You’re invited…

Enjoy complimentary breakfast and learn about how the Matthews House is changing the lives of at-risk youth in our community.

Hear from Jerri Howe, Matthews House Founder and Executive Director, Magistrate Berenato, Juvenile Magistrate for the 8th Judicial District, and from youth who have been personally impacted by the Matthews House.

When
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
7:00 to 8:30am
7:00am Coffee and conversation
7:30 – 8:30am Program and light breakfast

Where
Hilton Fort Collins
425 W Prospect, Fort Collins

RSVP
For more information or to RSVP, please contact Joyce Dickens at 970-472-4293 or joyce@thematthewshouse.org

“I initially started running because it was a great way to keep in shape.  Then I found out about the Matthew’s House.  I was excited about being a part of something bigger than myself and putting my feet to good use.  It was an amazing experience and I am already looking forward to doing it again next year.”   Jennifer, Runner #6 Just Passin’ Thru

“A great feeling of accomplishment”, ” a real blessing”, and ” a uniquely wonderful running experience!” were all ways this year’s runners described their Wild West Relay adventure. Kristin, who has run with us two years says “I have really enjoyed running the WWR both years that I did it. It is a challenge, but the challenge is well worth your effort when you finish one of your legs at 2am with your van full of teammates cheering you on. I don’t know if I would do the WWR if I wasn’t running for a cause, like with the Matthews House. It gives every step of training, fundraising and actual race added purpose.”   And Natalie, who ran for the first time this year says, “I loved the relay!  Every bit of it; and I know how cheesy that sounds, but its true!  I liked running under the moon late in the night the best I think.  I really wasn’t sure what to expect coming into the race… but the organization of the Matthew House and the WWR volunteers just blew me away!  I will definately go again next year…”

This has been the overwhelming sentiment of our teams over the past 3 years, “I loved it, sign me up for next year.” This year we had 10 repeat runners and 14 first-timers which allowed us to field two complete teams. In addition to training to run between 11 and 19 miles over the course of about 30 hours, each runner took on the additional responsibility of raising money for the Matthews House. This year that fundraising took the form of a community yard sale, a dining event at Cafe Mexicali and a benefit concert/silent auction at Everyday Joe’s in addition to many letters to friends, family and coworkers. Through all these efforts our runners raised over $7,700! Thanks to all our runners: Brian Hansen, Seth Daire, Steve Griffin, Missy Larson, Jennifer McLoudrey, Gail Doesken, Linda Maher, Teresa Schoger, Lauren Wylie, Kristin Higgins, Anna Baldwin, Joyce Dickens, Erin Gladu, Steve Redder, Randy Stinson, Mindy Murphy, Amanda Helfer, Katie McGrail, Jonathan Splittgerber, Todd Howe, Yale Norris, Isaac Howe, Natalie Scholander and Mahala Proch and drivers Jerri Howe and Mike Maher.

Although this is the third year that The Matthews House has participated in the Wild West Relay, this year we made a serious addition. For the first time we took advantage of an opportunity to have a non-profit exchange through Volunteers with a Purpose, an official relay partner. This allowed us to have 16 volunteers assist as race marshals AND help raise over $1800 for the Matthews House in the process. Sometimes this involved directing an occasional unruly runner or moody van driver. But in general, I think our volunteers encountered great people and had a good time being involved. We also had 8 other volunteers help with a pancake and coffee fundraiser at the exchange that raised around $600 to benefit the Matthews House. One of our volunteers commented that she had so much fun volunteering she may even want to run the race next year!

Thanks to our race marshalls: Joel and Tina Vosberg, Craig and Lotta Vollmer, Brian Lindecker, Eileen O’Malley, Laura Harris, Scott and Mary Gordon, Greg and Becky Kendall, Keah Redder, Wes and Elissa Hoffert, Cathy Rotman, and Linda Wright.

Thanks to our Pancake and Coffee team: Jill and Curt Bear, Nicole and Zach Armstrong, Jennifer Sory, Danielle Sardi, Chad Price and Kory Nickell.

We are so grateful that you were willing to make a significant contribution of your time and efforts on behalf of the Matthews House. Thank you for caring and desiring to make a difference in the lives of at-risk youth!

Thanks for joining together to raise over $10,000 for the Matthews House!

And thanks again to our sponsors!

Periodically, groups from the community come alongside the Matthews House to plan and put on events for our youth. These are great, fun activities for our youth with the added invaluable benefit that they are done on a completely volunteer basis by people who share this community with our youth. No ulterior motives, no one getting paid, these are people who genuinely care about our community and our youth. This unconditional compassion has a huge impact on our youth. For them to recognize that there are people in their community who want to invest time in them not because there’s a monetary incentive, but because there’s a true belief in the value and potential of each individual regardless of past events or circumstances. This is incredibly powerful for many of our youth who have seldom had anyone really believe in them.

This summer, a group from Emmaus Road Church came to the Matthews House to hang out with kids and provide a BBQ meal. This group got to know some of our youth through conversation and some games of bocce ball.

We’d like to thank Andy & Amy Lucas, Marie Evans, Ken Snyder and Wendy Thompson from Emmaus Road for their time and compassion and of course the food they brought to grill out

Thanks also to the following Matthews House volunteers for adding a collection of sides and dessert to provide quite a nice spread of food for the afternoon!

Doreen Miller, Tina Morris, Linda Maher, Gail Follett, Cathy Rotman, Christine Christman, Kelly Mapes, Denise Thompson, Vickie Mitchell, Courtney Craig and Denise Birdsall