Helen's Letter
January 2026
Dear Families and Friends of Respite Volunteers,
This month and through February is our Have a Heart for Respite Campaign. In past years, many of the donations we have received have often been in honor of someone or in memory of someone. We receive some Have a Heart for Respite donations in honor of our volunteers.
There are multiple other ways that you can help sustain our program so that we may continue to serve persons and caregiving families asking for our help. We sell unique gifts and books at our office whenever we are open, many of the gifts have been handmade by our volunteers, friends, and even families we are serving.
Can you arrange to display our info at your church, business, or place of employment? This would help our nonprofit reach more people.
Our Spring Purse Party Bingo is Thurs. May 14th, 2026 & we are seeking two $500 Sponsorships for the event. The sooner we get sponsorships, the better publicity the person or business will receive! If possible, this could be included in our Spring newsletter mailed to 3000 households and local businesses. Tickets are likely to be available by late January.
Gently loved purses and wallets that are donated are sold at New and Old Unique Treasures on M-21, west of Delany Rd, Owosso, for Respite Volunteers all year long. The store posts their hours on their facebook page. 100 % of the proceeds are given to Respite Volunteers.
Donations can be made to our program at any time, and we hope that persons and families receiving our services will consider giving back in some way in the future. Since we have been providing services for almost 33 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.
Please contact our office if you are considering volunteering with Respite Volunteers. We are hoping for persons to consider being matched with someone and visiting & helping weekly, or perhaps you would like to try out being a substitute volunteer first. Other volunteer opportunities are helping in the office, posting flyers on bulletin boards & at stores, asking if your church would approve to have our brochures there, and helping at information booths.
In-kind donations: We are very grateful to Diane Calder, who recently donated the cost of cleaning our carpets by Thompson Floors. Michelle Howe-Gietzen often donates in unique ways; this year, she is donating toward mileage expenses for staff members. If you would like to direct your donation in a special way, notify our staff. We are also the beneficiaries of walkers & canes to loan out to anyone who needs them. A frequent donor to this outreach is Legacy Estate Sales. 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.
We always need help clearing the roof valleys, gutters & downspouts, sweeping the ramp, deck, driveway & sidewalks & clearing snow too. We thank DayStarr Communications staff, Kelli Weidermayer-Morse, Amy Flum-Street, Steve Street, Kathleen Haak, Mary Adams, Cheryl Korf, and Julie Petty for all their work on our lawn & garden this past year!
Our local Meijer employees voted to donate $5,000 to Respite Volunteers this fall. Thank you very much. If you shop there, please help us express our thanks to their employees.
The Kroger Community Rewards program continues, and signing up needs to be done online. https://www.kroger.com/i/community/community-rewards, then follow the prompts. 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 Rathbun, RN, Executive Director
WISH LIST
More people to try out Respite Volunteering
Shoppers at our little gift store
Sponsor a Respite Volunteer Family $550
Britta replacement filters (Elite-which removes lead)
Annual membership
Help Clean our Office
Mailing labels 30 on a page, #8160, Avery, if possible
Postage stamps
Persons to apply for the Kroger Customer Rewards for Respite Volunteers
#10 Plain White Envelopes
Paper Products for Bathroom-paper towel & tp
Gift Cards or Gift Certificates from Gilbert’s, Meijer, Thompson’s Floors
for office supplies & services
Help shovel our walkways and
the handicapped accessible parking spot in front of our office