May 7, 2012

It was another great Giving Circle grant night. Thank you to Laurie Melstrom for being our gracious host. It truly is a wonderful thing to see our group continue to grow.
Here is the list of grant awards for 2012: 
$2,500   Cadillac Area Oasis/Family Resource Center Education Awareness Campaign Materials 
$2,000  Pregnancy Resource Center CAreNet Program funding for cribs and mattresses
$500  Love, Inc. Higher Ground Program to supply new outfits for women for job interviews 
$3,000  Mackinaw Trail Middle School Girls on the Run Program
$5,000  Mercy Hospital Giving Hope 12 month pilot program for perinatal mood disorders
$4,000  YMCA funding for tumble mats
Total $17,000 given!

Join us the first Monday of every month at 6:30pm at Hermann's for our round table meetings.  They are always a great time.  In July we are moving our Monday meeting to July 9 and going to The Rotary Pavilion to watch the Clam Lake Band play.  It is their box lunch fundraiser, so find a band member and buy a ticket, bring a chair and sit with us!

Our next formal meeting is October 1 at Janine Repka's home.

Giving Circle in the news!

Happy Holidays to all!
We have been continuing to do great things in the Cadillac area. Our last grants have been put to good use. The Stehouwer Free Clinic has been using the dental grant to help women in need get their teeth fixed. We helped start a new exercise program at Cooley Alternative Schools. We do good and can feel good about it!
Check out the wonderful article by Mardi Suhs that was in The Cadillac News today.
After the holidays, please join us at our next roundtable at Hermann's on Monday, February 6 at 6:30pm. Bring a friend if they are interested in learning about our group.
Check out our new website if you haven't already: cadillacareawomensgivingcircle.org

See you all in 2012! It is going to be another great year!

Do Good Feel Good

Tania LeBaron

October 4th Meeting

It was another inspiring meeting on Monday night with a great turnout at the Wexford County Library. As always there was plenty of good food and conversation. Thank you to everyone who made it.
A big thank-you goes out to Dawn Ewald who gave a wonderful presentation about some new programs happening in our community. She highlighted the 5210 program that will soon to be started in the school system to promote health and battle childhood obesity. The goal of the program is to promote 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, 2 or less hours of "screen time" daily, 1 hour of physical activity daily, and 0 sugary drinks. As a physician, I see childhood obesity increasing each year, and, unfortunately, I diagnose diabetes in younger people more and more. I believe that if our community can get behind a program like this; we can make a great impact with our actions.

Another program coming to Cadillac is training for recognizing trauma in childhood, with the focus being on emotional trauma that can cause damage in the future. There will be free training for anyone interested. A kickoff event will happen on November 1 at the Cadillac Christian Reform Church, please call Dawn for further information.

Thanks to Terri Raffaele for sharing her life-changing experiences of her family's trip to Haiti. Her words and pictures were inspiring.

We will be putting a press release in the local papers for grant requests. All grant requests are due by March 1, 2011 for this grant cycle.

Don't forget this is the time to pay your dues for next year if you want to get a tax credit for 2010. Please send your checks to The Cadillac Area Community Foundation with a designation to The Cadillac Area Giving Circle in the notes section!

Please join us for wine tasting in the Leelenau Peninsula on Thursday, October 14. We are meeting at Blackstar Farms at 11am. I am unable to leave Cadillac until 10:30 am, so if anyone can't leave until then and wants to hitch a ride, give me a jingle.

Our next informal meeting will be at Herman's on Monday, November 1 at 6pm. All are welcome!

October Meeting

We are having an informal round table gathering tonight, Monday September 6 at Herman's. Anyone is welcome to join us for good conversation and to catch up on this great summer we have had.

Our next giving circle meeting is on Monday October 4 at 6pm at the Wexford County Public Library. We hope to see everyone there. Please bring a dish to pass. Also bring a friend who may be interested in our amazing group. This is a social gathering, but also a time to think about ideas for the next grant cycle. The Girls on the Run race on Memorial Day was one of the many great events we have helped to sponsor. Hopefully, we can think of some new ideas to help our community.

We are also having a fun day out on Wednesday October 14th to tour some of the wineries on the Lelanau Peninsula. We will meet at the Blackstar winery outside Sutton's Bay at 11am , and continue on for lunch and visiting other new and old vineyards around the area. Let Laurie or Tania know if you would like to join us, and bring a friend, the more the merrier!

Hermann's Round Table

Don't forget, We are not meeting in July, but we will get together at the usual 6pm at Hermanns on August 2nd (that is a Monday) .

Have a great Summer!!

A Good Time Had By All

It was another convivial evening at Hermanns last night. I ate too much though.

Tania brought the polo shirts, which look perfect. I won't feel dorky wearing it. Tania and Peg modeled the look...super fab. I hope Tania knows how to post a picture here, because we took a few since they looked so good in those shirts.

We talked about some grant ideas... nothing solid at this stage of the game. Its just nice to be able to look around the City and think "how can we help?".

Mary had a great idea about putting out a simple newsletter to keep all of our members in the loop. Because she thought of it, she was appointed the job, being the good persons that she is, Barb graciously offered to help. It was also decided that we might want to put out an "RFP" (request for funding proposals) in the newspaper in October to help us find good candidates for funding...Tania is going to handle that. I am going to find a list of Non Profits to help aid us in the search.

We also talked about bringing on new members...so go ahead and invite anyone you might think would be interested to the Oct. 4th meeting at the Library at 6pm.

It was an excellent round table discussion and great food. We hope you can make it next time , which will be on August 2nf at 6pm at Hermanns. We are skipping July because it is too busy for most of us that close to the Fourth of July weekend.

Have a great month!

--Laurie

Giving Circle polo shirts are here!

Polo shirts with our beautiful logo are available. They are $25. I have m, l, xl, and 2xl available.
I will have them at my office and bring them to the monthly roundtable meetings at Herman's.
Don't forget about the Strive race on Memorial Day. Come see the Girls On The Run in action. Join me for a photo shoot with the girls at the Carl T Johnson building prior to the race.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend.
Tania