April Give

For the April give we kind of waited until the last minute, but it was worth it because we had the perfect opportunity to serve someone who was very much in need. This lady pictured above was in the hospital for about three weeks before she had her baby (U of U) with complication. When she came home a week later she had a blood clot on her lung and was life flighted back to U of U for another week. Because of the amount of time that was spent in the hospital before the baby they were a little unprepared so we were able to give her a car seat, some blankets and a few other things. When she came home we were able to help her out by making some freezer meals and also sending some breakfast items so that they could use them when they were needed.

May Give Announcement

Our May give is to help Grandma with her yard and spring cleaning her house for spring/summer. Here is a list that she gave me as to what needs done. Grandma will supply everything needed for each job- she just needs the labor done. If you are interested in helping with any of the following jobs, please let her know what you can do and when you can do it. She would prefer that over all of us showing up at once and tripping over each other.

Outside:

The maple tree needs trimmed (if it is unsafe for us to do, she will hire it done)

The lawn needs fertilized

She needs a new pipe put in along her driveway (She said the Stapelman family has already begun this job and will most likely be the ones to finish it)

Inside:

The living room needs painted

The living room and bedroom curtains need to be taken down, washed, and rehung

The kitchen and laundry room walls need wiped down

The kitchen cupboards need to have a new coat of verathane (excuse me if that is misspelled!)

The mugs in the kitchen need taken down, washed, and put back

There may be a few other items added as grandma may notice more things along the way!

Thanks for all your help and we'll see everyone soon!

March Give Photos

Here is a picture of the pile of gifts that everyone donated for the Battered Women's Shelter. When I dropped the items off, it took me about ten trips to get it all in there! They were so grateful and I know everything will be put to good use!

The shower was held on Grandma's birthday! (on purpose!) Grandma got a phone call while we were there and whomever was on the other end of the phone asked if she was having company for her birthday. She said,"I have company, but for another reason, not my birthday!" Too funny! She just thought it was a coincidence that we were all there for a shower on the same day as her birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA! You're the best!

This jar of safety pins was for the game that we played. As people got to the shower, they were able to guess how many pins in the jar. I can't remember the exact total but somewhere around 350, I think. The winners were:

1st: Doris Jensen

2nd: Merlynn Graf

3rd: Chelsey Jones

4th: Sean Ahern

A big thank you for all that participated and especially for those that helped with the food!

April Give

There is going to be an adjustment for our April give plans. My original plan was to divide into 4 groups and each group would take dinner to the homeless shelter once during the month. However, I have been calling the shelter for three weeks straight and have gotten no response. I have left several messages regarding who I am and what I am trying to do. I even went to the shelter when I dropped off the baby shower gifts and no one would answer the door.

I feel like this may not be the best place to invest our time. Instead, I am encouraging each family to take dinner to someone in need. Maybe it's a neighbor that has been ill, someone at church that had a baby, maybe a friend that just could use some help...we all know someone that would appreciate dinner. Please take a picture and if you don't know how to upload onto the blog, there are several of us that can. At the very least, type up a quick post and let us know what you did. It's a great encouragement to get the rest of us going!

Our May give will be on May 1st. We will meet at Grandma Stapelman's and help get her yard ready for spring/summer. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate with us and we can get lots done. We will need shovels and rakes and pruners so if you have any, please bring them. I'll send out some more information a little bit closer to the 1st.

Just a quick thank you for all of the wonderful gifts brought to the baby shower. The Battered Women's Shelter was very grateful for everything. I went to get my pictures downloaded to a cd so I could post them, but Wal-mart's photo lab was down Monday and I haven't been to town since. I will post them as soon as I get them! Thanks again for your generosity!

Baby Shower Reminder

Just a quick reminder that I need a count for the baby shower on Saturday. So far, Janell is the only one that has confirmed she will be there. We are doing a light lunch and refreshments, so a count of attendees would really be helpful. Hope to see you Saturday!

Moe Photos...

If you would like to see more photos of the Stapelman February Give at Valley Vista Care Center, check out Lois' blog at
www.flwblog.blogspot.com

She's posted several more photos there!

Baby Shower for March

You are invited to a baby shower for the Battered Women's Shelter in Rupert!

Date: Saturday, March 20, 2010

Time: 11 am-1 pm (Open House style)

Place: Marj Stapelman's house

We will be serving a light lunch so please let us know if you are coming so we can plan on a number to serve. We will also have a few games that you can play as you come and go- we will let you know after the shower if you are the winner!

Pam Harris, the head lady at the Battered Women's Shelter has made the following suggestions for gifts:

Diapers (size 4 and 5 )
Formula (any brand)
Receiving Blankets

*Their biggest need at this point is cash. They are trying to put together some information packets to give to the police and they are trying to advance their training and advocacy programs . A fun idea was to fill a baby bottle or two with your loose change. It's amazing how fast extra quarters and nickels can add up. This would help them become more reliant on the local community for money rather than grants.

This is a wonderful program for our community. It's unbelievable how many families the shelter has helped through very traumatic times. Pam has such a neat vision and really would like to see the shelter expand into other areas. She has plans for turning an extra building into a soup kitchen and also into a little store that would help supply families with clothing and household items that they need while trying to escape from abuse.

Pam also emailed me a list of items that they could use that aren't necessarily for babies. If you are interested in helping, let me know and I will forward this list to you!