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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
Dr. Stephen Bloom, Medical Director of Rehabilitation at St.Josephs Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, will join us to talk about the symptoms of long Covid and living with the long-term effects. Time will be reserved to answer specific questions.
Contact Beth Meade at 734-495-1200
Jo Angela is a former high school and middle school teacher who now, as a Learning Librarian at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, helps college students find information on a wide range of topics.She is currently an adjunct lecturer for U/M's School of Information and College of Literature, Science and Arts; and is teaching a class entitled, "Fake News, Lies, and Propaganda: How to Sort Fact From Fiction."
Details:
When: Wednesday, October 12, 2022 - 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Register at the link here
Welcome to the fall line up of Lunch & Learns. Mark your calendar for these great speakers addressing interesting topics in a simple, one-hour format. Whether you choose to come in person or opt to join us virtually, we invite you to bring your lunch and feed your mind!
September Topic
Veteran Healthcare Update
Burn Pit Exposure & Other New Presumptive Conditions
Speakers: Deanne Bonner Simpson, Esq. & Brigadier General Carol Ann Fausone (retired)
Whether you are a military veteran, have a veteran in your family, work with veterans, or simply have an interest in our veteran community, we invite you to join us on Wednesday, September 14th as our VA healthcare experts give an update on veteran health care and new presumptive conditions. This includes the new presumptive conditions associated with Burn Pits and Agent Orange.
DETAILS:
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
11:30am - 1:00pm
Canton Township Administration Building (1st floor board room), 1150 S. Canton Center Rd.
FREE (however, registration is required)
Contact Beth Meade at 734-495-1200 to register.
Deanne L. Bonner Simpson Ms. Bonner Simpson’s practice focuses on the legal issues of United States veterans and their families, most commonly VA service-connected disability claims, surviving spouse benefits, and military records corrections/character of discharge upgrades. She is the practice partner for Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC. Deanne represents her clients nationally at VA Regional Offices, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in addition to the Board of Corrections for Military Records, and the Boards of Review for the respective branches of the military. She is a member of the National Organization of Veterans Advocates, Inc. (NOVA) and accredited attorney with VA.
General Fausone has been a nurse for over 40 years. She served her country for 36 years and retired in 2011. She now owns The Veterans Advocate, LLC that consults for businesses in matters related to VA health care, education and programs. She was approved in 2016 as a Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business. She also helps direct individual veterans to resources and benefits. She works part-time at Legal Help for Veterans as its “Chief Fix-it Officer” on VA road blocks. General Fausone was selected as a Notable Veteran by Crain’s Detroit Business in 2020.
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
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
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
