helps thousands of immigrants in Washington State navigate the complexities of the U.S. immigration system to apply for asylum or other forms of immigration protection. Without legal assistance, individuals are five times more likely to be returned to a country where they face ill treatment, torture or even death.  Access to NWIRP services is also often a major factor in providing economic and personal security, helping individuals and families access medical assistance, house and other basic services, obtain work authorization and access protection from domestic violence and other crimes.  NWIRP also works for systemic change to national immigration laws that threaten immigrant rights and fighting racial profiling.  https://www.nwirp.org/

Page Ahead – Page Ahead is the leading provider of children’s books and literacy services in Washington State, serving more than 850,000 children with 3 million new books since 1990.  They are dedicated to helping children in need succeed in school by developing strong reading skills.  Page Ahead serves children, families and communities; with new books for children, literacy support for families, and reading resources for communities.  http://www.pageahead.org/

Hilinski’s Hope Foundation – Hilinski’s Hope is a non-profit organization formed to promote awareness and education of mental health and wellness for student athletes.  The Foundation’s mission is to educate, advocate and remove the stigma associated with mental illness, while funding programs that provide student athletes with the tools and resources that support their mental health and wellness.  Two of the specific programs already being implemented into colleges with funding from Hilinski’s Hope are ‘Behind Happy Faces’ and ‘Step Up’.  https://hilinskishope.org/

Take 2~ March 2019

After Mother Nature threw us a curve ball in February we are so please that so many of our members were able to roll with the changes and attend our first meeting of the year!

It was nice to see everybody again and we heard from two great charities.  Normally we would hear from three charities but only two were nominated.  We sure would love to hear from as many as possible so please consider presenting a charity at our next meeting.  We just know there are so many deserving groups out there!

 

Our big winner tonight is Friends of CASA.  We are so happy for them!

If you weren’t able to come tonight please mail your check written to Friends of CASA to:

Michelle Enebo – 2013 16th Ct NE, Issaquah WA  98029

Here is a link to more information on these fantastic groups!

Lunch for the Break- Summer Lunch for the Break is our annual program to help fill the gap in the summer when kids aren’t receiving lunch at school.  School age kids will receive a bag/box with a week’s worth of breakfast, lunch, and snacks during the 10 or 11 weeks of summer vacation.  Two years ago this was about 70 boxes a week.  Now it is on average between 300 – 500 a week.  For 11 weeks https://www.issaquahfoodbank.org/lunchforthebreak

CASA – A CASA is a volunteer appointed by the court to represent the best interests of the children as they are taken through the legal process. Since 1983, Friends of CASA has provided funding for many children’s services including:

• Emotional, physical, and psychological health assessments and therapy
• Specialized equipment or devices
• Specialized legal services
• Emergency housing
• Transportation
• Interpreters
• Tutoring
• Clothing and furniture
• Camps and activities

http://www.friendsofcasakc.org/

PLEASE mark our calendars for our next meeting on May 6th.  We look forward to seeing you all there!

 

 

 

The Soup Ladies

Today Lynn and Michelle had the pleasure of meeting up with the Soup Ladies to hand them their checks.  Even though our meeting was small our committee was mighty and we managed to collect $10,200 in donations for this amazing organization.

Ginger, leader of the pack, had no idea how much she would be getting so it was lovely to surprise her!  Not only did Janice do a great job speaking about this worthy organization but she also organized the firefighters from Eastside Fire and Rescue (station 73) and had them pull out their truck for us and jump into some pictures.  We are so thankful for ALL of these people!

We can’t wait to hear what The Soup Ladies will do with the money they have received.  Ginger will be coming to our next meeting, on February 4th.  Please join us!