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

“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!

Do you enjoy a motorcycle ride on a beautiful Colorado day?

Are you concerned about neglected and abused children and youth in Larimer County?

Want to have fun and make a difference at the same time?

Consider joining Realities for Children on the Realities Ride this weekend.

It’s a blast…you WILL enjoy yourself.

“Realities For Children hopes to draw more than 3,000 people and raise more than $40,000 during this weekend’s eighth annual Realities Ride and Pre-Ride Rally.
The event is one of the largest charity motorcycle poker runs; it benefits abused and neglected children in Northern Colorado. Last year’s event drew 3,000 and raised just less than $40,000, said Holli Milenski, Realities promotional coordinator.”  Read more

This is our big, fun event of the year and we hope to see you there!

Listen to our Cutivate Hope Radio Invitation here.

On Thursday, May 7th, we will hold the 2nd Annual Cultivate Hope Benefit.

There will be a silent auction of hand-created flower pots, garden art and garden goodies, along with music, food and festivities, all to benefit the Matthews House.

This enjoyable evening features

• bluegrass music by Finders and Youngberg,

• a silent auction of handcreated flower pots and garden art by local artists, including Barbara Moore, Kari Lennartson, Lisa Cameron, Bryan Collins and many more,

• as well as a chance to win fabulous prizes, including a Grand Junction Wine Getaway.

This celebration of Spring parallels the growth we see in the lives of youth in the Matthews House program as they take control of their lives and begin to pursue exciting pathways to a future of hope.

The event begins at 6:30pm next Thursday, May 7th, at the Hilton Garden Inn (2821 E Harmony) and tickets are only $25.

More information and tickets are available here or at 970-472-4293.

This year’s event is underwritten by Realities for Children, and presented by Hilton Garden Inn and Capital West National Bank with additional support from the Tenfold Collective and Bath Garden Center.

You may be familiar with Realities for Children, if not you’ll want to be – trust me.

Realities for Children is a cause marketing and promotional company that provides a unique opportunity for local businesses to gain marketing benefits, including special marketing rates, greater visibility, referral networking, and positive name association, while meeting the needs of abused and neglected children in Larimer County. By bringing together a large number of business members they are able to offer member-businesses an amazing return on investment while making a huge impact on our community by providing funding for emergency needs, education, sponsorship support and special activities for at-risk children and youth.

So why am I talking about Realities for Children on the Matthews House blog? Well, I realized you may not know that The Matthews House is a Realities for Children affiliate agency and I also realized that even if you do know that, you might not know what it means. I can tell you that it means a lot to our youth, directly and indirectly.

As an affiliate agency we are able to apply for emergency funding when there are no resources available elsewhere to meet a need. The Realities for Children Emergency Fund creates a safety net for children and youth who would otherwise fall through the cracks. This partnership with Realities has allowed immediate needs such as emergency shelter to be met for our youth.

Realities also meets the needs of our youth indirectly through event sponsorship. By signing on as the Presenting Sponsor for our upcoming Cultivate Hope fundraiser, Realities for Children is underwriting the cost of putting on the event so that all the money that comes in can go directly to helping the youth the Matthews House exists to serve. That means that when you buy a ticket to Cultivate Hope, all $25 is going to help youth develop the support network and skills they need to be successful and self-sufficient. And when you bid and win a beautiful piece of garden art at the event, you can know that the money doesn’t get absorbed into the cost of food or printing but goes directly to our program and youth in need.

If you are a business owner or an employee of a community-minded business, please look into Realities for Children to see how they can help you to leverage your marketing dollars while helping Larimer County’s children.

Please join us for Cultivate Hope, coming up on May 7th at 6:30pm. Tickets and Info available on our website.

On May 7th at our 2nd annual Cultivate Hope benefit there will be music provided by fabulous local bluegrass band, Finders and Youngberg.

We love them and think you will too!

If you’d like a little preview of their music, they are going to be on Live at Lunch at noon this Friday (2/27) on KRFC 88.9FM.
And later that night, they’ll be playing at Avogadro’s Number at 8 pm for the small fee of $10.
If you’d like a preview of their tunes from the comfort of your own computer, you can just drop by their website for a visit.

We hope you will come out to join us on May 7th for food, wine and lots of amazing garden art. And to hear these fun, friendly and talented musicians who will be graciously sharing their music with us.