West Michigan Foster Mother Fosters 500 Children in 50 Years Service

On Friday a West Michigan woman was honored for her efforts to give as many children as possible a home.

It's an incredible story of commitment and dedication to helping kids. Elaine Vanleeuwen has been there as a foster parent for 500 kids over the last 50 years.

Many of those kids were on hand for a reception at Children and Family Services in Kalamazoo to recognize all she's done.

Elaine and her husband took on their first foster child in 1961 and they continued taking in foster children over the next 50 years.

Elaine's husband, Alan Vanleeuwen, who shared her commitment to kids, passed away eight years ago, but Elaine continued foster parenting. Even now at 79 she fosters three teenage siblings.

Mattawan Community Food Pantry Continues to Grow

Five-and-a-half-tons.

11,000 pounds.

That's the amount of food in one month that the Mattawan Area Pantry, a group of Mattawan area churches, businesses and organizations, in an ecumenical effort, currently averages as it offers assistance to Mattawan Consolidated School District residents.

Food pantry volunteers have previously stated that hunger is a growing problem in Van Buren County, as nearly 11,000 families each month have trouble putting food on the table.
For several years, a food pantry had been operated by the Mattawan Congregational Church (now Mattawan Community Church.)

As the church operated the food pantry, church members began to see residents' needs increase for food and other items.

About 18 months ago, Access First Credit Union, in Mattawan, began initial talks about starting a community food pantry.

Those talks strengthened through an Access First Credit Union employee at the time, who knew Laura Osborne, Mattawan Community Church's associate pastor. In the fall of 2010, the Mattawan Area Pantry Board was formed to help oversee the food pantry.

Board membership is made up of volunteers from MPI Research, Access First Credit Union, the Mattawan Kiwanis Club, St. John Bosco Church, Mattawan, and Mattawan Community Church.
The board is completing paperwork that will designate it as a non-profit group, separate from the church. It has also filed for 501(c) 3 non-profit status.

Mike Hartwigsen, of Access First Credit Union, business development, Mattawan, said the Mattawan Area Pantry has developed into something "far beyond anything we could have ever started.

"It's taken on a life of its own."

www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20463665&BRD=2188&PAG=461&dept_id=414962&rfi=6

Kalamazoo County Commissioners Continue Discussion on Possible November Ballot for Housing for Homeless

Kalamazoo County commissioners need to vet a proposed tax to support housing for the homeless before deciding whether to put it on the November ballot, board Chairwoman Deb Buchholtz said Tuesday.

"It's going to be more important to do this right than to do it quickly," Buchholtz said during Tuesday's Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners meeting.

Last month, Kalamazoo County Public Housing Commission Chairman David Anderson asked the board to put a 0.33-mill tax request on the Nov. 8 ballot to fund more housing for the homeless. The Local Housing Assistance Fund gives subsidized housing vouchers, purchases permanent housing for the homeless and gives money when people face housing emergencies.

The board has until Aug. 30 — or three more regularly scheduled board meetings — to decide whether to put the issue before county voters.

www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/07/tax_for_homeless_may_get_more.html

Speaker's Bureau for the (Former) Homeless

The typical speakers bureau can get a celebrity, a politician or a media pundit to address your group for a few thousand, or maybe tens of thousands of dollars. But one speakers bureau made up of men and women who have been homeless will provide someone for only $40.

And the speech could be just as compelling as one given by high-priced talent.

John Harrison is one of those speakers. With his ruddy good looks, salt-and-pepper hair, khakis and white button-down shirt, he looks like someone who might spend a lot of time relaxing on a sailboat. Instead, he's still struggling to get back on his feet after years of homelessness.

He's addressing a Jewish youth group, part of a program organized by the PANIM Institute in Washington, D.C. The teens came into the room laughing and joking, but are soon mesmerized.

Harrison's message is clear: Almost anyone can become homeless, and people should be nice to those who are homeless.

"Seemed like all of a sudden, people walked by me like I wasn't even there," Harrison tells the group.

"I remember going into a restaurant to get what I called a 'two for one.' And the 'two for one' for the person experiencing homelessness is the warmth and the food for the price of the food. And so, I was optimistic. They took my order. But when they brought me my food, it was to go. Because that was the message. Go," he says.

www.npr.org/2011/07/04/137534446/ex-homeless-speak-out-to-change-perceptions

Kalamazoo TV 3 Reports on Issues of Families and Homelessness

Kalamazoo based TV channel 3 is taking a hard look at the issues of families and homelessness.

In Kalamazoo County there are a number of families dealing with incredible stress as they try to keep a roof over their heads.

On Friday we spoke to several families who say they are running out of options. Some who stay in hotels and can't afford the rent, while others have too many people to safely stay in one room, all face challenges that continue to mount.

“It's four kids and two adults,” said Angela Fluellyn.

Fluellyn says the one bedroom motel room is the best she can do right now, she says her weekly rent is going up to $200.

“Nobody has too much income besides cash assistance, apply for jobs, no guarantee that anybody gets employment,” said Fluellyn.

Fluellyn says she's been busy filling out applications, but currently the family relies on government assistance for rent and the food bank for food.

www.wwmt.com/articles/kalamazoo-1392893-looking-anyway.html

Kalamazoo Students Headed to Africa to Help Install Water Purification Systems

Don't know about you, but personally I feel that there are not enough positive stories about urban education and the youth therein. Here's an exception:

A group of Kalamazoo students will leave on an overseas trip today, but they won’t be spending time on the beach or at tourist attractions.

Eight students from Kalamazoo and six adults will spend 15 days learning about culture in Senegal and doing community service as part of the Urban Youth for Africa. The program, sponsored by the Kalamazoo Deacon’s Con­ference, is in its third year and its first as a partner of Clean Water for the World.

“There are ways to learn out­side school,” Cranston Mitch­ell, 18, said. “You can learn anywhere.”

The students, who will be staying near the capitol city of Dakar, will be matched up with local students to do workshops, find common ground and en­gage in “mutual culture ex­changes” in collaboration with the Africulturban Community Center, a radio station, youth center and performance space in Pikine.

And they will install a water purification system at the community center as well as one at a school in Pikine.

www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/06/8_kalamazoo_students_headed_to.html

The Sandbox Party Salutes Governor Snyder's New Office of Great Start

Before the real work begins in hammering out the details, early childhood supporters from the tip of Copper Country in the Upper Peninsula to Wayne County in Southeast Michigan paused to commend Governor Rick Snyder’s action (on Wednesday) creating a Michigan Office of Great Start by Executive Order.

The action:

• Places the new Office within the Michigan Department of Education;
• Provides the Superintendent of Public Instruction “all administrative powers, duties, functions and responsibilities” over the new Office;
• Transfers to the new Office all responsibilities of the Office of Child Development and Care within the Department of Human Services;
• Transfers to the new Office all responsibilities of the Head Start Collaboration Office within the Department of Human Services;
• and transfers to the new Office all responsibilities of the Office of Early Childhood Education and Family Services within the Michigan Department of Education

www.michigansandboxparty.org/media/in-the-news/react-office-great-start

Hospice Care of Southwest Michigan Celebrates 30th Anniversary

No one likes to think of death, of what their life — or the life of a loved one — will be like when the end is near.

Easing that end-of-life concern led to the creation of the first modern hospice in the U.S. in 1974, with the idea spreading to southwest Michigan in just a few years.

The concept behind hospice care — that people in the end stages of life deserve to live comfortably and in dignity — took root in Kalamazoo in 1981 with the launch of Hospice of Greater Kalamazoo. Now called Hospice Care of Southwest Michigan, the nonprofit organization is celebrating 30 years of serving the community, of helping the dying live out the remainder of their lives peacefully and guiding family members as they cope with the loss of a loved one.

The organization has come a long way in just 30 years.

Initially funded as a pilot program with a $100,000 grant from the Kalamazoo Foundation (now Kalamazoo Community Foundation) with other assorted grants and donations, its first headquarters was donated office space inside St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. From helping 72 families in its first year, Hospice Care of Southwest Michigan has worked with “thousands and thousands” of clients and families over the agency’s history, according to Kelly McCormick, chief operating officer for Hospice Care of Southwest Michigan.

www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/06/ce_care_of_southwest_michigan.html

Habitat for Humanity Opens Re-Store In Allegan

Lakeshore Habitat For Humanity cut the ribbon Monday, June 20, on its new Re-Store in Allegan, at 1513 Lincoln Road.

Providing building materials, appliances and home furnishings for as little as 50 percent of retail cost, the Re-Store's profits help fund the nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry's mission: partnering with families in need to build homes.

Lakeshore Habitat Re-Store director Chris Tucker said the business had been in the planning for a year and renovations to the 6,800-square-foot building took seven weeks. It will be open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (closed Sunday).

Store manager Chad Bryson said he was getting a lot of positive feedback from the community.

"I think the store fills a niche," Bryson said, "especially now, with the job losses and gas prices. We're the perfect place to shop."

Habitat Re-Stores are stocked with items other stores and contractors donate (or discontinue); they are not defective.

www.allegannews.com/articles/2011/06/23/local_news/4.txt

NPR Report: Food Bank Shortages Lead To Innovation

Food banks around the country are trying to keep their shelves stocked as more people in the U.S. struggle to get enough to eat. Increasingly, that means finding new ways to salvage food that would otherwise go to waste.

One innovation is being tested at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee. In a back room at the food bank's warehouse in Gray, Tenn., dented and crushed cans containing everything from green beans to beets are piled high on a counter.

In the past, these cans all would have been thrown out, because no one knew whether bacteria had slipped through a crack, spoiling the contents.

But Scott Kinney, who's in charge of finding food supplies for the food bank, says that might be about to change.

He puts several damaged cans into a box-shaped machine with a clear lid. It's a vacuum packaging machine — the kind usually used to seal food in plastic.

"Right now it's setting up the vacuum," he says, as the machine motor starts to hum. "You can watch; the cans will move a little bit as the vacuum gets to its highest pressure point."

The cans vibrate, then puff up like little balloons as the machine sucks out all the air in the chamber. They return to normal when the machine stops.

www.npr.org/2011/06/25/137375088/food-bank-shortages-lead-to-innovation