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Holiday High Tea
Our annual Holiday High Tea, hosted by Shirley Maddalena, will be held on Friday, December 5th from 3-5 PM at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham. This is a great, family-friendly way to kick off the holiday season! Tickets are $60, and proceeds benefit Alternatives For Girls. Click here to purchase a ticket!
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Project Giving Tree
Every year, Project Giving Tree matches dozens of AFG supporters with girls in our programs by assigning them each a holiday "wish list" from our participants. With your help, Project Giving Tree can provide a holiday to remember for the girls and women that we serve. For more information or to get involved this year, contact Melody Moore, Volunteer Services Manager, at 313-361-4000 x280 or
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Alternatives For Girls
News
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Greetings!
Because of a matching gift received by the Rush Group, right now your gift can be doubled in our fight to keep girls and women off the streets!
Read on to hear more about how you can get involved in securing AFG's future through the matching gift by the Rush Group, the major milestone reached by the women in our Sew Great! Program, and the recent room dedication ceremony to honor the UAW-Ford.
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Rush Group Matching Gift Update
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This month kicked off a three month long matching gift from the Rush Group, a Michigan-based automotive supply and trucking company. Thanks to this generous matching gift from the Rush Group and the group's CEO Andra Rush, gifts made from October 15, 2014 through January 31, 2015 will be doubled for the girls and women we serve, up to a total of $200,000. Every eligible donation made to support AFG's essential work will be matched dollar for dollar! Thanks to your generous support, we have already raised almost $17,000 to be matched!
We still have a long way to go and we need your help! Click here to donate now. We thank you for your continued support of our critical programs. Every dollar truly makes a difference!
For more information on the matching gift, please see our recent newsletter article.
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Sew Great! Group Celebrates Major Success
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 | | The women of Sew Great! model the scarves they created for the upcoming craft fair. |
On October 23rd, the women from the Sew Great! Program were joined by AFG staff and volunteers to celebrate their completion of a 100 bag order for the Art's My Bag project. For the past five weeks, the women have been hard at work completing the order for Art's My Bag, which is a project that will donate bags filled with art supplies to kindergartners in Detroit to promote creativity and participation in the arts. Roughly six weeks ago, Art's My Bag creator, Lois Cohn, recruited AFG to produce 100 canvas bags. The order allowed the group to purchase supplies to produce the bags and to supply the women in the group with a weekly stipend. Additionally, she provided a donation to launch Sew Great!, a weekly commercial sewing employment training program headed by volunteers and support staff.
The order of 100 bags was Phase 1 of a pilot program that grew from exploring ideas for a social enterprise at AFG so that girls and women can learn valuable employment skills and create goods they can sell to support themselves and their families. "I don't really have an income, so getting something that can help me pay my bills is great," Tina, a Sew Great! member shares. "I had just gotten a shut off notice a week before we started, for my lights and gas, and I was able to pay it down with the money I got from Sew Great!"
During the celebration, the women of Sew Great! held a fashion show to give the staff and volunteers a sneak peek on their next venture, making scarves for an upcoming craft show in Dearborn Heights and others around metro Detroit. The women proudly showed off the fleece scarves they plan to sell, in a variety of colors and prints. This will begin Phase 2 of the pilot training project.
After they each received certificates of achievement, the women shared what being a part of Sew Great! and its most recent project has meant to them. Click here to read more. |
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AFG Dedicates Room to UAW-Ford
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 | | UAW-Ford Vice President, Jimmy Settles, Vaughan Tolliver, Gerard Coiffard, Jeff Faber, and Gregg Dunn stand with AFG CEO, Amy Good outside of the newly dedicated UAW-Ford TIL classroom. |
In the past year, members of the UAW-Ford National Programs Center have gone above and beyond to support the work of AFG. In June, they held a very successful fundraiser that raised $10,000 to support our Rise N' Shine summer camp. Since then, they have supported AFG in many ways, from connecting us with other sources of support to going out of their way to drop off pumpkins for participants to carve and decorate. On Wednesday, October 22, Alternatives For Girls recognized this tremendous support by holding a room dedication ceremony to honor the UAW-Ford.
The room that was dedicated in honor of the UAW-Ford was the Transition to Independent Living (TIL) classroom. The TIL classroom is regularly used by the Shelter Department to hold life skills classes for the shelter residents. Topics covered include; career development, financial literacy, and healthy living. Because of the room's heavy focus on educational advancement, the UAW-Ford team members decided to adopt the classroom and support the classes and programs that take place in the room. Click here to read more.
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Sew Great! Photo Album Click here to get a behind the scenes look at the production of the bags for the Art's My Bag Project. | |
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Trunk or Treat Photo Album On October 30th, the Prevention Department held a Trunk or Treat event at AFG for it's participants! Click here to see the spooky fun!
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Thank you for reading about us!
Sincerely,
Amanda (Amy) L. Good
CEO
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