Make a Difference Day at Henley School will feed hungry over many weeks!

Personal Notes from Margaret Gorman, IHS Meal Packet Coordinator   Life Skills class arrives at Big Lots for shopping spree J.T. Henley Middle School in Crozet, Virginia participated in "Make a Difference Day" by making meal packets for IHS. There's not enough room to tell you about all the ways the students participated, but for part of the story you can read a nice article by Bryan McKenzie from the Saturday, Oct. 21 Charlottesville Daily Progress newspaper (link to this article is below). I'd like to add that two girls raised $125 in a bake sale that we used to purchase food.  Harris Teeter Grocery Store in Crozet donated $50 and let us borrow two grocery carts that we are using for collecting donations and for moving food to various classrooms where the students assemble the meals. Students gave up free time to go to Ms. Effland's classroom to make greeting cards. About 20 students helped Margaret Gorman conduct a semi-scientific study to compare the efficiency and accuracy of two methods of assembling meal packets: piecemeal construction vs. the assembly line. The results suggest that Henry Ford had a good idea when he invented the automobile assembly line. Eighth grade students will receive community service credit for their help. Everyone who participated had a good time and knew they were providing valuable assistance to people who are going through a tough time. Two happy shoppers with longest grocery receipt in Big Lots day! I can't tell you enough about how much I appreciate the time and effort the Life Skills class put in to shopping, assembling meals and creating cards. The grocery receipt they produced on their shopping trip to Big Lots was about seven feet long.  One photo shows happy Life Skills class students displaying their large purchase. We want to express great appreciation to the J.T. Henley community for their success in this huge effort. Amy Effland, Amy Hovis and Teresa Goodin organized the effort. Susan Guerrant, Chuck Miller and Kevin Murphy provided great financial support, advise on logistics and publicity. The custodial staff collected nice boxes for packing the meals. The front office fielded questions and collected the donations for us. Maureen Russell gave her art classes the time and resources to produce beautiful greeting cards. Students filled three shopping carts with heaps of IHS food packet products. Enjoy reading the article, and contact us if you'd like to know more about how to participate. The 322 full day meal packets assembled by Henley Middle School is a new one-time assembly project record for an IHS contribution. Thank you Henley! Here is the direct link to the Daily Progress article: http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/oct/21/mckenzie-henley-goes-big-make-difference-day-ar-1400876/

A Story Worth Repeating

The Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign (CVC) 2011 for state workers, asked IHS to submit a very short story which depicts situations we encounter. This one story came quickly to mind. There are many more to tell, but this repeating situation is emotional for all of us, and stands forth as to why IHS's existence has such merit. During the month of October, you can visit the CVC website at http://www.cvc.vipnet.org and visit "Making a Difference." As short stories appear, potential state worker donors can click on "Read more" and they will read the story below. For friends of IHS, we wanted to share this one example of this charity's impact. Blessings ... T. Wade The woman on the midnight bus There is a young woman who arrives every month or two on the late Greyhound bus in Charlottesville. She walks with her child to a hotel near the UVA Medical Center. She saves every penny, not using a taxi even at this late hour. She is coming for cancer treatment the following day. Since she has no one at home in northern Virginia to keep her child and UVA Hospitality House restricts guests with children under age 18, her social worker meets her need for lodging and food through a close working relationship with a very responsive charity.    Without pre-planning to secure her stay, this indigent patient could not make these trips to secure her hold onto life and a long life with her child. Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum, Inc. (IHS) works closely with UVA social workers to meet temporary "unmet" needs for indigent patients and family members. While others are sleeping, IHS is also available 24/7 to UVA social workers with immediate needs which are not being met from any other source. We are a CVC charity. To support the work of Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum, Inc., designate your gift to CVC 3648.

SPECIAL NOTICE for UVA Medical and University staff, and all other state employees. The Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign (CVC) 2011 begins October 1st.  Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum, Inc. (IHS) is a CVC charity.  To support our work for lodging, meals, co-pay etc., designate your gift to CVC 3648.

October Events to Date Have Provided Wonderful Exposure!

Notes from Margaret Gorman, IHS Meal Packet Coordinator IHS Yard Sale a success Oct. 8, 2011 in Ivy area of Charlottesville, VA Kimbrough Circle Yard Sale for IHS I won't complain about spending a beautiful October day outside.  Alyson Ball, a good friend of IHS, and I filled the driveway with donations from friends and neighbors, the Cleggs and from our own homes. Alyson suggested we ask for donations instead of haggling over prices, so that we could focus on communicating with our shoppers about IHS. We were rewarded-- $550 and many new contacts. I am hopeful that we will hear from some of them about performing service projects that will help the caregivers and outpatients at the UVA Medical Center. Thanks to Alyson and John Ball, Mike Gorman and Patrick Gorman (who got out of bed unbearably early to move tables). Thanks to the Tillys, Bo Berndt, the Allisons and Missy Lynn for their donations of yard sale items and to the Kimbrough Circle neighbors who gave generous donations for the items they hauled away. Thanks also to Sandy and Alice Williams who set up a companion yard sale that enticed many people to our yard sale. Alice was also one of our best customers; I believe most of the profits from her sale ended up in our donation box when she hauled off bags of books and an outfit to wear to an upcoming Japanese Anime convention. Follow up to Kroger days Oct. 1-2, 2011 IHS distributed information and collected donations of food and money from shoppers at the Kroger Grocery Store at Barracks Road Shopping Center in Charlottesville on Saturday and Sunday.   Barracks Road Kroger Charlottesville with UVA Venture Group Helping the Cause Venture Scouts from Crew 1819, Boy Scouts of America, of the University of Virginia returned Saturday morning from a frigid camping trip to give their support. The female members of the crew displayed their skill from Girl Scout cookie selling days. Crew leader, John, made sure everyone was well fed. It was a beautiful autumn day and the University was hosting a home football game, so that atmosphere was brisk and festive. On Sunday, the high school youth group of longtime IHS supporter, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, Unitarian Universalist, came to help. The weather had changed, so these young people had to bundle up against cold and wind, but they were fortified with bagels and good company. They clipped coupons from the Sunday ad insert for the local newspaper and then warmed up by shopping for microwave soups, stews, and other meal packet items. We met a lot of very nice, concerned shoppers and came away with a trunk full of food and enough cash to pay for several hotel rooms. Thank you to everyone who helped, and a big Thank You to Katie Runkle and to Kroger for inviting us to set up our display and collection site. Notes from T. Wade and Elisheva Clegg Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign (CVC) Charity Fair, Richmond, Oct. 4, 2011 Charlottesville area was not scheduled this 2011 kickoff season with a charity fair for state workers to consider which charities are still active and who is new as approved charities for state worker donations. The kickoff date was October 1, 2011. 2011 CVC Donation Campaign The closest venue for meeting state workers was hosted in Richmond, and IHS set up a display in the James Monroe Building on 14th Street, just a few blocks from the Capitol. IHS functions solely to meet the unmet needs of outpatients and caregivers who must travel from all over Virginia to take advantage of one of two state hospitals with state-supported discount opportunities. UVA Medical Center is one of those hospitals; therefore, IHS is serving Virginians state wide by paying for lodging, food, co-pay, prescriptions and travel (as requested). The chance to meet state workers who are not related to UVA Health Services was a pleasure and hopefully will draw contributions for our role in serving the indigent population from every district of the state. Thanks to CVC Director Anne Dinterman, and Program Assistant Melissa New, for their helpful direction and assistance for this new addition (IHS) to the CVC list of charities. The theme this year is "Give from the Heart in 2011."  The CVC website for locating Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum, Inc. Code 3648 is www.cvc.vipnet.org.