Category «District Six»

Supporting the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation Hangers Clothes Closet (Community, Children)

During the pandemic, Evansville Altrusans held a parking lot drive for Hangers to collect personal hygiene products. Hangers is an Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation clothing resource committed to serving EVSC students in need by providing them every-day living essentials that would otherwise be unaffordable. By providing clothing, school supplies, and hygiene products, they strive to improve the self-esteem and confidence of each student served, and in turn, ensure greater student success and fulfillment.

The club members donated over 250 personal care items, purchased 100 leisure reading books for middle and high school students and donated $250.00 for needed winter clothing.

Ables Fable Book Donation (Make A Difference Day/Literacy)

The Evansville Altrusans, Make a Difference Day Community Service Project was a WIN-Win in many ways! The Club donated 50 copies of Gary’s Gigantic Dream for distribution to kindergarten, first grade, and special education classrooms in the Evansville area in support of literacy and inclusion. The book is fun, bright, colorful and educational. It takes you on Gary’s journey of being evaluated for his very first wheelchair. Upon receiving his chair, Gary discovers newfound independence and zest for life and a gigantic dream of his own. Dr. Nicole Julia, the book’s author, donated 20% of the book’s sales during August and September to the Evansville Stop Light City Playground. This is an inclusive playground for children with disabilities being constructed in phases on the Westside of Evansville. The Club also purchased copies of the book to be placed in rotation with our books for the Trail with a Tale.

Sts. John and Mary Food Pantry Donations (Community)

Evansville Altrusans collected non-perishable food items, personal care products and cleaning supplies. The Food Pantry was started more than 20 years ago when St. Mary’s Catholic Church began to realize the great need for a means to provide food for the hungry in downtown Evansville. The Food Pantry assists more than 250 households per month. The need has been even greater during the pandemic. Additionally, the Club presented a $300.00 check from the Community Service budget to Food Pantry volunteers to aid in purchasing additional items such as meat, milk, eggs and seasonal fruit or produce.

United Methodist Youth Home (Make a Difference Day/Literacy

The Evansville Altrusans supported the United Methodist Youth Home through a Literacy/Make a Difference Day Project.

The Club provided a set of World Book Encyclopedias, Merriam-Webster’s Dictionaries, and books for residents’ leisure reading. The UMYH helps at-risk youth, ages 13 – 18, become productive and responsible members of the community. An emphasis is placed on educational achievement. Residents attending public schools receive daily monitoring of grades and attendance, study skills, and up to five hours per week of after school tutoring. The club also received a $200 grant from District Six to use for this project. The encyclopedias and dictionaries will aid in accomplishing education support for the residents. A difference is made in the lives of the youth through encouragement and guidance. The Club members also provided a “pitch-in” meal for the residents which included BBQ, side dishes, and Girl Scout S’mores cookies for dessert. Who doesn’t love a home cooked meal!

2020 Make A Difference Day

The 2020 Make A Difference Day was October 24th. This year for our Make A Difference Day project we provided the staff at Lincoln Elementary in Macomb, IL with lunch from Jimmy John’s. Members baked various desserts and signed cards to express our gratitude. The teachers and staff are working long hours to ensure the children are able to continue learning both in person and remotely.

Make-A-Difference Day 2020 – Gateway Education Center

The 2020 Make-A-Difference Day is October 24th. For this year’s Make-A-Difference Day project, the Altrusa Club of Warsaw, Indiana partnered with Gateway Education Center to provide snacks for the students. Gateway provides various educational opportunities like Alternative Instructional Methods. This program provides an adult-like atmosphere where students are expected to develop self-control and maintain adult behavior. Half of their school week is an academic setting and half of the week provides work experience. Credits earned lead to high school diplomas.

Another program, Rebound, is a half-day program aimed at assisting students who have dropped out of school and want to return, or students who have served an expulsion and would benefit from learning in a smaller setting before transitioning to the general school setting full-time.
The Center’s Middle School Alternative Learning Program is designed for students experiencing difficulty in the general school setting and need a smaller environment to work on academic, social, behavioral or mental health issues. Gateway also provides Adult Education classes to serve non-traditional students.

The Altrusa Club members learned that students enjoy receiving snack awards for their academic accomplishments. Members donated seven big baskets of various snack foods for the Gateway classes. The Club also donated cards of appreciation plus a $10 restaurant gift cards to Gateway’s 23-member staff. Members wanted to partner with Gateway to help make a difference in the students’ lives, and to show appreciation to the staff for all they do to make a difference in the lives of some of our community’s future adult citizens.

Back to School – Back to Service

The Service Committee was approached by the Community Volunteer Program Manager of Muncie Community Schools to assist in providing needed school supplies. The committee approved the purchase of $500 in supplies for MCS. The funds provided 60 sets of colored pencils, 335 dry erase markers, and 5,760 pencils! The committee also placed labels on each outer package with the Club’s logo so that teachers and students know that Altrusa supports them! This activity was completed and in the hands of the school’s administration within one week, far ahead of the needed date.

Servicing the Delaware County Foster Closet

For their Make a Difference Day project the Muncie Altrusa Club members worked with the Delaware County Foster Closet, a non-profit open to all foster parents and children in Indiana. They provide necessary items to ease the financial burden for foster families, providing a supportive fostering community. Having worked with the group before, the club continued their work this year by washing and sorting clothing items and shoes that were donated to the Foster Closet. Muncie members did 52 loads of laundry, then sorted by size and types of clothing. These were delivered to the Foster Closet along with 30 bottles of shampoo, 69 containers of baby wipes and 15 packages of diapers. We actually worked on this project the entire month and it culminated on October 31 with the sorting and delivery of the clothing, shoes and supplies.

Adopt-a-Class Lincoln Elementary

Our Club has adopted a class each year and supply the teacher with needed supplies (most recently a rug for story time and headphones). Members read each week to the class and celebrate with the class on holidays. At the end of the school year, we provide books to each student along with a bag of goodies for the summer. The teacher is invited to our banquet.

Bingo for Beaman Home

Our club’s biggest service project is in it’s 9th year of raising funds for the Beaman Home Shelter for the Abused we founded in 1985. We coordinate the very classy Bingo event annually during October (Domestic Violence Awareness Month). In 2017 we raised nearly $15,000 for their Emergency Shelter and Outreach Center programs and services. We can provide a PowerPoint that details each subcommittee and includes objectives, photos, partnerships with other entities and the results. The Bingo Committee begins work immediately after each year’s event. Since our club is not a 401c3, Beaman Home applies for the gambling license, provides bingo callers and handles all money. It takes all our club members to handle publicity, put together raffle baskets, solicit prizes and sponsors as well as all other details for the event. Many of our Bingo players look forward to and attend our annual event each year.