For Good. For Ever.
Hello Ladies of Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle,
I'd like to thank each of you for making 2022 one of the most successful years for Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle! We collected over $5600 in donations for our selected charities. We also donated four bags and 40 sets of pajamas to the Plymouth-Canton Foster Care Closet, and gave $225 in gift cards to the Rainbow Connection! Our recently re-established Emergency Granting Fund received $625 in funds, part of which came from our Giving Tuesday collection efforts. And in June Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle received $1680 from the Canton Chamber golf outing ball drop event. The sum of all these donations brings our collective generosity to just over $8000 to give back to local community needs. Additionally, Giving Hope made three grants totaling $13,000. And equally as significant, we welcomed NINE new members! What outstanding accomplishments across the board - well done one and all!
I'm sure we all are grateful that we learned more about new needs in our community, like the Plymouth-Canton Foster Care Closet, Seedlings Braille Books for Children, Lead Like a Girl, and the Rainbow Connection, and wow, did we respond generously! I hope you feel as I do, that we had fun events and made new acquaintances all while doing what we do best: Giving Hope. Things really do not get better than that! It's that strong commitment to Giving Hope that allows our organization to do so much good and fulfill our mission of growing the community of women philanthropists. My sincere gratitude for your support and participation. I have every expectation that 2023 will be just as full of fun, Hope and Giving!
As we acknowledge that commitment and success, I need to invite members once again to come forward and join the Advisory Board. Our next meeting is Wednesday, January 18th. My term was set to end now; however, I am willing to remain as Chairwoman one additional year if no one else comes forward to take on this role. Dian Slavens, our current Vice Chair, needs to relinquish that position, but will complete her term as a member at large on the board. This turn of events makes for an unexpected opportunity. As Vice Chair, you can learn about the Chairwoman position firsthand throughout the next year and then step with confidence into the Chairwoman position for 2024. I hope one of you will take this opportunity to get involved and help lead this great group of ladies. Sharon Filips, our Membership Committee Chair, and Denise Murray, our Treasurer, have both agreed to extend their term for another year as well. All of us stepped up when there was a need and I am hoping that at least four ladies would do the same now. Joining the Advisory Board is a good way to help influence the types of activities and charities we support throughout the year and meet new friends. The guidelines and committee description documents will supply you with answers and should a swage any fears about being an Advisory Board Member. Please, I am asking each one of you sincerely, to review the documents and then join the Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle leadership team. When you decide, please contact me or any board member to volunteer and we will see you in January!
Lastly, I want to thank the Advisory Board members for their support and efforts to help me do my best for the Circle. This wonderful group of ladies truly share the responsibilities of keeping things moving forward smoothly and make being a part of our Circle so rewarding. And my sincere thanks again to all of you members for doing your part to keep Giving Hope a vibrant organization that is able to continue our charitable mission. Remember: It's a Girl thing, It's a Giving thing, It's a Good thing!
Wishing everyone and their families a very happy, healthy, safe, and fun-filled holiday season!
Best wishes for a wonderful new year!
Linda J. Demmer
Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle
Advisory Board Chairwoman
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No child without toy for holidays....
Westland Community Foundation's Toy drive on 1st December collected unwrapped toys for Salvation Army for the under privileged children.
John Glenn High School Choir provided the best festive cheer to the donors.
Westland Community Foundation is part of Local Impact Alliance
Fall Annual Business Meeting Event October 12th
Giving Hope, Women’s Giving Circle enjoyed Our Fall Annual Meeting at Rocky’s of Northville. Members were given the updated Operating Guidelines of Giving Hope, Women’s Giving Circle, along with a reminder that annual dues of $125 are now due.
The Emergency Granting Fund was introduced. Emergency fund requests are vetted by CCF/LIA and approved by the Advisory Board to ensure donations will be used appropriately for true needs.
Members were asked to consider serving on our Advisory Board which meets 4-6 times a year. This is an opportunity to be more involved and collaborate with some talented ladies while providing support to local women, children and families in our community.
New Members
Giving Hope extends a very warm welcome to 5 new members: Penny Irwin, Jackie Jossey, Christine Schingeck, Mary Miller and Sue Smith. Our membership has grown to 64; and this, in turn gives us an even greater opportunity to help those in need!
Annual Meeting Recap
Along with our annual business meeting, ladies enjoyed socializing, a delicious plated dinner and learned about the Lead #Like A Girl program which has been empowering young ladies in our community for success for the past 7 years. The program’s director, Laura Mortier, gave a brief presentation overview of the program. Recent program graduates Sunhani Manosh and Natalie Richardson spoke about their personal experience with Lead #Like A Girl. $841 was raised in Pass the Purse and online donations, which will be applied towards the Lead #Like@Girl college scholarship fund awarded annually at their May graduation celebration. Giving Hope members will be invited to attend the ceremony.
Another treat of the evening was seeing some of our recent granting funds in action. Giving Hope member Christina Bair brought a variety of sample soaps from MOD Market. MOD Market recently received a grant from Giving Hope to support this new soap making program for the participants at Living and Learning Enrichment Center. The soaps will be sold at MOD Market in downtown Northville.
Special thank you to Karen Hanchett for suggesting and coordinating our efforts to support Lead # Like A Girl program and Becky Hurst, who helped clean up after our vent.
Dixboro General Store Christmas Shopping Event
Our next special event will be The Dixboro General Store Christmas shopping event on Wednesday, November 30th 7-9 pm. Invite your lady friends to come shop at 20% off items! Our Pass the Purse will go to support The Rainbow Connection. Their mission is to make wishes come true for Michigan children with life-threatening medical conditions. The Pass the Purse collection will focus on gift cards that the Rainbow Connection can give to wish families.
Suggested gift cards:Taco Bell, AMC, Chic Fil A, Amazon, McDonald’s, Panera, Meijer, Little CaesarsDairy Queen *Cash is always welcome.
Raeann Neil
Special Events Chair
Giving Hope, Women’s Giving Circle
Giving Hope Operating Guidelines for the Members and Giving Hope descriptions for Chair and Committee positions.
Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle was founded in 2006. At that time, a group of local women philanthropists came together to establish the organization and encourage other women to join in philanthropic giving. Their early efforts were focused on helping in the local community, reaching and assisting women, children, and their families in need. For over 15 years, Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle has been accomplishing that objective and continues to develop women's philanthropy and meet needs through fundraising and grant making.
The Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle focuses on educating its members about local needs and providing them opportunities to Give to those causes. All members are welcomed and encouraged to get involved either on the Advisory Board or on the various committees.Giving Hope's Advisory Board meets quarterly.
Grant application for 2022 is now open till October 7th. Please click on the link below to apply.
Annual Fall Business Meeting Event
Wednesday, October 12th 6:30 – 9:00 pm
@ Rocky’s of Northville
41122 Seven Mile Rd, Northville
Supporting Lead Like a Girl, a mentoring program for young women ages 11-15.
Grant application for 2022 is now open till October 7th. Please click on the link below to apply.
