Helen's Letter
March 2026
Dear Families and Friends of Respite Volunteers,
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Our Spring Purse Party Bingo is Thurs. May 14th & we are seeking two $500 Sponsorships for the event. The sooner we have sponsors, the sooner the person or business will receive more publicity! If possible, this could be included in our Spring newsletter mailed to 3000 households and local businesses, but you need to hurry to be included. Tickets are on sale now at our office, M-F 9-3, for $20 now and $25 the day of the event, if still available. Lic # V11600. We are still seeking donations of brand-new purses with a retail value of at least $45 in bright, vibrant spring colors.
We are seeking $ 1,000 Sponsorship donations for our Volunteer Celebration in August. We thank Hemenway Business Service for our first sponsorship received. Thank you also for the promise of a $1000 Sponsorship from Horizon Bank & also an anonymous donor. Three more sponsorships are requested, so that our Volunteers can receive complimentary tickets to attend.
There are multiple other ways you can help sustain our program so that we may continue to serve persons and caregiving families seeking our help. We sell unique gifts and books at our office whenever we are open. Many of the gifts have been handcrafted by our volunteers, friends, and even families we are serving. We thank everyone for the Have a Heart for Respite donations we have received; many were made in honor of or in memory of someone.
Can you also arrange to display our info at your church, business, or place of employment? This would, of course, help our nonprofit reach more people! Stop by for supplies, or we could deliver.
Gently loved purses and wallets donated are sold at New and Old Unique Treasures on M-21, west of Delany Rd, Owosso, to support Respite Volunteers all year long. The store posts its 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 the different volunteer opportunities we offer.
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 include helping in the office, posting flyers on bulletin boards & at stores, asking if your church would approve our brochures being 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; in 2025, she donated to cover staff members' mileage expenses. 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, and someone who lives locally and buys pallets of merchandise. 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, especially for the handicapped-accessible parking spot, 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 in 2025. Thank you very much. You can bet we are doing our shopping there! 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.
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If you are not yet receiving our newsletter and would like to, please call our office. Thank you so much for helping our program continue to serve others.
Helen Rathbun, RN
Executive Director
WISH LIST
Postage stamps
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
Persons to apply for the Kroger Customer Rewards for Respite Volunteers
#10 Plain White Envelopes
Gift Cards or Gift Certificates from Gilbert’s, Meijer, Thompson’s Floors
for office supplies & services
Help shovel our ramp, deck &
especially the handicapped accessible parking spot in front of our office
& the next 2 parking spaces