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Stories of Community Support More Stories of Community Support Open Roads Bike Repair Teaches More Than Mechanics
Kevin Sommer and Ethan Alexander had a vision to create a safe, loving, creative, and empowering community for kids in Kalamazoo's Eastside neighborhood. Both bicycle enthusiasts, they created Open Roads, a self-sustaining bike repair and social skills program. Open Roads is based at Peace House, an intentional community of 2 young families and is open for business every Friday afternoon. Open Roads is designed to teach not only bicycle repair skills, but also respect – for people and tools – discipline, and safety. The kids love the work, as well as the relationships they are forming. After only 3 weeks, a couple of kids were already showing leadership abilities and a desire to help teach others. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was very impressed with the Open Roads program and with Peace House and was excited to provide $1750 to purchase bike tools, a work stand, bike parts such as tubes and chains, bike locks, and prizes, and groceries for a summer-end bike trip. Kitchen Connections: Vulnerable Children Cook Up Success! Penny Allen has a huge heart to help vulnerable children be healthy and succeed in school. So far, she has started Kids' Connections, an afterschool program offering tutoring and fun activities, as well as Generous Hands, which provides backpacks for children in need. Recently, Penny took her passion a step further and started Kitchen Connections, which offers nutrition and cooking classes for vulnerable children, some of whom are the primary cooks for their younger siblings. With the help of a retired dietician, Kitchen Connections developed a cookbook with simple recipes using small numbers of easy-to-obtain ingredients. In the process, she visited the food pantry to get a better feel for the kinds of foods these families were likely to receive in a food basket. During the 6-week cooking classes, each student is paired with an adult, often retired, grandparent-types. Penny feels that the 1 to 1 attention is key to the children's success. During the class, each child makes a full recipe, which they all eat together, and then the kids take the leftovers home to share with their families. Kids' Connections also runs a Kids’ Garden program, where the kids learn about growing their own food and tending a garden. This summer, the children made and canned salsa, which they sold at a roadside stand after they had set aside some for their families. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was very pleased to grant Penny $1,029 to purchase cooking stations for the Kitchen Connections classes, canning supplies for the summer garden salsa project, and ingredients and snacks for two six-week class sessions. Opening Doors for Service through Yoga
For Kirsten Kloster, a student in the Holistic Health Program at Western Michigan University and a part-time yoga instructor at Sangha Yoga in Kalamazoo, yoga teacher training was an incredible experience, not only to deepen her understanding of yoga, but also for deepening self-awareness and her connection to community. To open this door for people with fewer financial resources, she came up with the idea of a Yoga Teacher Training Scholarship fund. The scholarship fund will enable students to complete a 200-hour training resulting in certification to teach yoga anywhere in the US. Scholarships will be based on need and applicants must write essays demonstrating both their financial need and their dedication to yoga, as well as explaining what they plan to do to give back to their community (such as offering classes to at-risk youth or elders in nursing homes). Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was happy to provide $1000 to help fund the scholarship program and to help purchase books to start a resource library. School Garden Grows Well-Rounded Children
Lincoln International Studies School is a public magnet school in Kalamazoo which uses an international studies curriculum and diverse community partnerships to ensure that all children become responsible, self-motivated achievers . The elementary school is beginning a garden project to facilitate cross-curricular, hands-on learning in an outdoor garden-based classroom. It will be utilized by teachers, students, parents and community members with the goal of enhancing the social, emotional, physical and academic growth of Lincoln students. The garden will be grown in raised beds on the school grounds and will start as a Lunch Recess Garden Club. Working with self-selected teachers and Amolia Moore of Kalamazoo Communities in Schools, students will learn about planting, growing and harvesting vegetables and herbs. The project will also emphasize the international theme that plants migrate like people do. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was excited to provide $1200 for building materials, equipment rental, gardening tools and supplies, seeds, soil, and promotional materials for this inspiring project. Helping Parents – and Children – Get a Great Start
Every year, Pam Swaim plans a Parent Expo for the Great Parents Great Start program at Lewis Cass Intermediate School District. The District provides special education and instructional support to make sure that all of southwest Michigan’s children can succeed. The Parent Expo brings families together to learn about what resources are available to them, to meet with local service agencies and to participate in school-readiness activities with their children. Since March was Parent Awareness Month in Michigan, this year the event focused on the theme of Safety. Activities included Stop-Drop-and-Roll fire safety training, an opportunity to create a child ID Amber Alert Kit, and a presentation on bullying. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to grant Pam $1300 to purchase First Aid kits to distribute to the families that attended the expo. Pink Shawls for Native American Women
The Pink Shawl Project was created in 2003, to respond to concerns that Native American women were not accessing breast health services due to cultural and other barriers. This past year, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians offered their first Pink Shawl Project both to promote breast health awareness among native women and to help native women reclaim important traditions of their culture. Through a series of ten workshops, the women were offered training on cultural teachings, sewing instruction, and health education. The workshops were free to participants and Pokagon Indian Health Services provided all fabrics and supplies. Workshop participants listened to talks given by cultural presenters and health educators, and created basic, simple cotton shawls for themselves and for other family members, working together across generations and creating community. One mother made a shawl for each of her young daughters, the youngest of whom was only a couple of months old. A grandmother made a shawl for a severely disabled family member. In October, the shawls were smudged with medicine and “danced out” at the Holland Pow Wow. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was very pleased to be able to provide a grant of $250 to support this important and inspiring project.
Doorways to Love and Forgiveness
A self-professed “heart person,” Janet Graham developed a 2-week summer arts program that would bring together youth from various parts of the city of Kalamazoo. The young artists met on common (neutral) ground at the Youth Development Center where they worked together to design and create doorways. The real objectives were to engage and empower the young artists by providing awareness and practical tools to recognize, celebrate and tap into their real strengths and creativity, and especially to choose love over fear. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was very pleased to provide a grant of $400 in support of this important community program that engenders healing.
Transition Center Pilot Project
Sheri Ritchie and Deb Hansen are life/executive coaches at the Comstock Community Center (http://www.comstockcc.com/). They have developed the Transition Center, which is designed to help baby boomers identify their passion, purpose, experience and talent in new ways as they move into the next chapter of their lives. Their 10-week program includes various assessments, small group work, and individual coaching that will allow participants to design a life plan based on their strengths and passions. The program has numerous community partners who will introduce a variety of volunteer opportunities to the participants. An important component of the program is that it is designed to represent the entire community, not just the affluent. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a $1400 grant for this important pilot program. History Detectives
Donna Odum and Bre Austin from the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society (http://smbhs.org/) have created History Detectives, an after-school program for middle school students. Students will interview African American community elders, then compile the information for various public presentations. In addition to the hard skills they will acquire, the students will gain valuable teamwork experience and intergenerational connections. The program will also provide students with an opportunity to gain information on a variety of potential careers, which will tie nicely to the Kalamazoo Promise (www.kalamazoopromise.com). Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $1400 to support this empowering program. Come-Union Garden
Erik Benson has been working hard on his 3 year old Come-Union (formerly Moonbeam) community garden on Kalamazoo’s Northside. He’s been putting in a lot of compost, building paths, and planting perennials and medicinal herbs. Now that the beds are more established, Erik will plant more vegetables. His long term goal for the garden is for it to be owned and run by someone in the neighborhood, hopefully providing jobs for neighborhood youth. Toward that goal, he developed a 10-week summer internship program for two neighborhood youths who have been involved with the garden. This will provide the youths with the opportunity to learn even more about gardening and running a small business. A field trip to a local organic farm is also planned. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was very pleased to provide a grant of $500 to Erik for the summer internships. Battle Creek Tumbling
Michele Aldaeri has developed a tumbling program in Battle Creek for youth from low income families in a variety of neighborhoods. The coach of the Battle Creek Central competitive cheer program agreed to teach tumbling at a reduced rate if 20 kids signed up. The program includes stretching, strength and running drills and pushing and jumping techniques that are important in tumbling. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was very happy to be able to provide a grant of $1540 to support scholarships for 10 students for the 24-week program. Requirements for the scholarships include commitment to attend all class sessions, parent involvement, winning attitudes and a desire to succeed. Community Living Step-Down Program Community Living Options (CLO) is a nonprofit organization in Kalamazoo that provides and enhances opportunities for community living to people with developmental disabilities and/or mental illnesses through a variety of programs (see www.communitylivingoptions.org). In assessing their program, it became clear that while residents affected by both mental illness and substance abuse do well in CLO’s 24-hour structured programs, they often relapse once they return to life within the larger community. CLO is now developing a “step-down” program that will offer a transition phase. The interim home will be staffed 6-8 hours per day, with staff next door that will be available for emergencies 24/7. CLO is currently waiting for confirmation of funding from Community Mental Health (CMH). Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan has provided a grant of $1000 for house furnishings contingent on this CMH funding. Partners Adventure Retreat Heather Rose and Jenny Doezema are facilitators at Adventure Center near Kalamazoo (see www.adventurecentre.org). In working with youth, they have found that when parents (or parenting partners) come to better relationship with themselves and each other, that stronger and healthier families and communities are the result. Heather and Jenny have designed a weekend retreat workshop to foster gratitude, strengthen connections, and provide tools to approach challenges. The retreat will include team-building activities, shared meal preparation using food from community-supported agriculture (CSA) and a farmers’ market, as well as introductions to local activities, restaurants and programs. Heather and Jenny requested funding for a scholarship fund. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan provided a $500 grant contingent on the financial need of workshop applicants. New Music Project
The New Music Project was founded in Kalamazoo to support the creation, promotion and performance of new works by emerging composers at the beginning of their careers (see www.newmusicproject.org). The organization focuses mainly on works within previously unexplored genres and instrumentations, with the 2008 cycle requesting compositions for string, percussion and contact microphone. Each August, a call goes out to Midwestern music schools for short scores. Those received are evaluated, and four composers are selected to receive commissions for full scores using the year’s selected instrumentation, with the works being performed at a spring concert. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $255 to cover the New Music Project’s costs for their application for nonprofit status. FIRE!
Denise Miller and Michelle Johnson have spent many years as community healers, working in the areas of counseling, education, and sustainability. In 2005, they bought the former Portage Fire Station in the Edison neighborhood of Kalamazoo, with the vision of creating FIRE! — a community gathering place that currently offers programming in the arts (poetry, music, visual arts) and movement (tai chi, yoga). As their vision has expanded, FIRE! is also becoming a hub of economic stimulus for the community. Their long-term vision is of a place where people can learn skills related to areas they are passionate about that will also lead to paid work. Examples include: poetry workshops on both the craft and the publication process; opportunities for local landscapers to beautify the neighborhood; awarding recording sessions to young musicians to learn about music production; or teaching sustainable cleaning practices to the cleaning staff. FIRE! is currently home to the house band The Movement, Abstraction Theatre, Just Panda (the Kalamazoo College improv group), and others. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was very pleased to provide a grant of $3000 for legal fees for FIRE! to become a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. www.thisisfire.com No Sweat
Stephanie Willette and Mariah Frye are students at Kalamazoo College, which has a renowned study-abroad program that many students participate in during their junior year. While continuing their studies abroad, the students also work with organizations that the school has established long-term relationships with. As a result, the students come to understand and deeply appreciate the day-to-day realities of life in these countries.
An organization called “No Sweat” – founded by students at K College – will be selling fair trade crafts in the college bookstore that will be brought back by the students after their time abroad. Profits from sales will be sent to the craftspeople, and their stories will be included with the items sold. Networks will develop further as the older returning students serve as mentors for the younger students preparing for their time abroad. Everyone involved hopes to expand the sales to a store in town called Terrapin. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to help launch the program with a $350 grant to support the purchase of 100 necklaces from Ecuador. Open Door Urban Garden Project
Ashley Bishop and Julie Kaufman, started a youth-centered organic garden in 2007 at the Open Door Church in Kalamazoo’s Eastside neighborhood. In its first year, neighborhood residents helped construct the gardens and children attended classes on gardening and sustainability issues. Participants received produce from the garden for free, and any remaining was sold to church members at very reasonable prices. This year, Ashley wants to expand the program through sales to a wider clientele. A public produce stand will help the children learn about handling money and running a business, and will give low-income families in the area access to organic produce. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $812.44 in support of this project. Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan's Art Hop, December 2007
Art Hop is a tradition in Kalamazoo where various businesses, galleries and studios open their doors on the first Friday evening of the month to display the works of local artists. The Art Hops in May and December are traditionally the biggest events, with more businesses participating. In December 2007, Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was blessed to be able to hold an Art Hop event at Dancing Cranes Salon and Apothecary (www.dancingcranessalon.com). Suzanne Huffman, the proprietor, has been a longtime supporter of our BFJ chapter. We called our event “The Art of Generosity: Portraits by Zolton Cohen and Stories by Bread for the Journey.” Zolton had taken the portraits of some of our chapter partners, community partners (grantees) and funding partners (financial supporters) at a Gathering we held in April 2006. We selected a variety of those portraits, and asked each person selected to provide a statement about what their interactions with BFJ were like and what BFJ has meant to them. For the community partners, we included the story of their grant and any available pictures related to the grant. We also included information about Wayne Muller and the history of BFJ, and we had a table where folks could pick up our brochure and the 2006 and 2007 Stories of Kindness and Generosity. We also had a signup sheet for folks who wanted to be on our mailing list or who wanted to learn more about joining us in our work. The evening was a great success for BFJ! We had a good crowd, and received some really nice feedback about our work in the community. It was a very uplifting experience and we are very grateful to Suzanne Huffman and her staff for allowing us to have this opportunity to gain exposure in the community and for their support with food, wine and help that evening. Education for Collective Housing
Michael Gregor founded Kalamazoo Collecting Housing (KCH) in 2005 to provide sustainable nonprofit housing, to empower people by providing opportunities to create democratic cooperatives, and to strengthen the community by sharing resources and education. It is the only housing cooperative in Kalamazoo. The first KCH house opened in 2006, and there are now two KCH houses with a total of 18 members. Both houses are located in the Vine neighborhood of Kalamazoo and hold regular public events, including potlucks and skill-sharing workshops that have been successful in building ties with the surrounding community. Each house has significant policy-making autonomy and therefore needs strong members to be effective. In addition, some of the board members are new to the cooperative housing environment. KCH recognizes that leadership training and cooperative education are issues that need to be addressed in order to build leadership capacity within the relatively young organization. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was very pleased to provide a grant of $750 toward the KCH Education Fund. An additional $450 matching grant is available if an equal amount of funding is secured from other sources. Help for a Classroom Sandy Davis approached Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan to request a small grant for her grandson’s teacher. Mrs. Jackson teaches in an ADHD and Anger Management classroom at Riverside School in Battle Creek, and has developed techniques that help her reach her students in creative ways. Bean-bag chairs and an area rug were requested so that when students get a “time out,” they don’t have to sit on the floor. Mrs. Jackson has also developed classroom currency as a way of encouraging appropriate student behavior. Students can earn “money” for turning in their work on time, using good manners, and helping others. At the end of the week, the students have the opportunity to spend their classroom currency on small toys at the classroom store, or they can save up for larger items. Mrs. Jackson stocks the store with toys she purchases herself. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $150 to support Mrs. Jackson’s classroom. Michigan Communities Youth Music Project Stephanie Penn has a passion for giving back to the community. Her current project is the development of a six-month scholarship program for young area instrumental musicians. Stephanie has created a supper club in downtown Kalamazoo that operates two nights per week. Area instrumental musicians of all ages (especially youth) are encouraged to sign up and share their talents. Patrons get to listen to live music while enjoying a gourmet three-course meal — prepared by Chef Steph — and served for a very reasonable donation. The money raised goes toward a scholarship fund, to be awarded to area youth in April 2008. The program also works to create community networks that improve access to music lessons and discounts on instruments. Unfortunately, Stephanie was recently involved in a car accident, and many of the items used in the supper club were destroyed. Bread for the Journey was pleased to provide a grant of $1,000 to purchase dishes, kitchenware and used stereo equipment so that the supper club could continue its twice-weekly operations. Stop the Violence Summit Johnnie Berry and LaTay Thompson have become extremely concerned about the increase in youth violence in Kalamazoo. As they thought about what they could do to help the community, they came up with the idea of holding a “Stop the Violence” summit. The summit would include a guest panel of respected adult community members and an open mike so that the youth from all parts of Kalamazoo could publicly express their ideas and concerns related to this topic. The hope is that by opening communication lines, community members can work across generational and geographic lines to find ways to decrease this violence that has escalated to unacceptable levels. Youth from all sides of the city will be encouraged to participate, and it is expected that out of this summit, an inter-generational panel will be formed to start addressing some of their ideas. Having youth be part of the solutions for ending the violence is seen as a key outcome. The event will be publicized through schools and local churches, youth groups and the media, with the summit planned to take place in early 2008. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $1,000 to support this work. Community Kitchen Lucy Bland of Fair Food Matters (FFM) approached Bread for the Journey requesting a grant in support of a commercial-grade community kitchen. The kitchen is currently in a converted kitchen trailer that FFM is leasing for two years. FFM expects to hold the food license for the mobile kitchen, which will be made available to farmers, caterers and other non-profits so they can process and prepare foods — or even herbal medicines — to be available for purchase. The mobile kitchen is seen as a first step; ultimately FFM would like to make a permanent commercial kitchen available to community members. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan provided a grant of $252 for temporary food licenses through 2007. Doula Training
As a Bradley Method Instructor and a doula, Jessica English provides physical, emotional and informational support to women during pregnancy, birth and immediately post-partum. Doulas do not perform any medical tasks, but serve as knowledgeable guides throughout the birth journey. Mothers attended by doulas have been shown to require fewer cesarean sections, use fewer analgesics and anaesthetics, and experience less fear and post-partum depression than those who are not. Jessica had arranged for doula certification training in Kalamazoo by Doulas of North America (DONA), and wanted to make the opportunity available to others as well. She approached Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan for funding to be able to provide scholarships for the training. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was very pleased to provide two full and two half scholarships with a grant of $900. Dream Team Café
Becci Campbell and Deb Hnilo are Life Skills teachers at the Kalamazoo Juvenile Home. In 2006, they started The Dream Team Café, a small catering business run by the students to serve court personnel. The goals of the program include teaching skills in menu planning, budgeting, food preparation and presentation, team work, taking direction, respect and politeness. Their first catered event was the Secretary’s Week luncheon for the Family Court, and the students received rave reviews. The program now includes set-menu lunches on Thursdays. Becci and Deb approached Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan to request funding for kitchen equipment, additional aprons and hats, paper products, and a camera to better document the students’ work. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was thrilled to provide a grant of $1,500 to support this important program in our community. Becci and Deb intend to expand the catering business outside the Juvenile Court after the new Kalamazoo Juvenile Home, which will include a commercial kitchen for their program, is completed. Cheers to the Battle Creek Boys and Girls Club
Michelle Aldaeri and her nine-year-old daughter, Taylor, approached Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan with a request for funding to start a cheerleading program for the girls at the Battle Creek Boys and Girls Club. Michelle grew up in the low-income neighborhood where the Boys and Girls Club is now located. Being fiercely loyal to the neighborhood, she has a very strong commitment to help improve the lives of its residents. Taylor is a remarkable young lady who has been involved in competitive cheerleading for over a year, and is now performing above her age group in that sport. Cheering has improved her health as well as her eating habits. For her Spring Break in 2007, she enjoyed an inspiring multicultural week at the Boys & Girls Club. Based on their own experience, Michelle and Taylor wanted to start an inclusive cheer program at the Boys and Girls Club. Forty girls between the ages of 6 and 18 signed up! The program’s goals are to increase the girls’ physical activity, as well as to teach them the value of teamwork and making good life choices. (Participants are also required to enroll in the Boys and Girls Club Smart Girls program.) Michelle has recruited cheerleaders from the Battle Creek high schools to teach the girls, who will choreograph their own routines. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide Michelle with a $1,430 grant to purchase used uniforms and pompoms from eBay, along with cartwheel mats and workbooks for classroom assignments. Adventure Program for Blind Teen Girls
As a teacher of the visually impaired for 36 years, Jeanne Church understands that blindness can be an especially isolating condition for kids. Blind children often face the challenges of parental overprotection, lowered expectations, learned helplessness, and limited opportunities to make friends. Jeanne has developed an empowerment program for blind girls in grades 6-9, engaging them in thought-provoking and challenging activities, with a focus on setting personal goals, building trusting relationships, advocating for themselves, and developing a “cando” attitude. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide two grants totaling $2,500 to support this important program. Eastside Neighborhood Association, May 2007
The mission of the Eastside Neighborhood Association is to enhance and maintain the quality of life for residents of this area of Kalamazoo. There is no school or safe park in this part of the city — which consists of many single-parent, low-income households — and the association’s facility is seen as a safe haven for local youth. Executive Director Pat Taylor has worked hard to partner with other groups in Kalamazoo. As a result, several of these groups now offer programs at Eastside, including the bookmobile, a garden club, and Eastside Rocket Football, which runs a volunteer program to pick up trash and help seniors in the neighborhood. Kalamazoo has experienced a surge in youth violence this year, with increasing evidence of gang-related activity, so Pat wanted to keep the association’s facility open for an additional 10 hours per week. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $1,000 to assist with added utility bills, staff salaries and materials, and funding for a puppet-making program. Abstraction Theatre
Melissa Zinn has recently created a unique non-profit theater company in Kalamazoo called “Abstraction Theatre.” The theater provides a place for area youth to express themselves (both as playwrights and as actors), and provides a theater experience that is valuable for audiences and actors alike. Melissa is developing a diverse troupe, and any profits from productions are shared amongst its members. The theater's first production (November 2006) was "Things Didn't Turn Out the Way I Planned," a collection of four short plays by Michigan authors. With short plays, personnel don't need to rehearse five nights each week, as is generally required in other local theaters. An actress and an author herself, Melissa has written “Nineteen Variations on Hamlet,” the next play Abstraction Theatre will present (March 2007). Future plans include expanding the theater’s work to do stage readings of local plays with youth at area libraries, and developing previews and workshops for high-school classrooms that correlate with the Michigan high-school English standards.
Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is proud to provide a grant of $509 to support membership in the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, printing of checks, website development, general printing, and support for travel to Grantland Theater in Livonia, where the troupe will present "Nineteen Variations" in April 2007. Mental Health Awareness Day
Power Branch is a Kalamazoo-based organization that provides peer support to increase self-sufficiency, reintegration and, ultimately, self-actualization of individuals working their way through the mental health system. Because the support is provided by peers who have themselves struggled with mental illness, the help is often more easily accepted. Reaching toward real and permanent change, the peer supporters also help clients work their way out of states of learned helplessness. Power Branch also works to de-stigmatize mental illness, a prejudice still held within our society.
Volunteering is an important tool for this aspect of Power Branch’s work, so they have provided volunteers to a wide variety of area organizations and events, including holding a car wash to raise funds for the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center. Power Branch is planning a Mental Health Awareness Festival to be held in Bronson Park on May 5, 2007. The goals of this festival are to let people with mental illness know of all the relevant support programs in the area; to promote recovery by showcasing the recovery of their peers; and to show Kalamazoo what people with mental illness are already doing to help themselves. This is the first peer-run educational event of this magnitude to be held in Kalamazoo. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is very proud to provide a grant of $380 to Power Branch in support of the festival. Sue’s Loving Care and Dornan Helping Hands
Several years ago, her best friend’s mother needed to go into an assisted living facility, and Sue Dornan decided to start working there so she could help care for her friend’s Mom. Giving elder care turned out to be Sue’s true calling, and she was amazed and blessed by the enormous support she received from the residents during her own health crisis. With the support of her family, Sue eventually started her own state-licensed facility called “Sue’s Loving Care,” which specializes in Alzheimer’s patients. Notably, both of Sue’s children work with her in the business, and her husband helps with the shopping and bookkeeping. Of critical importance to Sue is that each of the five residents is treated as a unique individual, and is loved for who they are. There are no set schedules for meals, each person is treated with dignity and respect each day, and the daily changes in their mental, emotional and physical needs are noted and accommodated. The residents spend much of the day in the living room so there are plenty of opportunities for interactions, and doctors, hairdressers and the podiatrist make house calls.
Because of Michigan state laws, Sue’s Loving Care is considered a private-pay facility, and is not eligible to receive state payments for care. However, it goes against Sue’s nature to have to turn anyone away due to an inability to pay. While her facility has remained full, they are planning to buy an additional house in the neighborhood in the next few years, and they would like to be able to subsidize up to half of the cost for care of residents in need. Sue is setting up the non-profit foundation Dornan’s Helping Hands to apply for grants that would provide these subsidies. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is very pleased to provide a grant of $1,900 for the non-profit application, a laptop computer, and software to support this important work. Emerging HOPE
Soon to complete her Masters in Social Work, Pamela Haymon has developed a multicultural interactive curriculum for low- to moderate-income single parents. Both collaborative and neighborhood-based, Emerging HOPE (Having Only Positive Expectations) is designed to provide practical direction, guidance and wisdom. Parents are taught how to strengthen family dynamics by managing finances, enhancing parental relations and navigating community services. The program has been successfully implemented for the past five years with various Kalamazoo partner groups, including Kalamazoo Dream Center, Kalamazoo Gospel Mission and New Genesis. To date, 500 families have participated in the program. The board of Emerging HOPE is now seeking to expand the curriculum to include life-skills training, counseling and coaching, and mentoring. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $2,300 to support their non-profit application, website design, and the purchase of various office supplies. Life Ministries Tammie McDonald found herself homeless nine years ago. Unlike many in that situation, she was determined to find a way out of poverty. Knowing that better education was essential, she spent seven years in school earning two degrees in business. Two years ago, she decided to give up business and create Life Ministries to help homeless families climb out from poverty. While the primary focus of the program is to locate affordable housing for these families, it also includes career development / education and counseling / personal-enrichment components. To date, Tammie has mainly funded the program herself, although she is now seeking additional funds to move it ahead more rapidly. When the program is fully operational, she expects to be helping 54 families a year. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $1,000 to help Tammie establish and grow the program toward that goal. Former board member Julie Sharp has also donated a used computer to help with this worthy cause. Play Ball!
Sandy Davis’ grandson, who attends Riverside School in Battle Creek, Michigan, is in a small classroom for children with ADHD and anger problems. The class size is purposefully kept small since the students can easily become overwhelmed with too much stimulation from their environment. Sandy asked school personnel why there weren’t balls and other playthings to help the children work off some of their excess energy. She was told that funds for such equipment had simply not been included in the budget for the last few years. Sandy approached Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan to request a small grant to buy a variety of balls for use in her grandson’s classroom. We were pleased to provide a grant of $100 for the purchase of this equipment. Community Concert and Basketball
Johnnie Berry is a Kalamazoo native with a long history in the music industry (hip-hop and R&B), who has his own recording studio and has opened for acts at VanAndel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI (capacity about 13,000). He lives with his wife and three daughters on the Kalamazoo Northside, and is absolutely dedicated to showing kids in this low-income neighborhood how they can make a life and a living through music. Johnnie approached Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan requesting support for a free community concert he was organizing in the Northside’s LaCrone Park, to take place in August 2006. The concert plans included local acts, a DJ, and a hip-hop/R&B group from Minneapolis called “Family Entertainment.” The music had to be "radio edited," meaning it could show no disrespect for women, racial groups, cultures etc. Johnnie wanted the local groups to have a place to showcase their music and to interact with others who’ve experienced success in the music business. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was very pleased to provide a grant of $1,640 to support Johnnie’s community concert. Unfortunately, due to escalating violence in Kalamazoo during the summer of 2006, the city required an extra, expensive permit at the last minute that John didn’t have funding for. Determined to still support the kids in the community, he instead hosted a 3-on-3 basketball tournament for the area youth in the same neighborhood park where the concert was to be held. The first two dates were rained out, but John was able to work with the neighborhood association to use their indoor facility for the tournament. That’s persistence! Growing Matters Garden at Woodward School
Growing Matters has worked hard to create volunteer networks within the Kalamazoo community, and in 2006 they expanded their programs to include a teaching garden at the Woodward Elementary School for Technology and Research. This is a magnet school for Kalamazoo public schools with a large proportion of students from low-income families. Heather Crull requested funding to expand the program in the schools, to create lesson plans that relate to the garden through a variety of subject areas (math, history, language arts, social studies, science, nutrition and wellness, physical education and art), and to assist teachers with garden planning and seed starting during late winter/early spring of 2007. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $1000 to support these efforts.
Massage for Pregnant Women Megan Schuiteboer is a certified massage therapist. For the past year, she has been donating massage services one day each week to clients of Hannah’s House, a residential program for unexpectedly pregnant young women in Kalamazoo. During the time she has been volunteering at Hannah’s House, Megan has seen great physical and emotional benefits for the clients. Megan has been transporting her own massage table each week, which became problematic when she too became pregnant. She requested funding to purchase a special prenatal massage table that could be left at Hannah’s House. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $876 for the purchase of this massage table. Washington Writers’ Academy Juarez/ Cooney After-School Program David Juarez and Don Cooney have developed an after-school program for youth in Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood. The program was initially developed in response to the shooting of Don Cooney’s stepson in this neighborhood. The program is meant to keep youth off the streets, improve performance and retention in school, build self-esteem and confidence, teach coping skills and offer resources for self-improvement, as well as to reduce incidences of teen pregnancy, juvenile delinquency and youth violence in our community. The main program focuses on 8- to 12-year-olds, providing a safe place for them to enjoy a free nutritious meal and engage in a variety of activities. They participate in arts and crafts, get coaching on how to avoid drugs, alcohol and gangs, and find opportunities to learn other important life skills. Another program serves 13- to 17-year-old males, providing them a safe place to play basketball and interact with positive role models. An extremely important aspect of this after-school program is the way David and Don are building bridges to other organizations within our community. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan believes that this type of social networking will provide great healing in our communities and was pleased to provide a grant of $2,000 to support the purchase and preparation of meals for the youth. We also committed to provide an additional $1,000 if the program also raises that amount through its own efforts. PeaceJam
Rajuir came to Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan as a high school senior in May 2006 with a simple request. She asked for $391 to support her travel to the PeaceJam Tenth Anniversary Youth Conference to be held in Colorado this September. PeaceJam (www.peacejam.org) is an international education program that teaches peacemaking by inviting 13 Nobel Peace Prize winners to work directly with youth, teaching them about peace and nonviolence. Rajuir and her family are from India, and have had to deal with much misunderstanding and fear from people in this country since 9/11. Rajuir’s father was beaten, resulting in a 16-day hospital stay, and a friend of her father’s was shot in the head.
Rajuir and her family are not permitted to return to India because of that country’s religious intolerance. With remarkable courage and resolve, Rajuir has determined that she will make the most of her situation, focusing on being an example of tolerance and accepting others without prejudice. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was extremely proud and honored to provide a grant of $391 to support Rajuir’s participation in the PeaceJam conference as a way to help her reach her goals. Future Chefs Lucy Bland has been involved in Fair Foods of Kalamazoo for several years. She approached Bread for Journey of Southwest Michigan requesting support for Fair Foods’ Future Chefs summer program, which teaches cooking skills and nutrition concepts to teens. The program meets weekly for 6 weeks, with some additional field trips to local restaurants and other food institutions so students can learn more about food preparation as well as potential careers in the food industry. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan provided a grant of $250 to support the 2006 Future Chefs program. Southwest Michigan Youth Community Project Kerry and Sharon Johnson own a music store in Battle Creek, Michigan. When they recently moved their business downtown, they realized they finally had enough space to create a youth facility. Their Southwest Michigan Youth Community Project’s objective is to create a safe, controlled environment for youth where they can have engaging, challenging and fun activities that they organize and lead themselves. The teens developed “rules of behavior,” and participate in and plan the center’s programs. Selected youth are also members of the “street team” that lets others in the community know about their events and requests donations from area businesses. Youths from at least eleven school districts (plus home-schooled youth) attend band concerts on Friday nights (most bands are made up of local teens performing music they have written) and chaperoned dances on Saturdays (a teenager is the deejay). Security measures at these functions include metal detectors, mandatory coat checks, and a “once you’re in, you’re in” policy. These elements help ensure a safe and controlled environment. In addition to the teen events, Kerry and Sharon have created free karaoke nights geared to the whole family. These events also draw patrons from a wide geographic area. The Johnson’s were recently visited by ASCAP, an organization that collects royalties for music played in public. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $787 to pay for one year of ASCAP fees for music played at the teen dances and karaoke family nights. MoonBeam Garden Erik Benson and Angela Stephenson purchased a vacant lot on the Northside of Kalamazoo to create MoonBeam Garden. They plan to create a botanical garden of perennial flowers and herbs in a tranquil setting for the use and enjoyment of local residents. They also hope to provide education on gardening and have the garden be one that neighborhood residents will eventually take pride in caring for on their own. They have spent much time in the last year cleaning up the property, planting cover crops, creating compost piles, planting perennials and going door-to-door to invite residents to visit MoonBeam Garden. One problem they face is not having access to water at the garden. One neighbor has allowed them to hook up a hose to an outside faucet, but there is concern that this will not be a permanent arrangement. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan provided a grant of $600 to Erik and Angela toward the purchase of a tank to store collected rainwater. The grant will also provide funding for gardening workshops they plan to hold for neighborhood residents. Girls in the Wild Dawn Wood and Gina Thomas have worked together at Pretty Lake Adventure Centre. In 2003, they created Girls in the Wild (www.adventurecentre.org/gitw), a rites-of-passage program that seeks to empower young women (10-18 years old) with the knowledge base, skills and personal power to make conscious, informed decisions about sexuality, relationships, body image and self-defense. The program includes both after-school activities during the school year and seven-day wilderness retreats for various age groups during summer break. Dawn and Gina are currently working on strengthening their marketing strategy in order to bring their program to a broader audience. Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan provided a grant of $2000 to support the preparation of marketing and fundraising videos. Health and Wellness Mural Beth Yankee is the principal of Woodward School for Technology and Research in Kalamazoo. This is a magnet school in which 80% of the students qualify for free or reduced-cost meals. In recent years, the school has adopted a health-and-wellness science curriculum to teach students how to make choices that support a healthy lifestyle. In addition, the school’s nutrition committee has revamped the breakfast menu and created a healthy snack bar. Students also have the opportunity to work in a community garden, where they grow, maintain and harvest the crops, which they then prepare as food throughout the year. In order to even more effectively embed health and wellness into the culture of the school, Beth wants to have students participate in the creation of a mural with this theme at the school’s entrance. Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan provided a grant of $1000 to support this worthwhile project. Miracle Diapers Amanda Horein is a stay-at-home mother raising two young children while her husband finishes college. Having used disposable diapers for her older child, she is now finding the benefits of using cloth diapers for her younger child. She has since decided to help other families, particularly those of low income, to see the economic and environmental benefits, among others, of using cloth diapers. She has joined Miracle Diapers, a non-profit, home-based organization that supplies cloth diapers to low-income families. Members make various “pocket” diapers (often from recycled materials such as jeans or t-shirts) with high absorbency liners in various designs, some of which can be adjusted to fit the child throughout the entire diaper-wearing period. Families sign an agreement to return the diapers when they are finished using them. Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $782 for Amanda to cover the cost of printing flyers, diaper-making materials, shipping costs for some donated diapers, and a booth at a local baby expo. Self-defense for Women and Girls Stacie Vos majored in Women’s Studies and Political Science at Kalamazoo College. After graduation, she began martial arts training with Julie Workman. That led to an interest in developing a non-profit to promote anti-violence and to make holistic self-defense training more accessible to women. Since most crimes against women are committed by men that know them intimately, the program will emphasize verbal self-defense, boundary setting and emotional support, in addition to physical self-defense. Stacie and Julie will meet with others working in the area of self-defense for women as they develop their program, and will partner with local women’s organizations, service providers and schools to offer their comprehensive training to a wide audience. Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $1500 to support the creation of this non-profit organization, to purchase supplies and research materials, and to cover training expenses. Bob Rowe 2006 Mother Teresa Laureate In 2001, Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan awarded a grant in the amount of $1100 to Bob Rowe for his work in bringing music to people living in nursing homes and related facilities (see Musician with a Mission). He has just received the 2006 Mother Teresa Laureate award (see announcement below). We send our heartfelt congratulations! Mr. Bob Rowe, founder of Renaissance Enterprises, has won a 2006 Mother Teresa Laureate for his work and dedication to beautifying the world by bringing music and the arts to our nations forgotten elderly. The nomination process took place in the fall of 2005 and awards were announced in January, 2006. Second Time Around
Joyce Stout is an educator who has developed a program called Second Time Around, a support program for people who are raising the children of relatives (e.g., grandchildren, nieces and nephews). The current program is funded through a federal “Strong Families, Safe Children” grant. Through this initial program, Joyce recognized the need for further support programs specifically designed for teens being raised in a kinship-care family, and for the adults raising these teens. The program is designed to establish separate support groups for the teens and their families, and to help both sides improve their skills, specifically regarding anger management and intergenerational communication. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $500 to help establish these support groups. Reconciliation Labyrinth
The Sisters of St. Joseph’s “ Transformations Spirituality Center” is a community resource in Kalamazoo that seeks to become a vibrant gathering place for reconciling and unifying love. The Center encourages personal spiritual development, and provides a peaceful environment where individuals and groups can participate in spiritual conferences and retreats. Jane Vernon, a member of the Board of Directors at Transformations, approached Bread for the Journey with a request for funding to establish a Reconciliation Labyrinth at the Center. The labyrinth was designed by Clare Wilson of South Africa as a means to contribute toward peace and healing within her country, and this purpose is in alignment with the Center’s mission. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan provided a grant of $775 for a permanent sign and benches for the area around the labyrinth. Expressive Arts Bereavement Camp Gay Walker is an art therapist who has worked in hospice for several years. She is currently working with several other area hospice organizations to develop a family art-based bereavement program that will be offered as a weekend camp. A variety of artists, including drummers, a visual artist, a writer, a puppeteer and a potter will provide various expressive-arts experiences related to healing from loss. Some of these activities will be done according to age group, and some with the entire family participating. Grief counselors will also be present to provide mentoring and education to help participants develop coping strategies for their healing process. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $1500 to support this healing camp. Reach and Teach Mary Blakely has developed the “Reach and Teach” program for drop-outs and expelled students from the Kalamazoo school district. The goal of the program is to get the students back on track within the mainstream schools, or to have them complete their graduation requirements. Students work at their own level and at their own speed. Mary runs the program with strong discipline while showing deep respect for the students. She helps them understand that they are good kids who have just made some bad decisions. She holds them accountable for their futures, and guides them toward seeing the program as a safe place were they can leave their personal problems at the door, where they can feel their strengths and imagine a healthy future. It’s all about what they choose. For many of the students, this is the first place where someone has really supported them emotionally. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $2,000 to Mary for general support of the Reach and Teach program. Favorite Family Foods / Comidas de Nuestras Cocinas
Joan Hawxhurst’s children attend the Lincoln International School in Kalamazoo. Lincoln is a Magnet school with a very diverse student body, where the students are taught through immersion programs. Joan had observed that while there is a high level of ethnic and racial integration among the kids, the parents remain clearly segregated during activities that involve them. Joan wanted to find a way to bring all of the families together, so she proposed the creation of a school cookbook and potluck dinner. Students were encouraged to provide a favorite family recipe, to share why this particular dish is important to their family, and to share a memory related to it. Families then prepared these dishes to share at the potluck dinner. All families attending the dinner also received a copy of the cookbook. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $350 to support the printing of the cookbooks and renting a microphone so that participants could share their stories at the potluck. Life Stories for Hospice Bobbe Taber has spent several years conducting writing workshops where people can learn the art of writing their life histories as a way of healing. She has worked with clients at the local day shelter for homeless people and with a prisoner re-entry program. In her most recent role as a hospice worker, she helps families create legacy books filled with wonderful memories of the hospice patient and their family members. While this is a precious gift to families in hospice, it is very time-consuming to create such a book without the proper equipment. Bobbe approached Bread for the Journey requesting a grant to purchase a laptop computer, a digital camera, and various software programs. This will help her to do this work more efficiently and create the legacy books more quickly. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $1,200 to assist Bobbe in this important work. Community Meeting Room Lucy Kurtz is a member of the Gibbs House for Environmental Research and Education at Western Michigan University. Her membership requires her to conduct an in-depth project relating to the environment, so Lucy chose to transform an underutilized room in the Gibbs House (a 1850s farmhouse) into a community space using environmentally friendly and period-appropriate methods and furnishings. The new space will be available to local environmental groups for meetings, workshops and seminars. As these groups interact with the students, the Gibbs House will receive greater exposure, which will in turn help it reach its goal of becoming a hub for environmental groups and activities in the Kalamazoo area. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $1000 toward the room’s renovation and to purchase some furnishings. Bridging Gaps Between Teens Erin Rumery is an Intervention Specialist at Gobles Middle/High School in Gobles, MI. She brings a high level of dedication and energy to her work supporting students, and is currently working to bring a program called “Challenges!” to the 9 th and 10 th grades. This is a year-long, strength-based, solution-focused program that strives to develop student leaders. The beauty of this program is that the 10 students selected to participate include some who have family support and have done well in school, as well as others who have not done as well academically, but have shown strong leadership potential. The program bridges the gap between these two groups by forging bonds between them through goal-setting, and by providing support that helps the students reach their individual and group goals. In working with the school’s younger students, the program aims to develop solid leadership within the school for several years to come. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $240 toward transportation and the purchase of lunches for a session at an outdoor adventure center. Organic Community Garden Kurt Rizley is a member of the Gibbs House for Environmental Research and Education at Western Michigan University, which requires him to conduct an in-depth project relating to the environment. Kurt decided to expand the Gibbs House organic community garden while designing a new curriculum for schools. This curriculum will include several trips to the garden to help students gain a better understanding of the various steps involved in growing and harvesting food. A portion of the food that comes from the garden will be given to a local food bank for members of the community in need. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $1000 for this project. Family Help Book Jan Middlemas is a longtime employee of the Kalamazoo County Council of Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN). CAN does not provide treatment, but serves as an information and referral source for community members dealing with various abuse situations. CAN also partners with various other agencies in the community to help bring the issues of abuse out in the open, where they can be more effectively addressed. One of the resources CAN brings to the Kalamazoo community is the Family Help Book, a detailed compilation of the various resources — organized by type of support — that are available to those in need. This book is widely used by professionals in the community in their work to support such families. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $1442 to support the printing of the 2005 edition of the Family Help Book. Music for the Developmentally Disabled Kevin O’Donnell is a musician at heart, having put himself through college by playing in bands. He has worked in heath care for 29 years, during which time he has developed a strong affinity for working with developmentally disabled adults. Kevin brings rhythm instruments and his music to Tendercare, a home for developmentally disabled adults in Kalamazoo. Based on his work, he has found that visiting Tendercare every two weeks instead of monthly means that the residents can get enough repetition to build or rebuild their skills. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $1000 that would coordinate with another grant to allow semi-monthly visits to Tendercare for one year. The First Day Shoe Fund
Several years ago, Valerie Denghel came up with the idea for “The First Day Shoe Fund.” Ever since then, she has taken it upon herself to provide new shoes at the start of the school year for as many elementary school students as possible at Kalamazoo’s Edison Environmental Science Academy, where almost 91% of the students qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches. Valerie scours local stores looking for the best bargains, and keeps the shoes in her garage until it’s time to distribute them. She has been very sensitive to ensure confidentiality for the students who receive shoes through her program, working with teachers and social workers to set up situations to present the shoes in a confidential manner. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is pleased to provide Valerie with a grant of $750 to expand her program this year. Every Cover Tells a Story
Julie Schmidt is the literacy coach at an elementary school in Kalamazoo, MI. Her role is to support teachers in helping their students read at or above their grade level. She jokingly says she is trying to work herself out of a job. Research has clearly shown that students who have access to books that are at their independent, non-frustration reading levels are likely to read more, thus encouraging a life-long love for reading. In this school, 52% of its kindergarteners, 38% of its first graders, and 44% of its second graders need strategic or intensive intervention. Unfortunately, their teachers have little wall space for shelving books that are purchased through available grants. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan granted $700 to buy materials for shelves that display books with their covers facing out, which makes them more accessible and appealing to the children. The labor was provided free of charge by a local retired carpenter with a generous heart. Brazil Study Trip-HIV/AIDS Education In March 2005, Cherie approached Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan to request a grant to help her participate in a study trip to Brazil to learn about that country's successful (and to some, surprising) fight against AIDS. Brazil's strategies include: 1) an aggressive AIDS education campaign through media, faith communities and schools; 2) a concerted effort by the government to increase the use of male and female condoms; and 3) the government-ensured availability of medication for HIV-positive individuals. Cherie will implement information from this trip to further enhance her work in sexual health education. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $800 to support Cherie's study trip to Brazil. Bella Terra
About 50% of the attendees at Bella Terra attend on a pro bono basis. The proprietors, Todd and Kim Shook, approached Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan for a grant to purchase tables and chairs that would be used in a meeting room where orientation takes place at the beginning of each program. We were happy to extend a grant of $185. Sara Houseman is a committed music therapist at the Croyden School in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and created the Music Therapy program for the mentally impaired and autistic children at the school. Music Therapy offers these kids a lot of benefits, including a chance to create lyrics with fill-in-the-blank exercises, an opportunity to discuss lyrics and simple imagery, exercises to deal with attention-span issues, and music making with simple instruments. In the background of Sara's work is several years of statewide budget cuts in Michigan, and schools have certainly not been spared. Sara came to Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan with a request to fund the purchases of an instrument station, song cartridges, a PA system, and several instruments. We gave her a grant of $1880. Offender Aid & Restoration Having been raised in a military family, Stephanie Penn served four years in the Marines. At the age of 38, she is also a twice-convicted felon, a prison-educated paralegal and a holder of a BA in the behavioral sciences. She finished her three-year parole term in March of 2004, and has learned first-hand how few support services exist for parolees. She's made it her mission to help ex-convicts find their place once back in society. After working in two social service agencies in Kalamazoo, MI, Stephanie founded OAR, Offender Aid & Restoration. At OAR, offenders are offered guidance in five critical areas: employment, public benefits, housing, parenting rights and student loans. She came to Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan for a grant to help establish an office where she could coordinate her organization's efforts, screen offenders for her program and help them rebuild their lives. We were happy to give Stephanie a grant of $1500 to help her accomplish her goals. Kids Kafe
As the Executive Director of the Eastside Neighborhood Association in Kalamazoo, MI, Amy DeShon is a neighborhood savior. Within this northeastern quadrant of the city, 25% of its residents are senior citizens and 45% are under 18, with a disproportionately high number of single mothers. The working poor also live here, with the unemployment rate at just over 9% and the average income at $11,063. Needless to say, stress levels in the area run high, brought on by low income, hunger, old and poorly insulated homes, worry and a lack of hope. The result is further neglect, lots of petty crime and a neighborhood in decline. To counter these trends, Amy started the Kids Kafe three years ago where, three times a week, kids can enjoy a well-balanced, freshly cooked dinner at no cost. Since starting this program, the petty crime rate has dropped and, accordingly, so has the police surveillance level. During this past winter, tight family budgets were further squeezed by an unusual surge in utility bills, and so the number of kids coming for meals nearly doubled. With this increase in demand and the policy to never turn away any child attending school, the program's budget was spent four months ahead of schedule. Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan gave Amy $1000 to help the Kids Kafe get through the summer until local food drives and other fundraising activities could match the new demand. Direct Care Workers Direct Care Workers is a dedicated, hard-working group of caregivers who work with frail elders and persons suffering from dementia in nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and home health agencies. Although the work is highly demanding both physically and emotionally, their wages are generally low, as is often their self esteem. All of this leads to an unusually high job-turnover rate. Last year, Marie Stoline began Caregiver Appreciation Day, an all-volunteer effort to demonstrate gratitude to Direct Care Workers. The event brought both educational offerings as well as positive affirmations to the 75 caregivers who participated. All in all, the day had a very positive impact on their feelings about the work they do. Based on its success, Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan was happy to give Marie $750 to put on this year's event. Senior Day Care Center Young Black Males of Kalamazoo Sheron is a mother of an 18-year-old black male who made a bad choice a year and a half ago. As a result, he is serving an 8- to 15-year prison term. Following her son's arrest, Sheron realized she knew nothing about how to deal with the judicial system. Without money to hire her own attorney, she quickly realized that families with means have an incredible advantage in navigating the court system. Sheron saw a huge need to reach out to young black males in her community to show them alternatives to life on the street or in prison, and to educate them about the legal system should they need that information. First, they needed to understand that once they become convicted criminals, life will always be tarnished by that fact. Also, if they do get arrested, they should realize that court-appointed attorneys do not always have the time or the desire to extend that extra hour needed to be of real service to their clients. So Sheron established a non-profit organization called Young Black Males of Kalamazoo to disseminate hope and information in this county where blacks make up 35% of the general population and 80% of the prison population. Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan gave her a grant of $ 730.00 to help start her non-profit organization. We Can Make a Difference Neldine Edwards is a social worker and the founder of "We Can Make a Difference" in Benton Harbor, MI. For 21 years, she worked as a family therapist before creating a vision that provides help to parents in this poverty-stricken, primarily black community that saw a race riot erupt in 2003. To date, over 1000 parents and service providers have taken and been helped by the classes offered by her organization. The classes use role playing, homework assignments and applied lessons for specific parenting situations. The classes are culturally sensitive in order to foster a sense of identity and pride within those who participate. Neldine asked Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan to fund a coaching course for past graduates who would then be able to provide home-based coaching to participants in future classes. We gladly extended a grant of $1500 to help institute the coaching curriculum and get the first class up and running. Music Therapy for the Birthing Center at Borgess Hospital HIV / AIDS and Spirituality "I Can Do It"
Children who are blind - along with their parents - are challenged by limited access to services and activities that are part of the usual public school education. Sports and athletics are among these, yet there is a sport designed for the blind called goalball. Alissa Williams and her husband Theron have organized a goalball program outside of school for 7- to 14-year-olds so that their son can participate in sports. For there to be enough members to make up two teams, some children need to be driven long distances to get to the games. For this reason, practices occur rarely and with limited participation. To offset this problem and to get members to gel as a team and form an esprit de corp, Alissa and Theron requested a grant so that the children could spend a full day at Pretty Lake Adventure Camp working on ropes courses. The activities involved team problem solving while building self-confidence and an "I can do it" attitude that comes so much more easily to sighted kids on sports teams. While Alissa and Theron asked only for a partial donation to cover the day's activities, Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan chose to cover the entire cost with a grant of $1100. Western Michigan University Hunger Banquet Bethany Timmons is a leader in the Social Welfare Action Alliance at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. One of the missions of this group is to bring awareness to the issue of hunger in our society. The group holds a fundraising Hunger Banquet each year, with proceeds going to three agencies that provide food and shelter to people in need in the greater Kalamazoo community. This year, Bethany had a vision to broaden the scope of the banquet by inviting Nancy Delaney, the National Outreach Coordinator from Oxfam International, to be the keynote speaker. Oxfam International is a confederation of 12 organizations working together in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty, suffering and injustice. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide a grant of $500 to cover Nancy's transportation costs. Writing Life Stories Bobbe Taber has been writing poetry for much of her life, and has compiled a book of poems that tell her life story. Wanting to share the healing that comes with the writing process, Bobbe recently started a writing group at Ministry with Community, a day shelter for Kalamazoo's homeless residents. Bobbe's vision is to help them write their own life stories and, in the process, come to see their own value and place in the world. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan provided a grant of $500 to cover the cost of a memoir-writing course to help Bobbe achieve this goal.
College Preparation
Rites of Passage Things are Looking Up Healing to the Beat of a Different Drummer Kalamazoo Community Gardens Fence Art Youth Urban Gardening
When Sandra first began working at HHUM, she canvassed the neighborhood to discover the concerns of local residents. A common concern expressed was regarding vacant lots. So Sandra went about getting permission to use first one, and then a second vacant lot near the church. She developed the Summer Youth Beautification Pride Project, using the lots as garden space. The program is structured to include gardening, science labs that focus on gardening-related topics, worship, and discussions about volunteering and potential careers related to this work. For many of the children enrolled in the program, this is their first exposure to gardening and learning about where food actually comes from. This is the fourth year of the program, which has grown each year.
Willie Johnson is a visual artist in Kalamazoo who paints in the African-American folk-art style. Since Will copes with mental illness, his art has been quite instrumental in nurturing his self-esteem. He has primarily been working with tempera paint, using paper for small projects and cardboard for large projects. Will arranged to exhibit his work as part of the Kalamazoo Art Hop, in which local artists exhibit their work in galleries and other venues around the city. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to provide Will with a grant of $1100 for the purchase of acrylic paints, canvasses and higher quality paint brushes, enabling him to prepare some new works for the exhibition. The new materials will allow him to continue painting well into the future. The grant also provided enough funding to frame some of his existing works that are already on paper. Hopefully, he will continue to exhibit his work and his painting sales will provide the funds needed for additional materials, further contributing to his sense of self-worth and dignity. We hope Willie Johnson's paintings inspire other people with disabilities to pursue art as a healing form of self-_expression. Barbara has successfully started and led meditation groups, and she is currently working to create a new program. She will teach meditation to help people cope with the stresses of life, and sewing skills to help them secure higher-paying jobs. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was pleased to help Barbara by securing a slightly used computer for her to use in developing brochures and handouts. Contacts were also provided to assist her in her search for a suitable place for her meditation sessions. Massage for Hospice Families Beadwork
Since many of the students lack opportunities to get close adult attention, this beadwork program will focus on mentoring the students 1:1 or 1:2 throughout the semester. Their parents will also be invited to learn beadwork, thus creating an activity that family members can share. These at-risk students also welcome the income that beadwork can provide. It is expected that the students will exhibit and sell their beadwork in the Spring Kalamazoo Art Hop. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan is pleased to provide a grant of $2300 to support this program. Food Matters
Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan Fundraiser, June 23, 2002 Movement Classes for Body Awareness Barbara Toshalis is a physical therapist and social worker at the YWCA in Grand Rapids, MI. Many of the clients served by the YWCA's programs have been abused physically, emotionally and/or sexually, and are often disconnected from their physical selves. Barbara has developed a movement class that provides a safe place for these women to learn skills for self-calming, grounding, moderated emotional responses, and assertiveness through body awareness, group process, communication, play, creativity and the telling of their stories. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan provided a $1000 matching grant to Barbara for a fall 2002 class. Pregnancy Prevention Washington Writer's Academy School Bus Safety Barb Wise is a school-bus driver with a passion for children's safety. As a volunteer, Barb has developed a school-bus safety program that she presents to schools and pre-schools throughout her district. Always looking for ways to improve her program, she approached Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan for financial support for Barney, an interactive miniature robot bus that asks questions and invites participation from the kids. Barb currently uses a video of Barney in her presentation that the children respond to with enthusiasm. The effectiveness of Barb’s program will increase with the use of Barney by engaging the children’s attentiveness and helping them to understand of the dangers of the road. Bread for the Journey provided a grant of $250 toward Barney's purchase. Music for Hospice Patients Gay Walker is an art therapist who manages Diane's Way, an expressive arts program that was set up in honorable memory of a former hospice patient. Diane's Way provides hospice patients and their families opportunities to use a variety of creative outlets, including journal writing, art materials, music and gardening. One special volunteer in the program is Martha Kuch. She is an extremely talented harpist whose extraordinary music touches the hearts of the hospice patients, reducing their stress and anxiety while alleviating their pain. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan was proud to provide Gay and Martha with $2750, the total amount needed to produce a CD of Martha's harpistry. In order to make this wonderful music available to more hospice patients, the CDs will be presented to the patients free of charge and proceeds of additional sales of the music will be reinvested toward the production of more copies to soothe the souls of future patients. To order a CD contact: Diane's Way Expressive Arts Program, Brogess Visiting Nurse and Hospice, 348 North Burdick, Kalamazoo, MI 49007. Musician with a Mission
Bob Rowe and Rendal Wall from Renaissance Enterprises playing music for the residents of Tendercare Riverside Nursing Home in Battle Creek, MI for their New Year's Eve concert on 31 Dec 2001. Bob Rowe is a musician with a mission. He is a professional musician with a special affinity for elderly and institutionalized people. His Renaissance Foundation provides musical programs for nursing home and other care facility residents. Too frequently, these individuals are forgotten by most of society. Bob makes sure they aren't. The programs focus on hymns and old songs that are familiar to the residents, with results that are often amazing. Residents who rarely speak sing along with the musicians, and caregivers report improvements in attitude that can last for weeks. Bread for the Journey of SW Michigan is delighted to participate in Renaissance Enterprise's Adopt A Nursing Home program by providing a grant of $1100 to support monthly concerts at Tender Care - Riverside, a nursing home with mainly low income residents in Battle Creek, Michigan. Care Through Touch Homeless people are the untouchables of our time, but not in Kalamazoo. Two massage therapists, Marcy Clark and Deanna Wines, have broken this taboo and are volunteering their time and skills by providing healing touch chair massages at Ministry with Community, a local day shelter for homeless and other low income community members. Bread for the Journey of Southwest Michigan has contributed $800 to send Marcy and Deanna to San Francisco where they will attend a "hands-on" training with the Care Through Touch Institute, which includes a certification program called "Caring Touch Ministry with Poor and Marginalized People." Marcy and Deanna's long term goals include finding other practitioners in Kalamazoo to join this volunteer work and developing a training/certification program to teach healing touch to the homeless and poor to help them build skills and independence. This loving and compassionate work has the opportunity to greatly benefit a marginalized part of our community by providing physical healing of stress, injury and trauma, emotional healing through counseling and listening, and social healing as appropriate touch is modeled by the therapists.
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