Third Annual Care Packages For Soldiers Event a Huge Success!

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Thanks to all the kind people who donated, as well as our members and other community members who volunteered from the SVA, our event today was a huge success, despite the rain! We packed nine big boxes full of donations for the care packages, items from snacks and toiletries to puzzle games and lip balm. Additionally, cash donations we received totaled about $300 and will go toward conference travel funding for a student veteran.

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Despite a downpour that almost destroyed our boxes, we prevailed.  A kind community member donated tarps to us to cover the donations, and many people made special trips just to buy things for the event. One person even donated an entire cart full of goods. We at PIF are beyond pleased to live in such a kind and caring community, and our Michigan troops overseas will see it firsthand when they receive much-needed items– a reminder of how much we appreciate what they do.

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Health Fair Accomplishments and Upcoming Care Packages

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I’ve got two important announcements!

  1. Pay it Forward was the most visited booth at the NMU Health Fair. We’re all so happy we could share goodies and information to help students cope with stress and stay healthy!
  2. Care Packages for Soldiers, our annual event, will be here this April! Check back for updates, as well as here for our needed items list. We hope to see you there!

Thank You to All Who Made Music To Mend Broken Hearts Possible

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thrivent-financial-thank-you

Here’s a letter, composed by our founder on behalf of PIF, to Thrivent Financial for assisting us in getting a grant for the food items at our event. We also have a detailed thank you for all who made this possible:

The event raised $139.80 plus much needed items for the Harbor House. Although we would have liked to see more – the event was important to bring awareness and I believe we achieved that goal. Pay It Forward would personally like to thank:
Our Guest Speakers:
– Executive Director of Harbor House Beth Casady
– Program Director of Harbor House Alisha Young
– Officer Ben Takala from the Marquette City Police Department
– Sergeant Adam Maynard from Northern Michigan University’s Public Safety
Our DJ:
– The Music Box (Jerry Munger) for such fun music all night
– Adventures and Sound (Tj Ryan) for donating the equipment
Advertisers:
– TV6 for their time and report on our event
– Local 3 for their time and report on our event
– WGLQ Magic 97 for their time and report on our event
– Mining Journal for their article on our event
– Marquette Monthly for their article on our event
– Greater Ishpeming/Negaunee Chamber of Commerce for their assistance
– WupX-Radio X for their report on our event
– Bernadette Shannon for her assistance
– Susie Swanson for her assistance
Other People/Groups that Assisted:
– Mamma D for her behind the scenes fundraising and spiritual counseling
– The Social Work and Nursing Interns for running the information table
– Lenny Shible from Northern Michigan University’s Health Promotion Office and Counseling Center for his information table
– Teresa Sell from Thrivent Financial for getting us a grant
– Simply Superior for supplying the food and to their staff for the hard work throughout the night and for allowing us to use the Explorer Rooms for the event
– Beth Casady from Harbor House for getting us domestic violence awareness pins to pass out
– Chris Wagner for allowing us the use of the Northern Michigan University HelpDesk projector
– Pay It Forward members that donated their time to the event
– The Anonymous donor that allowed us to get our new Pay It Forward Banner
– To any and all people that donated the night of the event
– To any and all people that came to the event – survivors and supporters for your strength and courage
Pay It Forwards thanks you all. Apologies if we missed anyone. We cannot express how much we appreciate all of you that have helped out for such an amazing cause. The Harbor House is a safe haven for survivors of domestic violence and we were so blessed to have so many people involved. We hope to see you all again next year. Thank you.