Michigan Schooner Festival

Over 100 volunteers are needed to assist the Maritime Heritage Alliance during the Michigan Schooner Festival September 10-12 in Traverse City.

The festival will bring together six tall ships in West Grand Traverse Bay of Traverse City. The festival is geared for all ages and offers rides aboard the ships, evening cruises, a “Pancakes with Pirates” breakfast, kid’s activities and “Blue Shadow” will headline the entertainment with a performance on Saturday evening during the Parade of Sails.

Volunteers are needed for registration, kid’s games, cleanup, recycling, passenger/dock assistants and beverage tent.

The Maritime Heritage Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, interpreting and sharing the maritime heritage of the Great Lakes.
To sign up call Susan McQuaid at the United Way of Northwest Michigan Volunteer Center at 947-3200 Ext. 205 or send an e-mail to susan@unitedwaynwmi.org

Thank You and Thank You!

As we are just a week away from our 15th Annual Day of Caring we wanted to take a moment and thank some of the people and places who make this day a reality.

Huntington is our Presenting Sponsor, and they have been sponsoring the Day of Caring for 9 years. Our Pancake Breakfast Sponsors are Sara Lee, Elmers, and Sam's Club. In Kind Sponsors include: Michigan Schooner Festival, Morse Moving, Leelanau Roasters, Bay Area Recycling for Charities, and WTCM.

And last but certainly not least are the businesses and agencies who volunteer to fulfill the needs of our area nonprofit agencies on the Day of Caring:

Global Marine Insurance
Faith Reformed Church
Scenic Trails Boy Scouts Council
Consumers Energy
Takeda Pharmaceuticals
Intelligence Agency
Hagery
Fifth Third Bank
Best Buy
Alfie Designs
Huntington
Traverse City Record Eagle
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
ECI
WKLT
La Senorita
Disability Determination Services
Reynolds Jonkhoff Funeral Services
Traverse City Northstars
Traverse City Rotary Charities
The Young Professionals
The Arbors of Traverse City
United Way Board of Directors
RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program)
Traverse Legal
Great Wolf Lodge
Tom Emling
Tony Ryan - DHS
Meijer
UPS
Sara Lee
Northwest Michigan Works!
Viktor Incentives
US Coast Guard
Dennis, Gartland, & Niergarth
H&R Block
Painting & Decorating Contractors of America
Cherryland Electric
Grand Traverse Industries
TCAPS
Food Rescue
Wells Fargo
Northwestern Michigan College
The Larkin Group
Grand Traverse Heritage Center Board of Directors
Traverse City West High School Band
NMC Dorms


On behalf of United Way of NWMI and all the agencies involved in the Day of Caring.... THANK YOU for all of your time and support.

We'll Make You famous!

If you volunteer for a nonprofit agency we would like to take a picture of you and use it in our upcoming campaign to appear in the Traverse City Record Eagle and surrounding newspapers.

Photos will be taken on August 25 from 10am to 4pm and Thursday August 26 from 10am to 2pm. Your individual photo shoot will take about 15 minutes and we will give you a black Live United t-shirt to wear (and keep) for the photo.

Please contact Michelle Gallagher for more details and to sign up, 231-947-3200 x 201 or michelleg@Unitedwaynwmi.org

If you would like to see last year's ads, check them out on our website.

It's just so beautiful....

Do you know this place? It's a place that is rich with history and accomplishment. A place that blesses our senses with music, art and inspiration. A place where people become intertwined with nature, culture and friendship. A place without boundaries. For all of these reasons and more.... I love this place.

If you love this place also, please leave your comments. Up for grabs is a gift card to Auntie Pastas.

Day of Caring

This year marks our 15th Annual Day of Caring, which will be held (rain or shine) on Thursday September 9th.

We will kick off the day with a pancake breakfast, starting at 8am at the Open Space. We'll get you well fed and reved up to go out and spend the day working on your special project. We do have quite a few projects already submitted, check it out on our website and be the first to sign your team up! http://www.unitedwaynwmi.org/DOCProjects.html

Remember, not all projects need to be done on the 9th, but we would still love to have you join us for breakfast, no matter what day you are doing your volunteer project.

On Wednesday September 15th we will be having a Thank you party, in conjunction with Business After Hours at Mt. Holiday. We hope you can attend and help us celebrate all the great work that was done on the Day of Caring.

If you have any questions please contact Susan McQuaid 231-947-3200 x 205 or email her susan@unitedwaynwmi.org.

Habitat for Humanity - The Womens Build

After just about giving the answer away last week, I got a correct guess. My last vacation was with Habitat for Humanity. I spent a rainy Tuesday helping to build a house for a hard-working mother and her two daughters. Last fall Habitat for Humanity received a large donation from the estate of Sandra Schlueter. Sandra was a dedicated Habitat for Humanity volunteer and one of the first women officers in the US Air Force. In memory of Sandra, Habitat for Humanity dedicated the Women Build Project. Women from our area have come together to build a house just outside of Maple City. It was amazing to be a part of it, even though it was just one day. I worked with a great team of women lifting and raising the roof trusses, they were heavy! Habitat hopes to have the house completed by late August so the new homeowner and her daughters can be settled in before the school year begins.


Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit our community needs now more than ever. Their purpose is to help deserving families obtain quality, low cost homes. Partner families invest hundreds of hours, also known as sweat equity, into their home and into homes of other partner famiies. Their mortgages are interest free and go directly into a revolving fund that helps Habitat for Humanity build additional homes. It's a great concept, and one that is making a tremendous impact in Northern Michigan.

Habitat uses volunteers in every portion of their existance. Every home is built under volunteer manpower - and you don't have to be knowledgeable about construction to help. I did it and I really have no idea how to build things, just ask my husband. In addition to building homes Habitat for Humanity runs a retail store they have dubbed "ReStore". They accept donations of used building materials and sell them back to the general public. At "ReStore" volunteers are needed to help pick up donations, stock goods in the store, handle the cash register and anything else that may come up during the day. Habitiat for Humanity would not be in existence if it were not for its volunteers.

If I have in some way peaked your interest in volunteering for Habitat for Humanity please contact Carrie Ullery-Smith at cullerysmith@habitatgtr.org. Carrie would be delighted to help you become involed with the Habitat for Humanity community. And if you are a woman there is still time to help with the Womens Build Project. Trust me, you won't regret volunteering!

Lastly, congratulations to the new homeowner. It was wonderful to meet you. May you enjoy many happy years in your new home. Check out some of the touching notes volunteers wrote on the walls of the home while it was being built. Don't you just love it?

Day of Caring 2010

The 15th annual Day of Caring is Thursday, September 9, 2010 and we have teamed up with The Grand Vision! We have also added the first Youth and Family Day of Caring on Saturday September 11, 2010 in partnership with Faith Reformed Church.

We’ll start with a Community Pancake Breakfast at the Open Space at 8:00 am on Thursday September 9 for those teams participating on that day. We’ll also kick off the Youth and Family Day of Caring on Saturday September 11 with a pancake breakfast at Faith Reformed Church for those youth and family teams participating that day. Following the breakfasts, teams will spread out across northwest Michigan to do a day of service.

The Grand Vision will team up with the United Way for the 15th annual Day of Caring. The Grand Vision is a transparent process led by citizens who are willing to make things happen. It’s built upon a basic belief that the citizens of the region can make decisions today to create the region of tomorrow. We are so pleased to join forces to promote our shared vision of citizen action through volunteerism. To find out more, visit www.thegrandvision.org.

Faith Reformed Church is partnering with the Day of Caring for our first Youth and Family Day of Caring. Their volunteers are always open to exploring new ideas or partnerships with other individuals and/or groups who are looking to improve the welfare of the people who live in and around the Grand Traverse area. For more information contact Karin Stevens, Director of Children’s Ministries and Volunteer Development, at karins@faithreformedchurchtc.org.