Caring, Community, Connections
Giving Hope, Women’s Giving Circle June 14th Summer Social
Red, White & Blue --& You!
Our Summer Social celebrated Flag Day and supported the new VA Women’s Health Center. We had the privilege of listening to Rt. Brig. General Carol Ann Fausone and Cheryl Allen, manager of VA Women’s Health Center of Ann Arbor share their passion and concern for our women veterans and their specific health issues.
Rt. Brig. General Carol Ann has served our country for over 40 years as a US Air Force and National Guard Medical officer. Currently, she works at Legal Help for Veterans as the CFO (chief fix-it officer), helping to secure VA benefits for our veterans. She, along with her husband, has authored several veterans’ books. She generously donated several books which were part of our summer social drawing.
Through your generous donations Giving Hope was able to raise $ 1780 to help support the new VA Women’s Health Center along with the vital programs focused on women veterans. Your generosity will make a meaningful difference in the lives of our women veterans. Thank you so much for your generosity.
Our Giving Hope Summer Social was a time for enjoying friendships with women who share a passion for making a difference in our community. Our attendees indulged in a picnic-themed Summertime Grill Buffet at The Spoon’s Place in Canton, followed up with apple pie and brownies for dessert.
Special Thank you to Linda Demmer, who contacted Rt. Brig. General Carol Ann Fausone as our speaker for this event. She also donated the US Flag and patriotic basket for our drawing.
Thank you to The Spoons Place & staff for the hospitality.
As always thank you to our Special Events Committee who work to set up & clean up.
Thank you for being part of Giving Hope, Women’s Giving Circle!
Raeann Neil
Special Events Chair
Upcoming events:
Keep a look out for information on a small group event at Living & Learning Center in September.
Our next event is our Annual Business Meeting on Oct 18th at Rocky’s.
Mark your calendar for our Dixboro shopping event Nov 29th.
Giving Hope; Women’s Giving Circle
Vol.17 3rd edition
Hello Members and Friends! I am overwhelmed with gratitude as I write to you today! I want to express my most sincere thanks to everyone who attended our Bubbly, Bingo and Bling event supporting MOD Market on March 22!
We had 72 ladies register to attend and join us in our efforts to continue to “Give Hope” to this wondeful organization! The night was filled with fun: shopping, sipping and socializing! And what a treat for all of us to see our Giving Hope; Women’s Giving Circle Grant funds put into action in the soap making shop!! The MOD Market shop made almost $2,000 in sales that evening and there were additional donations made through Pass the Purse! If you missed the opportunity to donate during all the fun, the link to make a donation through Pass the Purse will remain active until Friday, March 31st.
We were also honored to welcome 3 new members to the Circle: Carole Allard, Jackie Jossey and Janet Brady. We are so glad you are part of our community of women philantropists!! If any other of you are interested in joining Giving Hope; Women’s Giving Circle or would just like more information, you may use the second code below to become a member or get better acquainted with our organization and mission!!
Planning ahead- we invite you to save the date for our next big event: A Red, White, Blue and YOU inside Summer Social picnic – June 14th at Spoons in Canton! Our event special guest speaker will be Retired Brigadier General Carol Ann Fausone and GH;WGC will be accepting Pass the Purse donations to support a Women’s Veterans program. Please watch for additional details coming by invitation in May!
Lastly, many Thanks to our Special Events Committee- Raeann Neil Chairwoman, for their tremendous efforts in coordinating our Bubbly, Bingo and Bling event- Red, White, Blue and You is sure to be as much fun!!
My sincere thanks again and very best wishes for warmer and many happy days this Spring!!
Linda Demmer
Giving Hope; Women’s Giving Circle Advisory Board Chairwoman
Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle efforts are focused on helping in the local community, reaching and assisting women, children, and their families in need.
The members and patrons of Giving Hope have granted more than $100,000 to local organizations that serve women and families in need since its inception in 2006.
Grants will only be awarded to qualifying 501(c)3 organizations serving women and children in Western Wayne County.
If you have questions with application process please contact Beth at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 734-495-1200.
Click here to fill out the application
Giving Hope Grant Making Principles:
- To benefit women and their families.
- To encourage programs which are collaborative, comprehensive and have the potential to be continuous.
- To encourage leveraging and matching grant opportunities from multiple funders.
- To support "seed" money opportunities for innovative projects.
- To encourage the self-sufficiency and well-being of women and their families.
Applicant Organization Criteria:
- Must be a nonprofit 501(c)3 with a current State of Michigan license to solicit, if applicable.
- Must meet the mission of Giving Hope.
- Must have a specific project or program for which the funding is being requested.
- Must have clear objectives.
What Giving Hope Will (Generally) Not Fund:
While Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle remains flexible in trying to meet community needs, the following are areas that will generally not be considered for funding at this time:
- Routine operating expenses
- Travel, tours or trips
- Endowment campaigns
- Special fundraising events and sponsorships
- Organizations that do not provide services to the greater Canton and Plymouth, Michigan area
- Religious organizations for religious purposes or political organizations
- Existing obligations or debts/liabilities
- Individuals
- Issues that divide us, not unite us
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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
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.
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.
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 20th 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 22nd!
Linda Demmer Advisory Board Chair
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
