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Greetings!
Valentine's Day
is a wonderful time to be thankful for the people in our lives who
care about us. At Open Your Heart, we are thankful for all of you who
have "opened your hearts" to help people who are hungry and
homeless in Minnesota. Your contributions provide not only vital
resources but also hope and encouragement to people who are
struggling to meet their basic needs.
Zib Hinz,
District Liaison for Homeless and Highly Mobile Students in
Minneapolis Public Schools, explains, "The students do not need
to know in detail the many layers of assistance needed to make a
relatively small resource available--a backpack, toiletries, a clean
package of socks. They only need to know that there are adults in
their world who can be trusted to care for them even in these small
ways."
When times are
tough, it's empowering to know that there are people who still
believe in you and support you. If you're looking for a last-minute
gift for that special someone, why not consider making a donation to
Open Your Heart in their honor? A gift of $50 can provide a backpack,
school supplies and basic clothing items to a child without a home.
Our online donation system makes it easy
to get a more meaningful gift this Valentine's Day.
Thanks again for
giving your time, talents and resources to help people who are hungry
and homeless in Minnesota. Your compassion touches many hearts.
Arna Yetter
Executive
Director
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Transitional
housing residents cooking up a storm with new stoves from Open Your
Heart
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RESOURCE residents have gotten
excited about cooking with their new electric stoves.
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There
is a lot more cooking going on lately at the RESOURCE Recovery Center
(RRC) in south Minneapolis thanks to a grant from Open Your Heart to
the Hungry and Homeless.
This
past summer Open Your Heart awarded the organization a grant in the
amount of $8,120. RRC used the monies to purchase new electric stoves
to replace old, faulty gas stoves that transitional housing residents
were using in their apartments. In all, 23 apartments housing eight
families and 56 men received the electric stoves.
"Our
clients (residents) were highly energized by the new stoves, and
staff was relieved because of safety issues," said Gary Stevens,
Executive Director. "We are so grateful to Open Your Heart. RRC
would have not been able to replace the stoves in the apartment buildings.
We do not receive funding for this type of expense."
According
to a letter from RRC, prior to installing the electric stoves,
residents would have a buildup of gas in their apartments due to
their inexperience in igniting the pilot light on the old gas stoves.
Residents also occasionally forgot to turn their gas burners off, so
some grease fires occurred.
One
resident whose oven never worked before excitedly told a RESOURCE
employee, "James, now I can make some cookies for my
family."
RRC's
mission is to assist homeless people devastated from alcohol and drug
abuse to recover from those addictions. RRC works with them so they
can gain daily living skills, build a positive support network and
find a place to live and a job.
"An
important part of the services RRC clients receive is learning how to
maintain good health including preparing nutritious meals. Residents
are taught how to prepare their own meals through weekly nutrition
classes," Stevens said. "These classes are important
because they address both sobriety and nutrition--and, more
importantly, the relationship between sobriety and nutrition."
For
more information about RRC, a division of RESOURCE, go to: www.resource-mn.org.
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Workplace
giving donors show outstanding support for Open Your Heart
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The University of
Minnesota's Human Resources Department organized several events to
benefit Open Your Heart.
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Open Your Heart raises a majority of our funds through
employee giving campaigns in more than 40 government units, schools,
corporations and nonprofit organizations. With just a handful of
those campaigns left to report their results, we have raised over $853,000
so far through workplace giving this year! These results place us on
track to raise the same or just slightly under the amount received in
2010, which was our most successful fundraising year. Thanks to this
generous support, we are able to continue helping hungry and homeless
Minnesotans when the need is greatest.
We especially want to thank three organizations that
included Open Your Heart in their campaigns for the first time this
year: University of Minnesota Physicians, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
and Ecumen. We also want to applaud campaigns that increased their
giving to Open Your Heart by 30 percent or more: City of Plymouth,
AchieveMpls, Minnetonka Schools, League of Minnesota Cities, Northern
Lights Combined Federal Campaign, Walker Art Center, Fredrikson &
Byron and McGrann Shea Carnival Straughn & Lamb. This is truly an
outstanding achievement!
Click here to see a complete list of
our workplace giving campaign partners.
Thanks again to all our donors for your support!
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Join Open Your Heart at the
Volunteer Expo!
Join Open Your Heart on Saturday, February 19, at the Mall
of America for the HandsOn Twin Cities Volunteer Expo! More than 120
nonprofit organizations will be at this event to showcase a wide
variety of volunteer opportunities. Visit our booth in the Bloomingdale's
first-floor court from 10:00am to 3:00pm to learn how you can get more
involved with Open Your Heart in areas such as photography, social
media and community outreach.
Many of the agencies we fund will also be at the Expo with
opportunities for the whole family to help people who are hungry and
homeless. (Visit the Youth HandsOn booth and look for the organizations
that are tagged with the youth-friendly sticker to find special
opportunities for younger volunteers and families.) Attendees can also
participate in "speed volunteering" activities, bid on silent
auction items, enjoy entertainment on the Best Buy Rotunda stage and
attend the Be the Change Awards Ceremony.
This is a unique occasion to find out how we can all get
involved in bettering our communities. We hope to see you there!
Learn more about the
Expo and see a complete list of participating organizations.
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Open Your Heart
honors Roger Henry's service on our Board of Directors
Heartfelt commitment and generous spirit--that's what
Roger Henry is known for at Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless
after 20 years of fighting homelessness and hunger. Since 1991 he has
played a significant role on the board of directors, including serving
as treasurer for several years, and has inspired others with ideas for
helping individuals directly. Roger stepped down from the board in
December but has stayed involved with Open Your Heart by volunteering
with special projects. He also continues to volunteer with Twin Cities
Habitat for Humanity and was recently named Executive Director of the St. Andrew's
Foundation.
Roger "can't
say enough about the Open Your Heart staff and [board] members,"
and although he's enjoyed working behind the scenes as a board member,
his motivation comes from the people--from the hugs and gratitude of
those he has helped out of tough situations. Throughout the years, he
has led Open Your Heart toward creative solutions, such as a temporary
shelter of 40 cots rotated between churches when there was a shortage
of beds at larger shelters.
We are so thankful to Roger for his many contributions and wish him
continued success in the future!
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