Our Place March Newsletter
2
NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 96 SPOKANE, WA 1509 W. College Spokane, WA 99201 Phone: 509-326-7267 Email: [email protected] Website: OurPlaceSpokane.org OUR TIMES Our Place Community Ministries Newsletter MARCH 2011 Thank You for Donating. RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED If you would like to receive your newsletter by email, please email us at [email protected] GO GREEN! OUR PLACE MISSION STATEMENT: “Our Place, a West Central Christian outreach, respectfully welcomes & supports our neighbors in improving their quality of life.” SUPPORTING CHURCHES: • Salem Lutheran • St. Joseph’s Catholic • St. Paul’s Methodist • Westminster Presbyterian • Holy Trinity Episcopal • Central Baptist • Knox Presbyterian • Emmanuel Presbyterian • Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus & Mary OPEN: Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays & the last Saturday of the month: 10am- 12:15pm arrival. ----------------------------------------------------- Thank you Dittos Print & Copy Center for underwriting our printing costs. Please join us in supporting this locally-owned business. ➻ PLEA continued from front PLEA continued on back ➻ CHRISTMAS & WINTER PICTURE GALLERY Top Left: Roger Kenney helps Bob Carlson keep the front of Our Place snow free. Top Right: The Make-Up Studio delivers Project Beauty Share gifts to Our Place. Bottom Left: Volunteers Pat Christie, Sr. Bernie Ternes, OSB & Jacqueline Donovan in the Christmas room. Bottom Right: Bryant Elementary students deliver items from their hygiene drive. A WORD FROM SISTER ANN Tracie Swanson wrote a passionate ar- ticle for the West Central Community Newspaper. Her sentiments reso- nate how I feel. I really encourage all of our donors to be as generous as you can giving to Our Place this year as we are less $33,000 we hoped to receive. Peace & Blessings, Sister Ann Pizelo, Director A PLEA TO OUR DONORS By Tracie Swanson I write this article with a heavy heart. Our work at Our Place was again overlooked for Spokane Human Services’ funding. We requested $33,000 to support our emergency services. As a result, I would like to make this plea. Our Place helps thousands of Spokane citizens, helping the homeless, the poor & the most im- poverished from all over the City of Spo- kane; not just the West Central area. This is done on a meager budget of $200,000 per year. With this amount we feed people, we clothe & provide hygiene items (because public assistance doesn’t cover soap or toilet paper). We help people with their utility bills to keep their water & power on & give bus passes to get to job interviews & jobs. Free laundry services are also offered to those who don’t have facilities. Only 885 of the 15,782 people we served last year had part or full-time jobs. We serve the “poorest of the poor” which im- pacts our beautiful City of Spokane by helping to ease the burden for City ser- vices. We endeavor to keep people in their homes. Our Place helps the home- less. No one is turned away. Every day we are swamped with people in our lobby waiting to get help. For instance, one day 72 people were served in two hours, des- perate for food & warm clothing! At Our Place, we run on a staff of six part- time people. We rely on 80 volunteers to keep us operating. Everyone here, the volunteers & staff are passionate about the mission of Our Place. We need your help in order to continue assisting Spo- kane citizens in dire need! This is the only organization in Spokane providing so many services. So please help us to help our neighbors! Since we have again been denied fund- ing, we are greatly in need of monetary assistance from you, the public. Dona- tions may be made in person, by mail or at ourplacespokane.org online. We wel- come your visit & encourage you to come & experience the great services we pro- vide. Thank you dearly for your support. FULL-TILT RIDERS’ 4TH ANNUAL DRIVE SUCCESS Thank you to all who donated to the Full- Tilt Riders’ Drive. The motorcycle club de- livered food & clothing to Our Place for the fourth year in a row. This passionate motorcycle club is dedicated to provid- ing community service. Thank you. GONZAGA FOOD DRIVE Gonzaga students delivered 3,000 pounds of food recently. This was a huge donation! Thank you to all the students & community who supported this drive! GLOVER CLOTHING DRIVE Glover Junior High recently held a cloth- ing drive for Our Place. More than 8,000 items were brought in for our clothing bank. Thank you for “paying it forward.” NEW SUPPORTING CHURCH Emmanuel Presbyterian joined us as a supporting church & brought with them new Board-member Della Stevens. Thank you for sharing our vision & mission! USDA FOOD INSECURITY REPORT RELEASED Every year USDA releases a report on food insecurity in the U.S. & the Children’s Alliance writes a Washington-focused report, “Hungry in Washington” that analyzes food insecurity here. The news this year is grim: Economic conditions drove food insecurity & hunger rates to all-time highs. Washington is now 17th in food security & 13th in hunger (very low food security). Estimated Washington households who are food insecure rose dramatically from 288,000 in 2008 to 367,000 in 2009 - a 27% increase. 152,200 households met the definition for hunger up 40,200 or 36%. GOT PROTEIN? Second Harvest is continually faced with the challenge of an inconsistent supply of high-quality protein. The USDA guidelines recommend six ounces of protein per per- son per day. Even still, only 4% of the 1.5 million pounds of food Second Harvest distributes each month is protein. For the average family of four, this equates to just 0.7 ounces of meat per day. Emergency food supplies from Second Harvest & its partner agencies (Our Place) fill an immediate need so people may stretch their lim- ited incomes to afford things like medications, rent & utilities which stabilizes lives.
description
newsletter
Transcript of Our Place March Newsletter
NON-PROFITORGANIZATION
U.S. POSTAGE PAIDPERMIT NO. 96SPOKANE, WA
1509 W. CollegeSpokane, WA 99201Phone: 509-326-7267Email: [email protected]: OurPlaceSpokane.org
OUR TIMESOur Place Community Ministries Newsletter MARCH 2011
Thank Youfor
Donating.
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
If you wouldlike toreceive your
newsletter by email, please email usat [email protected]
GO GREEN!
OUR PLACEMISSION STATEMENT:
“Our Place, a West Central Christianoutreach, respectfully welcomes &
supports our neighbors in improvingtheir quality of life.”
SUPPORTING CHURCHES:
• Salem Lutheran• St. Joseph’s Catholic• St. Paul’s Methodist• Westminster Presbyterian• Holy Trinity Episcopal• Central Baptist• Knox Presbyterian• Emmanuel Presbyterian• Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus & Mary
OPEN: Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays& the last Saturday of the month: 10am-12:15pm arrival.
-----------------------------------------------------Thank you Dittos Print & Copy Center forunderwriting our printing costs. Please joinus in supporting this locally-owned business.
➻ PLEA continued from front
PLEA continued on back ➻
CHRISTMAS & WINTER PICTURE GALLERY
Top Left: Roger Kenney helps Bob Carlson keep the front of Our Place snow free.Top Right: The Make-Up Studio delivers Project Beauty Share gifts to Our Place.Bottom Left: Volunteers Pat Christie, Sr. Bernie Ternes, OSB & Jacqueline Donovanin the Christmas room.Bottom Right: Bryant Elementary students deliver items from their hygiene drive.
A WORD FROM SISTER ANN
Tracie Swanson wrote a passionate ar-ticle for the West Central CommunityNewspaper. Hersentiments reso-nate how I feel. Ireally encourageall of our donorsto be as generousas you can givingto Our Place thisyear as we areless $33,000 we hoped to receive.
Peace & Blessings,Sister Ann Pizelo, Director
A PLEA TO OUR DONORSBy Tracie Swanson
I write this article with a heavy heart. Ourwork at Our Place was again overlookedfor Spokane Human Services’ funding.We requested $33,000 to support ouremergency services. As a result, I wouldlike to make this plea. Our Place helpsthousands of Spokane citizens, helpingthe homeless, the poor & the most im-poverished from all over the City of Spo-kane; not just the West Central area. Thisis done on a meager budget of $200,000per year. With this amount we feedpeople, we clothe & provide hygieneitems (because public assistance doesn’tcover soap or toilet paper). We helppeople with their utility bills to keep theirwater & power on & give bus passes toget to job interviews & jobs. Free laundryservices are also offered to those whodon’t have facilities.
Only 885 of the 15,782 people we servedlast year had part or full-time jobs. Weserve the “poorest of the poor” which im-pacts our beautiful City of Spokane byhelping to ease the burden for City ser-
vices. We endeavor to keep people intheir homes. Our Place helps the home-less. No one is turned away. Every daywe are swamped with people in our lobbywaiting to get help. For instance, one day72 people were served in two hours, des-perate for food & warm clothing!
At Our Place, we run on a staff of six part-time people. We rely on 80 volunteers tokeep us operating. Everyone here, thevolunteers & staff are passionate aboutthe mission of Our Place. We need yourhelp in order to continue assisting Spo-kane citizens in dire need! This is the onlyorganization in Spokane providing somany services. So please help us to helpour neighbors!
Since we have again been denied fund-ing, we are greatly in need of monetaryassistance from you, the public. Dona-tions may be made in person, by mail orat ourplacespokane.org online. We wel-come your visit & encourage you to come& experience the great services we pro-vide. Thank you dearly for your support.
FULL-TILT RIDERS’ 4THANNUAL DRIVE SUCCESS
Thank you to all who donated to the Full-Tilt Riders’ Drive. The motorcycle club de-livered food & clothing to Our Place forthe fourth year in a row. This passionatemotorcycle club is dedicated to provid-ing community service. Thank you.
GONZAGA FOOD DRIVE
Gonzaga students delivered 3,000pounds of food recently. This was a hugedonation! Thank you to all the students& community who supported this drive!
GLOVER CLOTHING DRIVE
Glover Junior High recently held a cloth-ing drive for Our Place. More than 8,000items were brought in for our clothingbank. Thank you for “paying it forward.”
NEW SUPPORTING CHURCH
Emmanuel Presbyterian joined us as asupporting church & brought with themnew Board-member Della Stevens.Thank you for sharing our vision & mission!
USDA FOOD INSECURITY REPORT RELEASED
Every year USDA releases a report on food insecurity in the U.S. & the Children’sAlliance writes a Washington-focused report, “Hungry in Washington” that analyzesfood insecurity here. The news this year is grim: Economic conditions drove foodinsecurity & hunger rates to all-time highs. Washington is now 17th in food security &13th in hunger (very low food security). Estimated Washington households who arefood insecure rose dramatically from 288,000 in 2008 to 367,000 in 2009 - a 27%increase. 152,200 households met the definition for hunger up 40,200 or 36%.
GOT PROTEIN?
Second Harvest is continually faced with the challenge of an inconsistent supply ofhigh-quality protein. The USDA guidelines recommend six ounces of protein per per-son per day. Even still, only 4% of the 1.5 million pounds of food Second Harvestdistributes each month is protein. For the average family of four, this equates to just0.7 ounces of meat per day. Emergency food supplies from Second Harvest & itspartner agencies (Our Place) fill an immediate need so people may stretch their lim-ited incomes to afford things like medications, rent & utilities which stabilizes lives.
‘CHICAGO’ A BRAVO BENEFIT
It was a site to behold as people gath-ered to a sold-out house at the benefitfor Our Place sponsored by GonzagaUniversity Theatre Department’s produc-tion of “Chicago.” Hors d’oeuvres & winewere served in the Magnuson Theatrelobby before curtain time as peoplemingled, introduced one another & toldstories about their involvement with OurPlace & the wonder of it all!
It’s hard to imagine there being one dis-appointed person in the audience as themusical evolved with a Gonzaga studentcast & musicians energized by theiryouth, exuberance & talent. It was up topar with any production offered in Spo-kane! A standing ovation was merited forthis outstanding production.
It was a truly magical evening. If you didnot attend this time, watch out for nextyear’s benefit & please don’t miss thiswonderful opportunity to give & to receive!
Our Place would like to thank the follow-ing for their support in this fundraiser:Gonzaga University Theatre Department,New Leaf Bakery-Café, Albertsons,Hennessey Funeral Home, West CentralCommunity Newspaper, Tom & BetsySwanson & Waves Hair Studio ownerTheresa Hoale & to the following silentauction donators: Veda Lux Boutique,Beacon Hill Fine Catering, Food Rain-bow Grocery Outlet, Coeur d’Alene Sum-mer Theatre, Red Lion Hotels, Ginger’sTherapeutic Massage, Gloria’s All BreedGrooming, Salem Lutheran Church QuiltMakers, Linda Waite - Merlyn’s, MaryButler - Exit Real Estate, Holy NamesMusic Center, Bonnie Tapscott – MaryMary Marketing, Sister Rose TheresaCostello, SNJM, Sister Kate Buzard,SNJM, Pat Christie, Sharon Bruno, Su-san Shea Smith, Anne Buckley Jones,
CHRISTMAS & WINTER PICTURE GALLERY
Top Right: Our Place was recently blessed with a visit from the new Bishop for theCatholic Diocese of Spokane, the Most Reverend Blase Cupich. He took a tour of ouroutreach & was quite impressed with all of our programs & services. Pictured with theBishop are Volunteer Pat Christie & Director Sister Ann Pizelo.Top Left: Volunteer Judy Kottwitz shows off her winning Special Olympics’ medals.Bottom Right: Board President Elect Peggy Johnson volunteers in the office.Bottom Left: Assistant Director Mary Ann Hartsfield & Paul Frucci with the gingerbreadhouse he & his family made & donated to Our Place.
Ray Wolf, Lyle Cook, Louise Chadez &David McRae. Thank you to all who at-tended the performance as well.
COMMUNITY FOCUS GRANT
Our Place is proud to announce the re-ceipt of a grant from Inland NorthwestCommunity Foundation. The CommunityFocus Trust was awarded to Our Place& will be distributed over five-years. Thegrant was made possible by INWCF onbehalf of the Panhandle State Bank / In-termountain Community Bank, whichdonated the money at the bequest of acherished client. Our Place is thrilled tobe among the organizations selected.
GOOD NEWS EMPLOYMENT!
Susan McClure, Moving Forward Pro-gram Employment Specialist with Good-will, spent some time at Our Place dis-cussing the Workforce Development pro-gram. She successfully found full-timeemployment for two people! This is ex-ceptional news. Keep up the great work!
THE GIFT THAT GIVES TWICE
Please celebrate your loved one’s birth-day or special occasion with a donationto Our Place in their honor. For some-one who seemingly has everything, it isthe perfect way to say, “I love you” & “Let’smake a difference in this world!” Yourloved one will appreciate this gesture. OurPlace will send them a hand-written cardacknowledging your gift. Please considergiving the gift of heat, or hygiene or evena pair of boots for a child.
♦ $50 helps one family keep their heat.♦ $25 provides four hygiene packets.♦ $25 provides a child with new boots.♦ $25 buys 10 families hamburger.
YOU MAY NOW GIVE ONLINE!
A JustGive “Donate Now” button is nowon our ourplacespokane.org website. OurPlace has partnered with JustGive, “thedestination for online charitable giving”to provide donors with these advantages:one time or automatic monthly recurringdonation options, immediate tax receiptsvia email & an easy-to-print year-endsummary simplifying tax time. No set-upcosts or monthly fees & 97¢ of every $1donated goes directly to Our Place.
SISTERS OF PROVIDENCEMAKE SALARY DONATION
The Sisters of Providence of Mother Jo-seph Province generously gifted OurPlace $10,000 from the Emilie GamelinMission Fund in support of our clothingbank manager’s salary. With their gift theywrote, “Know we keep you in our specialprayers as you continue your commit-ment to helping those in need; we pray,too, for the people you serve, may theyheal & grow with the nurturing opportu-nities you provide.” We sincerely thankthe Sisters for their ongoing support.
SPECIAL AVISTA DONATION
Avista recently gave a special donationof $26,970 to Our Place for our energyassistance program. The money is forpeople struggling with their heating costs& will be applied to Avista bills of cus-tomers in our West Central service areawho have exhausted all other availableenergy assistance resources.
CONRAD N. HILTON FUND
The Conrad N. Hilton Fund for Sistersrecently donated money to Our Place toassist in our ministry to the poor & disad-vantaged. We are honored to receivesuch a prestigious award. Thank you.
CHRISTMAS ROOM SUCCESS
Throughout the year all of the new itemsdonated to Our Place are tucked awayfor Christmas. In early December, thegifts are brought out & distributed to fami-lies in need. This year 696 people & 243families received gifts. Many businesses& churches also donated to our givingincluding DoubleTree Hotels, OdysseyProgram, Assumption Parish, SterlingSavings Bank, Frucci & Associates, Pa-cific Park Child Care, SecularFranciscans, Sisters of the Holy Namesof Jesus & Mary, Witherspoon, Kelley,Davenport & Toole Law Firm, Healing theChildren, Girl Scouts & countless othersmade this gift-giving possible. Thank you!
WCCC HALLOWEEN PARTY
The West Central Community Centerheld a Halloween party with admissionbeing a can of food for our food bank.The event raised 500 pounds. Thank you!
ANONYMOUS DONOR
Through the US Charitable Trust, OurPlace was recently given money by ananonymous donor. With this generousdonation, we will see many improve-ments & enrichments in the lives of thepeople we serve. Thank you!
O MURPHY FOUNDATION GIVES
The William O Murphy Foundation onceagain donated to Our Place. For years,they have been bringing in unsoliciteddonations to support our programs. Thisyear was no exception. It is such a nicesurprise to have their support. Thank You.
HATS GALORE!
Busy hands are happy hands & CarenHubbard must be very happy. She re-cently crocheted 60+ hats for Our Place.These stockings are just beautiful. Thankyou for your kindness & for warming upso many people this winter!
LONGTIME VOLUNTEERJONES PASSES
Charles Jones, a volunteer with OurPlace since our opening, recently passedaway. His daughter Andrea Jones wrote,“The world truly lost one of its best whenhe passed. His kindness of spirit, warmthin personality & gentle disposition weresecond to none. I know he will be missedby many.” His presence is greatly missedat Our Place too.
CHORETEUR CELEBRATION
Choreteur presented a choral celebrationin honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St.Joseph’s Catholic Church with half of thefree will offering given to Our Place & halfto help cover music expenses. Thank youfor remembering us in this celebration.
PROJECT BEAUTY SHAREGIVES & GIVES & GIVES…
The generosity of Project Beauty Sharekeeps going & going. After their secondannual Beauty Bash, boxes arrived atOur Place filled with beautiful makeup &lotion & hygiene supplies. And then atChristmas, the wonderful gifts again ar-rived, Christmas gift bags filled with allsorts of beautiful products for the momsvisiting Our Place. Thank you so much
Susan Shea Smith at “Chicago” benefit.
for your continuing generosity. Thebeauty is truly in the giving!
500 THANKSGIVING MEALS
Thanksgiving dinners were distributed atSalem Lutheran Church to 500 families.
Thank you to Patty Schoendorf & her in-credible group of volunteers for so faith-fully taking this enormous task on everyyear. It takes so many people, donatingtheir time & money, to keep this traditionof caring alive.
