$16,000 ~ That is how much we raised to empower at-risk youth in this year's Wild West Relay!

On August 6th and 7th, the Matthews House once again had runners and volunteers participating in the Wild West Relay, a 200-mile relay footrace over the mountains from Fort Collins to Steamboat Springs. This is the 4th year The Matthews House has participated in this exciting event and thanks to the hard work of our 24 runners and 20 volunteers, we raised over $16,000! Can you tell, we're really excited about this!

In addition to training to run between 11 and 19 miles over the course of the race, each runner took on the additional responsibility of raising $600 for the Matthews House. This year’s runners worked very hard training to run some big hills and raising funds to change lives! In addition to setting a fundraising record in this year’s event (last year we barely topped $9,000), one of our team’s took third place in the Open category. Congratulations and thanks to all our runners, volunteers and team sponsors! We’ll be doing it again next year, so if you think you might like to join us next time, just let us know!

Thanks to our Team Underwriting Sponsor Adams Bank & Trust and to all our fabulous team sponsors:

On Saturday, June 26th, 15 local artists set up their beautiful creations at the Matthews House and generously spent the day with us in order to raise money for our programs. From jewelry and purses to woodworking and pottery, 20% of all sales went to the Matthews House. Volunteers from Emmaus Road Church and The Matthews House provided a BBQ as well. It was a new endeavor and while the weather wasn't as cooperative as we'd have liked, it was a good solid start on a new event that we're looking forward to growing next year.

Many thanks to our organizer and displaying artist, Marsha Krygier, and all our artists.

Beyond the Fringe – Susan Bergs, handsewn purses and sachets

Lone Tree Pottery – Abbey Rothenbuehler

Tina Kellogg, glass artist

Earth Spirit Pottery – Nancy Williams

Swing Station Studio, Heather Hallberg – handmade purses and housewares  

Fox Ryde Gardens, Susan Buchele Rowland & Curtis Rowland – handcrafted herbal products

Amber Lovelace – fused glass jewelry

L.E. Smith Artworks, Leslie Smith – jewelry

Carr Creative, Ann Carr – handsewn women's jackets, tops, capris and accessories

Monty Weymouth, photographer

John I. Giem, Woodworker (work can be seen at Timeless Creations)

Sage Designs – Rochelle Sage, fountains, pottery, mosaic art

Shiloh Soapworks – Kaylene Baughman, handmade soaps

Saturday, June 19, 12-4, Rolland Moore Park

All Proceeds Benefiting The Matthews House Event

Presented by Veritas and Sponsored by The Wright Life.

Complementary Food Provided by Mama Roni's Pizza.

Tournament Rules:

• 7-12 person Co-ed teams, ages 13-18
• Double Elimination,
• Standard Ultimate Frisbee Rules
• Prize for the Winning Team: Gift Certificates to the Wright Life 

Registration Fee: $5 Pre-registration. $8 Day-of-event Registration More info and registration on event Facebook page

Enjoy breakfast for a donation at Snooze, An A.M. Eatery, 144 W Mountain, Fort Collins. At their pre-opening celebration on Saturday, April 17th you can not only be one of the first to dine at the newest location of this popular restaurant, but your delicious meal will be free in exchange for a donation which will go 2/3 to the Matthews House and 1/3 towards the CSU Hospitality/Agriculture Scholarship Fund.

Half the restaurant will be by reservation only, (you can make a reservation here) and half will be for walk-ins.

Hope you can make it – it will tasty!

This Thursday, March 25th, Whole Foods Market in Fort Collins will be holding a Community Giving Day to benefit the Matthews House. This means they will be donating 5% of total store sales for the day to the Matthews House.

Everyone needs groceries, so put it on your calendar and plan to shop for your tasty, healthy food next Thursday, March 25th at Whole Foods and help empower at-risk youth to pursue a future of promise and hope!

On Friday night, Dec. 11, Burn Longboards, a new Fort Collins-based company, held an event called Carve for a Cause to benefit the Matthews House.

The event featured longboards crafted by Burn and painted by local artists, Taylor Gallegos, Scotty Roebuck, Dustin Groeneman and Elle Martinez. These boards were auctioned off while guests enjoyed good company, beer donated by Odell Brewing and appetizers from Cafe Vino.

We are thrilled to be the beneficiary of this well-organized and successful event which raised over $1,500 for the Matthews House!

Not only did we raise a significant amount of money for our program, but we also made great connections with community members who will get involved as mentors and in other support and advocacy roles.

This was a great partnership and we thank Burn Longboards owner Moses Horner and intern Katie Powell for the opportunity to be involved and for all the hard work they put into making this event a classy and tremendously successful event.

Last Wednesday, we got together for our November Family Dinner, also known as our Thanksgiving Feast.

Once a month, we host a dinner for youth in our program and their guests. This is a time to just come to the house and have a tasty family style meal prepared by wonderful volunteers in a comfortable space. Each of our youth can bring along family, friends, a mentor – whoever they would like to spend the evening with. Sometimes after dinner there's a card game, charades, or an outdoor activity, sometimes just hanging out and talking.

This month, in honor of Thanksgiving, Ken Smith, one of our Board members and a professor in CSU's Restaurant and Resort Management program, organized a group of his students to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggies and topped off with delicious pie.

About 50 youth, staff, volunteers, family and mentors descended on the house for a festive evening of giving thanks!

If you've been shopping at Whole Foods in Fort Collins recently there's a good chance you've been asked if you would like to add a donation to your grocery bill in order to help people in need in our community this holiday season. If you've said yes, we'd like to say "Thank You!"

This is part of Whole Foods Market’s annual Grab and Give campaign. As a recipient organization, the Matthews House received $4,000 in healthy groceries last Wednesday morning. To help you imagine how much food that it, it took us 3-pick-up truck loads! This food will go to our youth and their families over the holidays and into the new year, helping them to plan and prepare healthy meals.

We are so thankful to the Fort Collins community for their generosity, to Whole Foods for running this campaign and for allowing us to be a recipient of this generosity from our community!

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