|
|
| | 311 W McGraw St. Seattle, WA 98119 - Phone: 206.282.1540 - Fax 206.282.2304 Email: Queenannhl@aol.com |
HELPLINE DIRECTORS REPORT FOR 2008
“Do all the Good you can, in All the ways you can, for ALL the
People you can, While you still can” Dr. Dale Turner
Helpline is a great example of this saying.
It seems to me that after writing a Director Report every year that after 27 years they all seem the alike to me. How can I make them exciting and interesting to you, the Board and constituents? Perhaps by bringing some of our special clients to your attention.
A single mother, with two children, applies for our Continuing Education Fund. She has been going to school for three years, but father of the children has now left the area and she is not receiving support from him. She has a scholarship grant which covers her tuition and housing at SPU, but her books and childcare are not included. She manages the apartment where she lives, so has a little income from that, by doing the janitorial work. Helpline was able to help her with the childcare agency as well as books for the past two years. She will graduate in June, 2009, and is looking forward to being employed and on her own. She has been an outstanding student getting a 3.5 grade each year. It has been a joy to see her complete her education and know that the Helpline has been a big part of this. There are many more in this program that we could talk about, but you get the jest. This is certainly been one of the Helpline’s best programs and I do hope it will be part of the future.
Another story is a young family, Mother, Father and two children, recent re-located to Seattle, came with a job offer, found the job was now not there. They had made their first and last months rental payment and really wanted to stay in Seattle, but the current rent was due, of $950.00, on Queen Anne, a two bedroom unit. The Father had been interviewed for several positions but nothing had jelled yet and they were worried about being put out of their apartment. They were also running out of food. Helpline contacted their landlord who was willing to work with this couple, so we, with St.Anne’s St.Vincent DePaul (where they attended church) paid their rent and gave them food vouchers. They are now doing well and were very grateful for the help given to them.
We were fortunate to have Anne Leigh with us for a short time this past year. She is extremely knowledgeable about Web sites and the mechanics of same. She with Jonas Simonis and help from a Garfield Student, Juan Shaw Lin, re-did the Helpline Web-site. Thanks to all three of them. Jonas is maintaining it as of now, keeping it current for us.
The Clothing bank continues to be a busy place, both incoming clothing and outgoing clothing. It is very difficult to put a dollar value on this program, but my volunteers enjoy the interaction that takes place with the clients are most helpful to them. It is always a treat to see someone walk in with either ragged clothing or dirty and change in the restroom and look like a different person. It even
changes their demeanor. I believe that even if this program costs us room usage dollars, it is a valuable part of the Helpline. Perhaps even more so now then before because of the job losses. I believe we will see even more usage for families then before it the situation continues very long.
We are fortunate that we have such a generous community in keeping the clothing bank well stocked with items, and we are grateful to them for their continued support. I also believe that our donors are proud of the fact that they are helping others who need this tangible help...
Now to the Fundraising programs; we can be proud of all of the fundraising that was done this past year; each was very successful, the Fun Run, Gala and Auction, and the Tree Lot. We were fortunate to have great volunteers for each of these and everyone worked hard to make them successful. There were also two other fund raisers this past year, small but nonetheless successful, the Treasurer Sale, and the Tea Party, again without great volunteers we could not make happen.
The Fun Run had its most successful year to date. We made the 500 plus participants count that the City Events Committee gave us. Now we just have to keep this going this year……
Our Gala venue was new this past year, and we will be using the Swedish Club again this year. There were many compliments about having this fundraiser locally and comments about being a ‘community’ event. Jamie Bagnariol did a great job as our Auction Coordinator and of course David Silverman as auctioneer, was terrific as usual. And many thanks to all the donors, attendees and all the volunteers it takes to do this size fundraiser, to make this a successful event.
Despite the snow in December, the Children’s Christmas gifts were delivered by Brian Snook, after being sorted by families and addresses by Char Summers, Judy Searles and Jackie Wilson, who all walked to the office in the snow to make sure all 115 children had their gifts for Christmas.
All the trees were sold at the lot and we certainly thank Scott Monrad for all his time in leading this fundraiser. We also thank the Scout Troop 72 and their parents for their time on the lot, as well as our Board Chairperson, Craig Wilson who gave up a lot of his time from his business to be part of this huge endeavor.
Queen Anne Helpline continues to be a source of Joy for me, meeting our clients, and getting to know them as individuals. Our volunteers are a wonderful caring group of women, who go out of their way to assist everyone who enters the door. We are so grateful for their time and energy and I do hope they know how much the Board and I appreciate their services.
I would be remiss if I did not thank Donna Hegstrom for all the extra work she has done this past year. She has been diligently working on an Office Manual, a Volunteer Manual and a Board Manual, besides being an extra hand almost every day in the office. Thanks Donna, I probably do not say that often enough.
Again this year we have a great Board who also cares about the people we serve and who strive to make our services even more meaningful. They are on top of the finances of the organization and where we need to be putting more efforts into service our area. I appreciate all the help and concern they have shown to the office staff and me. There is a great working relationship between the Board and office which is very important to staffing the volunteer desk.
Thank you for allowing me to be the Helpline Director these many years.
Patricia J. Sobeck
Director
|
|
|
|
