Helen's Letter
August 2025
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. Can you also arrange to display our info at your church, business, or place of employment?
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, helping post flyers on bulletin boards & at stores, and helping at information booths throughout the year. So, for example, we are considering whether we will need more volunteer helpers at our booth at the Bancroft Harvest Fest on Saturday. Sept. 6 from 1-2, or 2-3 pm
Please come gift shopping at our office any time of year; we have lots of unique gifts, many are handmade by both our volunteers and even by the families that we are serving, too.
We are planning for Thursday. Aug. 14th, 2025. Tickets are on sale now for our Volunteer Celebration, Annual Meeting & Silent Auction at Fortitude Farms & Events, $25 per person. We are hoping that with the level of Sponsorship provided, our volunteers will be able to attend for free again. Thank you to our $1000 sponsors for our event in 2025 so far: Jackie Hurd and Horizon Bank. $500 and $350 level sponsorships are also available. $350 Sponsors so far: Slingerland Auto Group, Dave & Debbie Stewart, & Durand Lions Club. For catering arrangements, we need to have RSVPs by Mon. Aug. 4th & tickets purchased.
Our Fall Purse Party Bingo will be on Thursday. Oct. 9th, at the Owosso Knights of Columbus. We are accepting donations of brand NEW purses toward the event. We already have a lot of black, brown & dark blue purses, would love some in Vibrant Colors too. Tickets are likely to be on sale in August. Give our office a call if you would like more info.
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.
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 back to Respite Volunteers.
We are planning to have information booths at some area summer events. If you are a volunteer or already connected to Respite Volunteers and would be willing to help, let us know. The next dates are: Wed. Aug. 6th, 9 am -12 noon Senior Day at the Shiawassee County Fair, Sat. Sept. 6th at Bancroft Harvest Festival, 1-3 pm and Sun. Oct. 19th Booth at the Shiawassee Family YMCA Fall Festival at Camp Shiawassee 5721 Exchange Rd., east of Bancroft.
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 32 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 watering the flowers, especially west of the driveway. We always need help clearing the roof valleys, gutters, and downspouts in warm weather. We thank Suzanne Schmidt and Heather Brooks for their donation of many perennials. We thank Amy Flum-Street, Steve Street, Kathleen Haak, Mary Adams, Cheryl Korf, Julie Petty & Denise & Tracy Temple for all their work on our office, lawn & garden this past year!
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 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
Retail Gift Cards to Purchase Office Supplies and Building Maintenance Supplies;
Gift Cards or Gift Certificates from Gilbert’s, Meijer, Thompson’s Floors
for office supplies & services