Please visit us at our new website!

We have decided to opt for keeping members up-to-date on our website at showmewomenwhocare.weebly.com.  Check us out there.  Also we are on FACEBOOK.

The latest with Show Me Women Who Care

August 2012  -$3,955    MJ Clapp championedHabitat for Humanity this month.  She told us about a family that was built a Habitat for Humanity home years ago.  This family has a child that is now 16 years old who is handicapped.  In order to care for her properly a handicapped accessible bathroom is required.  Habitat is building on to their home this special bathroom to make the care of their daughter much easier and safer for all.  Our collective donations will go toward the expenses of this bathroom addition.

May 2012 - $4,030                Jean Brown championed and won our combined donation for the YWCA  ENCOREplus program.  She explained how it saves women’s lives by empowering them to become active and responsible participants in their own health maintenance and care, stressing the importance of the early detection of breast cancer.  The program provides:   Presentations about breast cancer awareness through community presentations, and one-on-one sessions, referrals about how to get a FREE Mammogram or FREE Clinical Breast Exam, free brochures about breast health and transportation and childcare the day of an exam.  Fortunately the YWCA has a bilingual staff person to help those who are having difficulty due to a language barrier. Funding for this program has been primarily from a grant that was not renewed for this year.  Your donation will help keep this program alive and operating. 

February 2012 – $4,665 Held in March of 2012 due to weather -  Hands of Hope Hospice makes an enormous difference in the lives of the dying and their families.  Kris Daise championed this cause as she has personally benefited from their services as her father recently passed after being under their care for a year.   During that time she has learned about the challenges some of their client’s experience.   The funds she asked for will be directed to help those who fall through the cracks.  Some of these people have extenuating circumstances that make dying at home a challenge.  For example, she told of a 19 year old girl who is dying of cancer.  This young woman graduated from high school but was unable to purchase her senior picture.  A thirty something year old man, with a wife and two children, needed pest control to be able to stay in his home to die.  Others are threatened to have their electric cut off when they are dependent on oxygen to breath.    These are the types of situations our donation will fund to help make the dying process a little easier and allow the patient to remain at home. 

November 2011-    $3980              Family Guidance Center received this quarter’s SMWWC donation.   They in collaboration with the St. Joseph School District help keep at risk children in school by offering alternative education and mental health services in a day treatment setting.  They work with preschool and kindergarten age children at the Colgan Alternative Resource Center.  Rachel McCoy told us about how these children have been removed from traditional classroom settings due their social emotional and/or autistic needs.  Family Guidance works with these children to help them overcome these issues so they can again be mainstreamed.  They have a 95% success rate.  Family Guidance Center also runs an after school program for older school age children with similar problems.  The money we supply will be used for educational toys and materials used in their nontraditional classroom and after school care.

Denise Kerns championed the American Red Cross at Monday’s meeting with Karla Long, a SMWWC member and American Red Cross professional speaking for her on the need to supply funds for the efforts to keep those searching for State Highway Patrol officer Fred Guthrie Jr. hydrated and fed. The search for him has stretched into over a week now and the strain on their budget has been crippling. The location is remote and the availability of food and water is not convenient. It costs $600 a day to take the Emergency Response Vehicle loaded with the drinks and food necessary for all the people involved in the recovery effort. Karla had just returned from the scene and told firsthand how your donations will make a huge difference in the situation.

New Members Welcome!

Show Me Women Who Care is working to reach our goal of giving $10,000.00 per quarter to a Buchanan or Andrew County, MO charity. We have 4 new members since our May meeting! The more members we have the more we can help people in need through established charities already in place to make good things happen. E-mail me at showmewomenwhocare@gmail.com if you are interested in joining.

May 2011- Catholic Charities – Young Families Program received funding on our third anniversary of Show Me Women Who Care to purchase diapers, wipes, and portable cribs for families who can’t make ends meet without this help. Elaine Ingle told us that Catholic Charities responds to the gospel mandate by caring for the vulnerable, honoring the life and dignity of all persons, and engaging the community in providing compassionate social services and advocacy. Typically 75% of their services go to those not of the Catholic faith. Both Andrew and Buchanan Counties are served by Catholic Charities. Marianne Brachman, who is in charge of the Young Families Program, shared these comments from recipients of our donations. “My family is not able to help me because they have lots of problems, so coming here is like asking someone who care about me and my son.” Another mom says, ”Having diapers saves the day and makes me know we will make it OK with other things that I got to buy this week.” One dad said, “If I can pay you back, I will with diapers when I get a job. I won’t forget you did us a big favor with giving them to my family.”

Year 3

May, 2010 - $3605 Jennifer Rhoad championed The Center which offers professional mental health counseling services to our community. They are a United Way agency. The funding will be used for their Resource Center in outreach educational lectures on topics such as depression, dementia, dealing with chronic pain, and how children deal with loss and grief. This outreach is partially funded by the United Way and with our donation they will be able to fully fund the project.

August, 2010 - $3660 St. Joseph Youth Alliance presented by Fran Brothers received funding at our August 9^th meeting. This organization will use the funds to help pay for photo IDs for children, birth certificates, bus fares for transportation, children's books for partnering with Parents as Educators and Head Start, abuse counseling, teaching parenting skills, among other things. Their goal is to improve the lives of children and parents in Buchanan County. They serviced about 108 children and nearly 200 adults this past year.

November, 2010 - $3730 YWCA JUMP Program championed by Jean Brown received funding to be used for incentives such as diapers, wipes, a crib, sippy cups, and emergency aid to young mothers for the purpose of encouraging good mothering techniques and keeping these mothers in school to finish their education. JUMP stands for Journey to Unite Mentors and Parents and matches up adult mentors with pregnant and parenting teens. JUMP is a partnership between the YWCA, Youth Alliance and Heartland Health. JUMP provides education and support to teen parents by providing mentors, monthly group education meetings, home visits, and school visits.

We met for the first time at the St. Joseph Public Library East Hills Theater Room.

February 2011 - Social Welfare Board – Home Unit is the recipient of our Valentine’s Day donation. Linda Judah told us how the Home Unit works to stabilize the lives of those who are homeless. She told about a young woman who was homeless for a couple years due to her struggle to get on medication and be able to afford it to treat her depression and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Once she was diagnosed and seen monthly at the Social Welfare Board and they were able to get her on a steady medication regiment she was able to enroll in college and now is on her way to self sufficiency. Linda told of another client who was released from prison without any form of ID. The Home Unit was able to secure a birth certificate for this individual and he returned one day with the money to pay for this ID as a way of paying forward to help someone else in his situation. The money we donate will help to pay for a tent for someone newly homeless, gas money, bus passes, forms of ID, medications, and the like.

Year 2

May, 2009 - $3955 Jean Brown championed the YWCA Shelter aids abused women and children. Our funds went for providing bus passes and bus tickets for transportation as the women find more permanent housing beyond the YWCA's boundaries. This transportation help will come in handy for women getting to and from job interviews. Our donations will be used for getting new social security cards and birth certificates when these items had to be left behind in a hurry. The Show Me Women Who Care's help will provide cab rides to the YWCA Abuse Shelter from the hospital as well.

August, 2009 - $4135 Our vote was cast for helping the Northwest Missouri Children’s Advocacy Center with their campaign to help prevent child abuse before it happens. Joyce Estes told us about the “Darkness to Light” program that will raise awareness of the prevalence and consequences of child sexual abuse by educating adults about the steps they can take to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to the reality of child sexual abuse. The Advocacy Center plans to also use the funds to purchase materials appropriate for elementary school children and will present “Good Touch/ Bad Touch” education in the schools.

November, 2009 - $3625 The Community Action Partnership of Greater St. Joseph is the recipient of our November donations. Rachel McCoy gave a rundown of the many services this organization provides those in our community who are living on the edge or in poverty. Along with concrete help they dish out a good measure of hope and dreams to go with the payment for a GRE test or a past due light bill payment. The money we donate will help them provide assistance to make the difference in areas such as transportation to a job interview, bus passes to work, school supplies, and weatherization of a home and the like.

February 2010 - $3780 Linda Wilt championed the Andrew County Food Pantry via Elaine Ingle’s presentation. This Food Pantry has been housed in the convent of the Sister of St. Francis for decades without having to pay rent. Recently the Sisters decided to sell the property and the Andrew County Food Pantry built a simple new home with the generous help of donors. They secured half of the cost of the building with donations before the building was erected but have a debt to pay that is making its mission of feeding the hungry more difficult as they now need to pay a mortgage. The donation of Show Me Women Who Care will ease that burden and allow them to use other donations for food. Our donation is meant to help with their mortgage payments.