Press coverage September 2008

Good morning my fellow WCR members and readers! I wanted to share with you an article on this project we have been working on all year!

We are celebrating our first years success on September 27th! It has been a very busy this year getting this project up and running..........but we did it and we are proud!

Our local Chapter made the on line news paper, and we have claims from other media that they will cover as well...............so I share with you the 1st of many (I hope)!

http://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/developmentnews/flow0918.aspx

There is a post of mine currently featured on active rain that refers to the Habitat home that our local chapter participated in............. this was funded through this foundation and labor came from WCR members.

Our local chapter is making a difference in our committy..................I am very proud to be be a member of WCR and connected with such wonderful woman!

F.L.O.W. Garden Party and Garden Tickets - Ready for your order!

We are excited! September 27, 2008 will be the Garden Tour and Garden Party to celebrate F.L.O.W.'s first years success!

Yes, we have a commitment for 10 yards to be transformed..........and a great party planned! For those of you that have been to a WCR party, you know we can throw a great party!

Here are the details:
Garden Tour Saturday September 27th, 10am till 4pm
Garden Tour books with maps of the homes cost $10.00

Garden Party - Saturday 27th 5pm - 8pm Tickets Cost 20.00 Ticket price includes:
Entrance to Garden Party at Republic on South Division

(Rockwell's and Republic NEW Restaurant)
Vallet Parking
Appetizers
Door Prizes
Auction Art (book mark this blog, as will be adding pics of the art to be auctioned) All local artist!
Meet our Sponsors and Landscapers
A fun time had by all!

Buy both - Garden Tour Book and a Garden Party ticket at a reduced price of $25.00

To order your tickets please e-mail Dannielle Rowland - Danielle.Rowland@flagstar.com
www.flowgr.com

F.L.O.W. Update - Landscaping the Habitat Home “Woman Built”

Well, the landscaping of the Woman Built Habitat Home was great fun! We got VERY dirty, and I probably have never worked this hard ever in my life! I was sore from head to toe and perspired in places that I had no idea there were sweat glands! It was the hottest day of the year so far! However we worked hard and got it all done. What a great sense of accomplishment it was!

WCR members, Mary Mishler (WCR President), Shelly Abbott, Michelle Gordon, and Kathy Thayer were there, along with friends and family members.

September is just around the corner, and will be here before we know it. The members of the F.L.O.W. committee have been working hard to get as much money raised as we can and have done a fantastic job bringing this whole project together. There was much to work to out…..details, details and more details! Might I say next year will be much easier as the play book has now been written!

We currently have 10 Landscapers on board with the project who are going to volunteer their time and plants.

Romance Gardens has already committed to donating some plants for the project. (Susan Pastoor (Metropolitan Title) is working on all the other retail nurseries in the area)

We just got a donation of $500.00 from Huntington Bank to the project. Which now covers the rest of the cost of the Woman built – Habitat Home. So as I wipe the sweat off my brow, we have raised enough money to support this wonderful project. A JOB WELL DONE!

Have you considered donating to F.L.O.W?

If you have been meaning to donate and just have not done it yet, or if you were waiting to see if we could really get this project up and running. Wait no longer………..
This project is really going to happen, we are up and running, we are going to landscape 10 homes this fall! More if possible, we will not stop till we have to!

You can very easily donate by using pay pal on our blog site……..look tothe right, there is the PayPal button, go a head use it, I dare you!

If every realtor/lender in Kent County gave $10.00, we would have enough money for 3 or 4 homes! How wonderful it would be if I could advertise how all the Kent County Realtors and Lenders supported the movement of F.L.O.W. and how WE as a group of Realtors and Lenders were able to fund 3 or 4 of the homes!

$10.00 = 3 grande Star Bucks coffee, 2 cocktails at the bar, 1 lunch out with friends, maybe ¼ tank of gas, money wasted on lotto tickets, school lunch for a week (the kids are out now), found change in the bottom of purse and/or floor board of our cars. However this $10.00 for F.L.O.W. will be a tax deductible donation, none of the others listed are!

A reminder to save the date:

September 27th is the Garden Tour and Garden Party. Some details are on the website now and will be updated as we get more activities finalized, but I am guessing you will not want to miss the party of the summer! So block out that date on your calendar NOW!

F.L.O.W. is on the MOVE

We had a wonderful time at the “Making Thyme Kitchen” on Tues May 6th. We tasted some awesome foods served up by our gracious host’s Karen and Ken the owners. While the tasting event is over, they’re still offering through end of May to give 20% back to FLOW!!!

Words from Mary Kent our Sponsor co-chair:

We sampled the Jamaican Chicken Burgers with Mango Sauce YUMEEE!!! The Sweet Potato and Black Bean Cakes and my personal favorite, Baked Macaroni and Cheese. My usually picky 8 year son loved it too!!

Please help support FLOW and forget about COOKING!!! To order Just call 616.406.8511, fax. 616.241.2084, email, info@makingthymekitchen.com or stop by 962 Cherry St SE ½ block west of Diamond.

View the May Menu and MAKE SURE TO SAY YOUR ORDERING TO SUPPORT FLOW!!!

Results of Yard Sale

What a fun day this was! We Raised another $250.00. A big thank you to all who donated and to Naya Bistro for the donation of the room. We had a rapid change in the weather. It got chilly, so having the yard sale inside was a God send.

The volunteers who worked the sale, Mary Kent, Susan Pastoor, Sarah DeWitt, Linda Pell, I – Michelle Gordon and 3 youth also spent money, many goodies were to be found at our yard sale.

We really liked meeting the public who came out and shopped, and were able to hand out brochures on F.L.O.W. to everyone (courtesy of Chris Gamelin). Being able to spread the word of our foundation was as important as it was to make money.

I have to say, working on this project has put me in touch with many people in the public that I normally would not meet. I was able to hand out my business card to one shopper's, and when people found out we were realtors and lenders, they were impressed.

The funniest donation we had was a woman dropped off a “great” collection of CD’s. We asked her why she was getting rid of such a good collection. Her comment: Her boy friend had broken up with her and he left behind the collection! So she donated them to a good cause and got some personal satisfaction as well!

Getting to know these members of W.C.R. while working on the yard sale was priceless. We tend to all go to the luncheon but not much time to “really” get to know each other. This was a good way to spend some time together and learn a little more about each other personally.

Mary Mishler dropped in to see us during the course of her busy day. Thank you for your continued support to this very important cause.

We all felt this was a great success for how small our yard sale was, so we want to do this bigger and better in the summer! So if everyone will get a box or a garbage bag, mark it F.L.O.W. start adding your old “stuff”. We will need it this summer!

We need a volunteer to have it at their home, what we have learned: Better at a house then a business, better to be able to drop off donations all week, not just one day. EGR is a great location for yard sales, yes I live in EGR, but my husband is NOT yard sale friendly! Ha-ha let me know if you are willing to host the yard sale.

Watch out for more fund raisers on the way!

And then there was more help!

Another person went out on their own to work on the “Woman Built” Habitat home for humanity. Linda Pell a member of WCR, went out on her own and worked at this home. Linda called me after working on the home yesterday, as she had a great experience, she said she was pleased with how many people came out to help after they worked their “full time jobs” . If felt like an Amish committee that is working together to build a new home. Linda has signed up for 2 more days. Linda worked on making trellises and feels so good about the work she did that it makes the muscle pain she has not feel so bad!!!

The home Shelly(see post below) and Linda went out to work on is the home WCR is supporting for Landscaping as part of our F.L.O.W. foundation.

Thank you Linda!!!!

The date set aside for WCR to work on the landscaping portion is June 7th, however if you do not want to do physical work, there is still room to support the landscaping project financially. See sponsorship section of the F.L.O.W. website.

Also visit our blog site often for more info and to keep up on the updates as they become available.

Above are pictures of the home courtesy of Linda Pell.

Thank you Shelly Abbott - Greenridge Realty

Shelly took it upon herself to be the first to assist with the "Woman Built" habitat for humanity home, here is what they had to say about Shelly:

I had the pleasure of meeting Shelly Abbott from Greenridge Realty on Saturday who was a part of the first day of construction! Shelly decided to help out as a general volunteer and is excited about returning to work on the landscaping with the Women’s Council of Realtors. Shelly will be a great asset to your team in helping with the landscaping!

Kathy M. Forzley
Habitat for Humanity of Kent County

Good Job Shelly!!!!! and Thank you!

We are still looking for cash donations for this project. If you are interested in joining the day of landscaping please e-mail michellegordon@grar.com

Thank you!!!!