June 22 Summer Social Update

Twenty-eight ladies attended our Giving Hope Summer Social supporting Seedlings, Braille Books for Children. Ladies enjoyed our in-person event with friends, warm weather, and a bonus of live dinner music along with a delicious Greek buffet at George’s Senate on Bushwood Public Golf Course. Our newest Giving Hope member Christine Schingeck joined us along with several guests. Giving Hope pins were handed out to members. Members are encouraged to wear their pins to our events. Giving Hope golf shirts are still available for $53. Please contact Linda Demmer.

The Fox Hills Golf prize was given out. We had 4 gift bag prize drawings from Vitrine on Main in Plymouth. Giving Hope ladies were encouraged to participate in the Vitrine shopping event the following Friday & Saturday, in which 20% of sales were donated to Seedlings.

Katelynn Lucus from Seedlings, Braille Books for Children, shared their passion and mission. They believe it is important for all children to be raised in a literacy-rich environment. Visually impaired children also need to be surrounded with affordable Braille materials. Giving Hope Ladies participated in their Buy-a-Book donation program. Every $10 donates a Braille book. Each book donated by Giving Hope will be inscribed “This book was donated by Giving Hope, Women’s Giving Circle-Plymouth-Canton”.

Online donation:                                 $820                                                                           

Pass the Purse donaations:               $390

(from the event)

Vitrine shopping event donations: $200

(Giving Hope ladies like to shop!)

                               Total donations=  $1,410

That’s 141 Braille Books!

Thank you to all the generous ladies of Giving Hope, Women’s Giving Circle!

Thank you to the many hands that helped in putting this event together- Beth Meade with eblasts, Linda Demmer with evites, Denise Murray with FaceBook posts, Debbie Maloni for the food choices, Karen Hanchett for the lovely flower vases, Sharon Filips, Karen Christensen & Becky Hurst for attendance and prize drawings, Jackie Norris for her guidance & encouragement and the ladies of Special Events Committee who helped with set up and clean up!

Giving Hope, Women’s Giving Circle is looking forward to our fall event- (tentative) Wednesday, Oct 12 @ Maverick’s, helping to support Lead Like a Girl. Please make plans to join us and invite friends to come to learn about our mission & passion of Giving Hope, Women’s Giving Circle- supporting local charities helping women, children & families.

Raeann Neil

Special Events Committee Chair

We’re Back!

After a brief hiatus due to Covid, the Westland Community Foundation is back and committed to providing resources to the Westland community.

Since 1996, the Westland Community Foundation has contributed over $1 million to organizations and student scholarships within our community.

Our new partnership with the Local Impact Alliance will help us continue to grow and provide assistance to Westland organizations and students.

Our first event is our annual “Christmas in July” celebration. We hope you can join us on Thursday, July 21st 6 - 9 pm and help us spread a little Christmas cheer !

Your sponsorship dollars will help us fund our scholarship program and provide resources to aid other Westland organizations and residents.

During the event, we will be collecting non-perishable food items to donate to the Westland Salvation Army Food Bank and other local food banks.

We look forward to seeing you on July 21st 6-9 pm at the Hellenic Cultural Center to spend some time relaxing, seeing old friends, and helping those in our community who may need assistance.

Call Beth Meade for more information at 734-495-1200 or email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Here is the link to purchase tickets

We're proud to support our community's students and their educational endeavors by offering numerous scholarships. Our program includes financial aid opportunities for students of all ages who are at different stages in their educational pursuits, as well as a number of different areas of study.

Our online scholarship application opens in early January and remains open until mid-March.  Scholarships recipients are notified in May; and funds are sent directly to schools for the fall semester.

A description of each scholarship offered through the Community Foundation of Plymouth can be found here.

We're proud to support our community's students and their educational endeavors by offering numerous scholarships. Our program includes financial aid opportunities for students of all ages who are at different stages in their educational pursuits, as well as a number of different areas of study. 

A description of each scholarship offered through the Canton Community Foundation can be read here

Patricia Maurer created this scholarship fund in memory of her son, Jason Russell Maurer. These scholarships are available to graduating high school seniors and those who just completed their freshman year of college and who attend Woodside Bible Church - Troy Campus. This scholarship requires that the applicant attend Woodside Bible Church regularly and have documented community service. Scholarships may be awarded to those attending any college, university or trade school.

The list of awardees is below

Hello Giving Hope, Women’s Giving Circle members!

I am happy to announce that Giving Hope will receive a check for $1680 from the Canton Chamber of Commerce. This money was ½ of the total proceeds earned by the Golf Ball drop sales which took place at the Canton Chamber golf outing May 20^th and will go into our endowment fund.

Many thanks to Maureen Visser and  Noel Bittinger who manned the golf ball sales table all day!! Jane Kerjes and I, along with  GH members Renee DiPonio and Jaya Wilson played in the outing representing Giving Hope.

It was a wonderful day to share Giving Hope, Women’s Giving Circle with the community!!

Best wishes and looking forward to seeing everyone at our Summer Social June 22^nd!

Linda Demmer Advisory Board Chair  

Tickets will be available to purchase and there will be opportunities for businesses to sponsor a great evening at various levels.

Hello Giving Hope Ladies,

The ladies of Giving Hope are so generous!  So proud of all our ladies who donated monetarily as well as donating the spring & summer PJ's and stuffed animals to the Michigan Foster Care Closet of Plymouth. Giving Hope was able to send MFCC a check for $1400 which will be used to purchase more PJ's. We were able to take over 4 large bags of donations!  About 40 more pairs of PJ's were donated through the Amazon wishlist and sent directly to MFC.

The Michigan Foster Care Closet is a 501(c)3 non-profit staffed by 100% volunteers. No one gets paid, so all of the monetary donations go directly to helping foster children & foster families. They service 65-75 individual children a month all free of charge. Clothing children with confidence and self-esteem, is what they strive for with every child that walks through their doors. They are very intentional with their help and support the whole foster family. If you are interested in volunteering at MFCC, please call Rachael Secord at (734) 664-4089. Rachael operates the MFCC in Plymouth out of the 2500 sq ft basement of her home, which is open 24/7!  Their website is michiganfostercarecloset.org. You can also follow them on Facebook-Michigan Foster Care Closet-Plymouth and click follow. There are many opportunities to donate & volunteer.

We had 17 ladies join us on Zoom for our March 9th "Pajama Party" supporting Michigan Foster Care Closet in Plymouth. Rachael Secord, the president of MFCC spoke to us about the stressful situations that children experience when they are removed from their home. We also had some fun listening to the Canton/Denton ghost story with Mad Libs & playing a Kahoot.com trivia game. A Big Thank you to Karen Hanchett. Thank you to Sharon Flips for being a porch collection drop off, drawing & delivering our spa bag winner. Thank you to Becky Hurst who helped deliver the porch collections to MFCC. Thank you to Denise for the wonderful Facebook post. Thankful to be part of helping foster children in our area by supporting Michigan Foster Care Closet.

Looking forward to our summer social event on June22 in-person!  Giving Hope will be supporting Seedlings, Braile Books for Children. 

Raeann Neil 

Special Events Chair

Hello, Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle member! Here is the next in our selection of significant philanthropic women for your reading and learning pleasure! What a wonderful legacy of Giving as women we share! Wishing you a wonderful week!  

Betty Ford was chosen for her strength and bravery. She was not afraid to speak out about issues many women faced yet were afraid to talk about. Betty was candid about women’s rights and health issues, speaking out about   her diagnosis with breast cancer and encouraging women to get yearly exams. Outspoken about drug and alcohol abuse and the importance seeking help and treatment.  Her voice helped so many women and families.

Betty Ford

A groundbreaking First Lady, Betty Ford is often remembered for her candor in addressing the controversial issues of her time.

Elizabeth Anne “Betty” Bloomer was born in Chicago and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After graduating from Central High School, she went on to study modern dance at Bennington School of the Dance. 

Betty returned to Michigan in 1941 and became a fashion coordinator for a department store.  During this time, she continued to pursue her love of dance by starting her own performance group and teaching dance to handicapped children.

Betty became the First Lady when husband Gerald Ford became the 38th President of the United States. A few months later, Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a radical mastectomy. Rather than suppressing the diagnosis, she courageously shared her story and inspired countless women across the nation to get breast examinations. During her tenure as First Lady, Ford continued to be an outspoken advocate of women’s rights, addressing public issues like the Equal Rights Amendment and increasing the number of women appointed to senior government posts.

After the Presidency 1976 Betty moved her family to Rancho Mirage, California. In 1978, following a family intervention, Ford underwent successful treatment for addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs. She again used her personal story to raise public awareness of addiction, and in 1982, she co-founded the Betty Ford Center to treat victims of alcohol and chemical dependency.

Hello, Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle member! Here is the next in our selection of significant philanthropic women for your reading and learning pleasure! What a wonderful legacy of Giving as women we share! Wishing you a wonderful week!  

Cora Reynolds Anderson (1882 -1950) was the first woman elected to the Michigan House of Representatives, serving one term from 1925 to 1926. She is also believed to be the only Native American woman elected to the Michigan House or Senate.

While in the House of Representatives, Anderson concentrated on public welfare issues and chaired the Industrial Home for Girls Committee. She was particularly interested in public health issues, especially the fight against alcoholism and tuberculosis. Prior to her term, she had organized the first public health service in Baraga County and was instrumental in securing the county’s first public health nurse. She also became actively involved in the Michigan Grange and served as the Upper Peninsula officer.

Anderson was educated as a teacher at the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, which is known today as the Haskell Indian Nations University. She taught school in the Upper Peninsula for several years. At a time when minorities, including Native Americans, were subjected to considerable economic and social discrimination, Anderson’s determination to attend college and return the benefits of her education to her community was notable. Her role as educator, legislator, public health reform leader aided the Native American community as well as the whole of society.

I find her amazing as not only as the first women elected to the legislator in 1925, but also a minority. I appreciate her bravery and voice for the people of Michigan on education and public health issues. She was an educator and organized the first public health service in the UP.

Clara Bryant Ford was chosen for her early and significant philanthropic efforts to improve the lives of women and children and for contributing land and financial aid to Vista Maria home for women and girls.  

Through her philanthropic endeavors and own self-determination, Clara Bryant Ford (1866-1950) made it her life’s mission to improve the life and welfare of women and those in poverty-stricken areas across the country. Clara Ford and her husband, Henry, created and funded numerous programs that focused on women’s rights and self-sufficiency, education, healthcare, and environmentalism. Vista Maria, originally a home for orphaned girls, the School of Nursing and Hygiene at Henry Ford Hospital, Planned Parenthood (1945-her death). They also supported several small liberal arts colleges such as Berry College, Vassar, and Radcliff.  

Born into a farming family, Mrs. Ford was an avid gardener and promoted the idea of urban gardens during the Great Depression amongst the Ford Motor Company employees. She donated food grown on her family’s farms to more than a dozen institutions on a weekly basis. From 1924-1932, Mrs. Ford served as president of the Women’s National Farm & Gardens Association during which time she created a “Roadside Market” campaign that encouraged rural women to sell their home-grown produce at roadside stands, enabling them to earn their own income.  

Clara Ford was also active in the suffrage movement. By 1918 she was an outspoken advocate and organizer for women’s suffrage campaign, serving as Vice Chair of the Dearborn branch of the Equal Suffrage League of Wayne County with meetings being held frequently at her Fair Lane home. In 1921, she served on the Board of Directors of the Michigan League of Women Voters.