Ali, Stefanie and Victoria finished delivering the dog food for homeless pets on Thursday by meeting Melinda Zarzycki of Bring On The Ministry at Turning Points. Melinda was grateful to be able to add dog food to the supplies they hand out to the homeless they meet daily. While we were at Turning Points, we took a tour of the facility with Margi Dawson. Stefanie, Ali and I had no idea how comprehensive this facility is. The homeless can stop in to take a shower, get their laundry done, look for jobs or housing, get a meal and even a check-up from a doctor. If they can’t help someone, they are able to refer them to another organization who can. It was absolutely eye-opening to see how much they take care of to help get people back on their feet. We are looking forward to scheduling an event with Turning Points towards the end of the year so our volunteers can also see how truly amazing this organization is.
Dog Days Donations Are Done!
Our Dog Days Project was a great success. We had so many volunteers on hand to make tons of toys, treats and individual bags of food. Dr. Sam from University Animal Clinicbrought some awesome dogs for our volunteers to practice their pet care skills on andMimi’s Cat Rescue brought some adorable kittens to cuddle with. The volunteers had a great time making a difference in animals’ lives. The Humane Society of Manatee Countyand Mimi’s Cat Rescue left with lots of goodies to help enrich the lives of the animals in their care. We are grateful for Rebecca Kelly’s help this weekend. She delivered another load of donations to Nate’s! The SUGAR Gals dropped yet another trunk-load to Sarasota Animal Services and then delivered the bagged food for homeless pets to Bring On the Ministry. Lots of animals are happier thanks to all your work, volunteers!
Wish To Donate? Try Our Shopping List!
We love that so many of you are willing to donate items to our projects! Some of you even follow up with us to see what we are still missing and then run to the store at the last minute to help out. We thought it might be time for us to try a simpler way so you aren’t running all over town. For our 200 Lunches Project, we’ve assembled a shopping list of items that we need. All you need to do is pick from the list, and we’ll purchase those items on your behalf! We’ll still take donations at our usual pick up spots of Cowork and Ed’s Tavern (both on Lakewood Ranch Main Street) too, if you prefer cleaning out your pantry!
Thank You Girl Scout Troop 701!
Extra special thanks to Girl Scout Troop 701 for coming out to our Dog Days Project! You girls were great! Not only did you make tons of goodies to give to shelter animals, but you also donated over $150 worth of much needed supplies for the local shelters!
More Donations = More Volunteers
Thank you so much to those of you who have dropped off donation items! The more donations we get, the larger the event can be, and thus our impact on the lives of these sweet furry friends.
For those of you that are interested in coming but have noticed the event is now full, we will be counting out our donations and figuring out if we have enough to add more spots to our event.
If you have some time to help us collect these, we would be very grateful! These are the minimum amounts we need in order to have a great event. We would be thrilled to have more though:
If you have some time to help us collect these, we would be very grateful! These are the minimum amounts we need in order to have a great event. We would be thrilled to have more though:
- 200 empty water bottles (6 oz, – 16 oz. sizes)
- 200 socks
- 200 old tennis balls
- 200 wire hangers
- 1000 large craft feathers
- 20 large bags of dry dog and cat food
These can be dropped off at CoWork or Ed’s Tavern, both on Lakewood Ranch Main Street, any time before September 19th. Thank you for helping us out! Please let us know whether or not you’ve got something to donate so we can give you a little shout out!
SUGAR Received Their First Grant This Week
The amazing women of The Cheers for Charity Women’s Giving Circle Fund Two of the Manatee Community Foundation held a fundraising event this past July, and we were honored to receive a grant from their efforts. On September 12, Stefanie and Victoria were able to attend Cheers For Charity’s 4th Annual Grant Reception to thank the women for their gift. With their help, we are able to fully fund one of our “in-house” events this year! It’s an exciting prospect for us, and we are so thankful for these ladies and their generosity! SUGAR Volunteers was also able to connect with the other grant recipients and discuss opportunities to work together in the future. Thank you for helping us “share some SUGAR”!
The Cheers for Charity Women’s Giving Circle Fund Two of the Manatee Community Foundation awarded SUGAR Volunteers a grant on September 12, 2018
Easter Seals Tour
On Thursday, Ali, Victoria and Stefanie joined several other women on a tour of the Easter Seals Southwest Florida. Jenn Otterness, an advocate for the organization, arranged the tour. This particular branch services five counties and has programs for babies all the way through adulthood. Their youngest student is 8 months and the oldest is 87. To see the love and passion the teachers, directors, therapists, and volunteers have for the people in their care is inspiring. We were so grateful for the opportunity to tour the facility, learn more about Easter Seals and figure out a way for our student volunteers to do some great work here. Our wheels are turning and we are looking forward to continuing the conversation in a couple of weeks to see how we can support this amazing organization.
We’ve got our first intern of the school year!
Last year, we were super lucky to have Layna Tuchman help us out by posting live to our Snapchat account and helping create content for our Instagram. She was instrumental in us getting our foot in the door at Lakewood Ranch High School. Her studies got to be too much, so we haven’t had her assistance this year, and we miss her!
However, we are excited to announce that Kyle Turgeon from Newgate School is joining our team. He’ll be doing all sorts of jobs, including carrying on what Layna started. Kyle will also be working on helping orchestrate a service event at his school. We can’t wait for him to get started!
If you’d like to be a part of our student team, shoot us an email and let’s figure out how you can get started!
However, we are excited to announce that Kyle Turgeon from Newgate School is joining our team. He’ll be doing all sorts of jobs, including carrying on what Layna started. Kyle will also be working on helping orchestrate a service event at his school. We can’t wait for him to get started!
If you’d like to be a part of our student team, shoot us an email and let’s figure out how you can get started!
Friday’s Board Meeting Has the Wheels Moving On Our Future
The SUGAR Volunteers board members met over lunch at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall to discuss the non-profit’s future. The members met primarily to iron out the final details of completing our profile in the Giving Partner, a online tool utilized by The Community Foundation of Sarasota and Manatee Community Foundation . This is a major step for us as it will provide us with greater access to funding and resources to help our organization grow.
The board also discussed some great ideas to enhance what we already do. T-shirts, memberships and other great ways to “share the SUGAR” will be rolling out this year. It’s all really exciting, and we can’t wait to get working on these new ideas in order to better service our fantastic volunteers!
Did You Know?
Did you know that SUGAR has several programs? One of the first programs we started was our “SUGAR Cubes”. The volunteers that participate in our SUGAR Cubes events interact with senior citizens. It may be as simple as serving them lunch or dancing and singing. Sometimes it is a little more involved like building a craft together. We have found that our volunteers learn that their smiles, hugs, and conversations are sometimes all that is needed help to brighten the day of someone else. It is the simplest way for our volunteers to make a difference, and it helps show our youth that you don’t need any special skills to be a great volunteer. We hope you join us in October for our next SUGAR Cubes event!!
