Our meeting today was a field trip to David's House (DH) and the club was represented there by Kelli, Ron, Scott, Doug, Beth and Ken. Paul from David's House, who spoke to our club a few months ago, was our host. He reminded us that DH started in 1987 to fill a need for quality housing and care for adults with disabilities with a focus on the complete set of their needs – body, mind and spirit. They now care for 37 individuals in 4 homes with 116 on their waiting list which is why they are working toward building an additional 6 homes to increase capacity by 36. DH's $4.1 million annual budget requires $1.4 million in annual fundraising. Our group toured two of the DH homes including the most recent new home which is nearly complete but not yet occupied. It was a well-planned and high quality building and, combined with the quality of care they provide, illustrates why the DH waiting list is so long.
Please welcome our newest members: Jeff Jauss, President/Owner of Striders running store in Grandville; Tanya Sawicki, Office Manager of Consumers Credit Union in Grandville; Katelyn Bush, Recreation Program Coordinator with the City of Kentwood Parks & Recreation Department and Joe Long, with Richter Realty in Grandville. Jeff and Katelyn have both spoken to our group and Jeff has secured a "Wike" and pusher to accommodate a disabled person in our 2018 Memorial Day 5K. Tanya's young daughter collected pop cans a few years ago to raise money for an AmTryke for her friend from Indiana when they spent the summer together at Silver Lake.
The Board in March approved the purchase of the smallest AmTryke model for Paisley McQueen who is 17 months old with cerebral palsy. Paisley lives in the Holland area and her therapist from Spectrum Health in Zeeland said Paisley would greatly benefit from having her own AmTryke to ride.
Please continue to save the morning of Monday, May 28 to help out on the race/parade. We are making progress on the "work-around" to allow the closure of Baldwin Street on Memorial Day for the race and parade by temporarily re-routing and re-signing the Cottonwood Drive detour, however, final road commission approval of the permit has not yet been secured. Also, Marty is working on a repeat of "The Win" fundraiser that day with a portion of their proceeds going to the club. Details to follow.
400 race bags will be assembled at our May 15 Chapter meeting. Please plan to attend that day to have lunch with your fellow members and then chip in on circling the tables and assembling the goodie bags for the racers. If your business has items to contribute, they need to be ready to go by that date and please notify Dave Hodge or Kelli Williams now.
Adaptive Golf Clinic is June 5th from 10a – 1p at the Pines Golf Course. Lunch included.
Chapter Board: The next Chapter Board meeting will be held at noon on Tuesday, April 24 at Grandville City Hall. All club members are welcome to attend.
Calendar Sales: The restaurant calendars are still available. Drawing for the gift certificates come at the end of each month so there is still time to buy them and be eligible for all the April drawings. See Kelli.
Fun Fact: According to schmoop.com, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald was the second cousin three times removed of Francis Scott Key, author of the Star-Spangled Banner.