REVIEW OF PAST EVENTS for T&E Care
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2011 HOLIDAY DRIVE RESULTS - ANOTHER SUCCESS
The Holiday Drive for 2011 is officially finished. EVERY request for support was met through your generous donations. NO T&E Care general funds will be needed again this year to support this program. That leaves our treasury in good shape with the winter PECO bills to come! 63 families are getting assistance from T&E Care and over 125 toys for the Winter Wonder program! That's well over 300 local individuals that have been helped through your generosity!
We really appreciate all of your support! Every individual toy, every box of cereal, every winter coat, it all adds up to making a huge difference for some families that have little to hope for these days. We appreciate the many families that supported our drive with donations of gifts, food, cleaning supplies, gift cards, or just by making a donation. Thanks to those who were drop-off locations (the Lords, the Fishers, the Sticklins, the Gormans, the Christys, the Casciatos), and to all those who helped sort, wrap and deliver. And a huge cheer to Melody Ticknor, Pat Clark, and especially Lisa Christy for the many hours spent running the event in a way that makes it look so easy! GREAT JOB to all!
Hats off also to the groups that worked on behalf of the drive:
Long and Foster Realtors (ran a food drive)
Coldwell Banker Preferred (did a food/cleaning supply/toiletry drive)
CHS Girls Lacrosse Team (collected toys)
T&E Kids Care Club (collected toys)
4 Counties Garden Club (provided holiday centerpieces for some local families)
VFES 4th grade classes adopted a family
TESD central office staff adopted a family
DES, BES, and HES PTOs each adopted a family
NEES did a book collection for the families
CHS National Honors Society (collected toys)
Hayden Hoopla - neighborhood party - collected gift cards for T&E Care
The Murphy neighborhood party - collected gift cards for T&E Care
The Quarters holiday party - collected food for T&E Care
CHS Boy's Lacrosse team (ran a fund raiser for the holiday drive)
The Garden Shoppe LTD, Wayne (donated Christmas trees for a few local families)
CHS Ice Hockey Team (collected toys)
Paoli Wildcat U12 boys team (did a food/cleaning supplies drive)
VFES Junior Girl Scout Troop 456 (baked over 800 cookies and made up 60 bags of snowman soup mix)
A number of Wisteria Lane families (made over 20 tins of cookies)
A number of families from Fernfield Circle (collected gift cards)
SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS YEAR'S CHAIR, LISA CHRISTY, AND HER VERY IMPORTANT SUPPORTING CAST MEMBERS PAT CLARK AND MELODY TICKNOR! And of course we have all the drivers, the sorters and wrappers, the drop off location hosts, and all the individual families who made donations.....We couldn't have done it without everyone!
WOW - what a team effort!
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Other T&E Care Holiday Events 2011
The annual Berwyn Tree Lighting Ceremony took place on Sunday evening, December 4. T&E Care hosted a table at the event and collected 5 boxes of cleaning supplies as part of our holiday drive. Lots of people donate toys at the holidays, but the gifts that many adults find the most useful are baskets of cleaning supplies! Thanks to all who donated these supplies to our important program - you can't imagine how helpful a bottle of Lysol can be to a family!!!!
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Again this year T&E Care provided Thanksgiving dinners to 8 local families. These meals were made at The Kitchen Workshop in Paoli on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. These dinners were again a HUGE hit! Comments from families receiving the dinners include:
I wanted to say thank you from my children and I for the absolutely delicious Thanksgiving dinner and additional groceries. We are extremely grateful. We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and wish you a very Merry Christmas.
We are totally blown away! Thank you to you and EVERY volunteer that made this Thanksgiving so special!!! We were not expecting half of what we received. And the real kicker was that most of Thanksgiving dinner was prepared. Ah, so thankful! :) Additionally, the extra food and goodies were a huge blessing. I lost track when I was able to squeeze fresh produce into our budget. What a special treat. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
OMG! Thanks so much for the dinner. It was so much I was able to share it with a neighbor!! You have been such a great help to my family and I that I cannot thank you with words.
Words alone can not express the amazement on our faces when we saw all of that wonderful thanksgiving food that was delivered to us. We truly were shocked at the amount and the love that was put into it. We had a wonderful thanksgiving thanks to you and your group. Thank you so much for your constant care and concern to our family alone! we truly appreciate it! thank you :) I hope you had a nice thanksgiving as well. All my love to you and your group.
I wanted to send thanks on behalf of my kids and myself for the most wonderful and generous food gift we received from you , Art, and kind people in our locality. I was grateful not only for the items to make a full Thanksgiving meal but also other items which made many other meals. The children in particular enjoyed the cheese and fruit, and I was so happy to receive extras like butter and coffee. It was a lovely day - we ate, went for a walk and had a nice relaxing time. It helped to take the sting out of the fact we had to give up my daughter's car the following day. I am also pleased to report that I have, as of today, been able to get a temporary seasonal job for a few weeks at one of the stores at the mall. It does not pay at all well but it is better than no job , while I continue to try and get a position in my skill, and will help keep the wolves from the door. I start with orientation tomorrow morning. Many many thanks to all.
Thanks again to Art Roman of The Kitchen Workshop for providing much of the food needed for the dinner, and to the students from the Amana Foundation who donated the much needed fresh produce. Our Lady of The Assumption Church (Strafford) donated turkeys. Our friends at Johnson Matthey (Wayne) donated the funds to buy some of the needed extra food. And the Haydens provided all the pies! Special thanks to all those who came to the event to help with the cooking, to those who dropped off extra food, and to those who delivered some of the dinners. And VERY special thanks to Cindy Gilroy for coordinating the event! Another fabulous team effort! (Pictures of the volunteers working can be found here.)
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We will provided dinners for another 13 families at Christmas time. The first 8 families received their dinners (and lots of extra food) on Dec. 22. The rest got theirs on Christmas Eve. We've heard many thankful comments from those who received the food so far. Thanks again to Amy Ard, the Amana Foundation, the folks in the finance department at AMG (Advanced Metallurgical Group) in Wayne, Art Roman (Kitchen Workshop again!), the Bird family and the Hay family for their special assistance with these dinners! Questions please contact us at holidaydinner@tecare.org.
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THANKSGIVING DINNERS 2011
Thanks again to Art Roman of The Kitchen Workshop and all those who donated time to help with the 2011 Thanksgiving dinners! Pictures below show the volunteers hard at work!
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HATS OFF TO
T&E CARE!
Fall Fest 2011 - November 5, 2011
.... IT WAS A GREAT SUCCESS
Once again our annual Fall Fest fund raiser was a great success! Many thanks to Ali Dahms for spearheading the whole event! And thanks also to her loyal helpers: Candy Kane, Amanda Holmes, Karin Maynard and Happy Shipley for their hours of effort and generosity in spirit! The many other volunteers who helped with the event include: Kate Bishop, Bernie Logan, Bonnie Motel, Debbie Dooling, Jump Dautrich, Debbie Weger, Cynthia Belliveau, Regina Taicher, Jolynn Holmwood, Mike McBride, Danyll Lockett, Tarin Cataldo, and Margie Winters. And extra special thanks to our spectacular auctioneer: Cortie Wetherill! GREAT JOB!
Thanks again to our sponsors and donors - we REALLY appreciated your support!
Those local businesses and groups who made donations to the auction include:
These businesses and groups offered help at a time when making donations isn't easy.
Be sure to support those who support us!
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14th Annual Tyler Hedges Day 5K Race/WalkSaturday, October 1, 2011
The Tyler Hedges Day 5K Race/Walk was started in memory of a young
neighbor who died of leukemia for the purposes of bringing the
neighborhood together and raising money for local charities in his
name. The proceeds of this year's event will be donated to NTAF
Mid-Atlantic Traumatic Brain Injury Fund (in honor of Logan Schweiter),
Tredyffrin Library, and T&E Care. We will put any funds donated to
T&E Care for our summer camp program.For more information go to www.tylerhedges.com/main/home.html.
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Another successful School Supply Drive!
Aug
3, 2011 - We have finished sorting all the donations, the bags are
loaded with supplies and gift cards, and we're starting to get them
handed out to the local kids. We can promise you that these supplies
are VERY MUCH appreciated by those receiving them. What a huge help it
is to know that the kids can start the year off with all the needed
supplies, and in many cases, a new shirt or pair of jeans as well. Good
attitudes are the start of successful school days.
Special thanks to the following who made the drive such a success:
- All those who sponsored kids or made bulk donations.
- All those who sent in gift cards.
- All those who made cash/paypal donations to help us supplement our donations when needed.
- All
those who agreed to be drop-off locations: Play it Again Sports, The
Thomsons, The Roses, The DeChairios, the Cruikshanks, the Kalbachs, the
Seltzers, and the Gormans.
- All
those who helped on sorting day: Lynne Andia, Lisa Rose, Barbara
Coymns, Jean Purinton, Carol Titzel, Elizabeth Robinson, Theresa
Augustine, Jennifer Maher, Betsy Friend, Nancy Caldwell, Carol
Thompkins, and lots of district and CHS students (it's GREAT to have the
kids helping out like this!)
- To
Conestoga High School for allowing us to sort there and to store the
items there; and to the custodians who helped transport the bags from
CHS to the various schools in preparation for parent pick-up.
Extra special thanks to:
- Barbara McConnell - for once again organizing the CHS students
- Amy Ard - for once again tabulating the gift cards
- Debbie Weger - for once again keeping track of the cash donations
- Eileen Ryle - for once again tabulating the sponsorships and bulk offers
And
last but not least - to Juila Fisher for once again running such an
efficient and what looked like flawless drive. The efforts she put into
this event behind the scenes make it easy for everyone else! Thank you
Julia from the entire T&E Care community!
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HOLIDAY DRIVE 2010 - WOW!
The
2010 Holiday Drive officially ended on December 6 - and we
are excited to say that all family requests were sponsored. We thank
everyone who offered to support our program - every single donation was
important!!!
A huge shout-out to a few special groups who went above and beyond to lend a hand to the drive:
T&E Kids Care Club (at CHS) -
Heather Ward, President - they collected over 50 items for teenagers to
lend a hand to the Winter Wonders program at Paoli Presbyterian Church
(supported by T&E Care). Members of the CHS Girls Lacrosse
team - Brooke McGillis and Taylor King captains - they also collected
items for teenagers for the Winter Wonders program. St. David's Preschool classes - they also collected over 100 gifts for younger kids for the Winter Wonders program. Girl Scout Troop 456 from VFES
baked over THIRTY DOZEN cookies and put together bags of "snowman soup" -
these were spread out and given in the food boxes to many of the
families we supported. (pictures of these great kids below)
The Bassetts and the Haydens each
had neighborhood parties - and instead of hostess gifts they asked for
assistance in supporting out holiday drive - gift cards, general
donations, etc. etc. came from these two parties! Long and Foster Realty (Devon) and
Coldwell Banker Preferred (Wayne) each ran food drives and collected
boxes of extra food for our drive - this was especially helpful for the
"new" families that got added onto our list late. The Quarters in Chesterbrook did a food drive for T&E Care at their annual holiday party. More food for the extra baskets!
Claire Newhall - a 2nd grader at
NEES recently asked for donation to T&E Care's holiday drive instead
of birthday gifts for herself!
Valley Forge ES PTO ran a food
drive and a book drive for T&E Care (the food also went to REACT).
The 4th graders helped to wrap all the books.
New Eagle ES PTO sponsored one of the families for the holiday drive. The Four Counties Garden Club made
gorgeous table top decorations for many of the families in our program.
What a special "extra" treat for everyone!
As you can see - in addition to the
many many individuals and families that supported the drive - these
groups really helped to make the event a huge success! Many thanks to
all those who also helped wrap, sort, deliver, etc. etc. for the drive.
(Photo of many of the wrappers below.) A very special appreciation and
congrats to Lisa Christy, Pat Clark and Melody Ticknor who did an
outstanding job of putting it all together.
One final note: We received many notes of thanks from the families we helped. We have posted some of those notes here. It is clear that these families REALLY APPRECIATE your support!!!
If you have any questions - send an email to Lisa Christy, this year's chair, at holidays@tecare.org.
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SPECIAL HOLIDAY DINNERS FOR LOCAL FAMILIES
On
December 21, 2011 we delivered holiday dinners for 10 local families. The
amount of fresh foods that was included in each delivery was
staggering. Each family will really have a special meal (and a few
other meals!) this holiday season. Many many thanks to those who
donated the turkeys and hams, the fresh foods, the holiday pies, and the
homemade cookies. A special shout-out again to the kids from the Amana Foundation,
which provided the fresh fruits and vegetables - two huge bags per
family (they did the same for the Thanksgiving meals)! Thanks also to
those who took the time to sort and/or deliver the foods to the
families. And finally a special thanks to Amy Ard for coordinating the
drive, and to the finance department at AMG (Advanced Metallurgical
Group) in Wayne for hosting the event. Once again - a team effort for
sure - with incredible results!
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THANKSGIVING DINNERS 2010 - Thanks for your help!Again this year, in conjunction with The Kitchen Workshop in Paoli, T&E Care volunteers made
Thanksgiving dinners for 8 local families. In addition to the normal
Thanksgiving foods - we gave each family bags of fresh produce and other
fresh foods. MANY MANY THANKS to all those who donated turkeys, other
food items, and most of all .... time!! Special appreciation to Cindy
Gilroy for organizing the event, to Art Roman (The Kitchen Workshop) for
hosting the event, to Johnson Matthey for donating the money to cover
the costs of the dinner foods, and to the Amana Foundation for all the
extra produce they collected for this event.Thanks to all for
helping to make the Thanksgiving holiday a special one for some local
families!!
One of the families that received the dinners sent this email:
First let me thank you and all involved for providing such a bounty of food and produce for Thanksgiving. We all had a lovely meal, and several more. Tis greatly appreciated. I shall send Art (at The Kitchen Workshop) a thank you note for his kindness also.
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Fall Fest 2010 - The Results
Saturday, October 16
What
a great way to celebrate our 5th
anniversary of helping local families - the Fall Fest 2010 was another
huge success. We had a great attendance - thanks to all those who took
the time to attend! Everyone there seemed to have fun bidding on the
great prizes, playing some of the games, eating delicious food, and
watching the Phillies on the big TVs (it was fun even though they lost!  ).We
also thank all those who made donations - both donations of prizes and
those who made financial donations. The list of those donors can be
found here - please be sure to thank those local businesses who reached out to help our cause! We couldn't have done it without them!!!Last
but not least - we thank those who helped organize and set up for the
event, those who worked a shift at the event, and those who helped
gather prizes for the silent auction. Special thanks to Jump Dautrich,
Seth Landau, Debbie Weger, Sandi Gorman, Rita Seltzer, Chris Caine, and
Barbara Rompala - the event couldn't have happened without your help.
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Tyler Hedges Day 5K Race/Walk 2010 - another big success.
Many
of you may remember Tyler Hedges, a young boy from our community who
died of leukemia a few years ago. The 13th Annual Tyler Hedges Day 5K
Race/Walk was held in his memory on Saturday, October 2, 2010. Again this year all proceeds from this race were donated to the Tredyffrin
Library AND T&E Care! The race was very successful and again the funds raised will help support our summer camp initiative. Many thanks to all who sponsored the
race and to those who participated in it! We are honored to be remembered along with Tyler!
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SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE 2010
Incredible results!
This
year's drive is over and once again the community response has exceeded
all expectations. The sorting is done, and deliveries and pick-ups
will follow shortly. There will be many very happy local kids opening
their bags in the weeks to come - ooohing and aaahing over a new box of
crayons or a shiny new binder. Gift cards for many will help with some
of those new school clothing needs, or food for their early lunch
boxes. 91 families (164 kids) received your support - incredible!
Thanks to ALL those who donated, who were drop off points, who helped to
sort, and who organized the event. Special thanks to Julia Fisher,
Eileen Ryle, and Amy Ard - they really got it together!
And
special thanks to those local businesses and organizations that made
donations or gave significant help to the drive: Johnson Matthey,
Wegmans, Trinity Presbyterian Church, RE/MAX Main Line Charitable
Foundation, St. Matthew's United Methodist Church, Play It Again Sports,
and Vertex.
ONE BIG TEAM EFFORT - ONE FANTASTIC JOB!
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Summer Camp program 2010 - what a huge success!
Although a few camps are still going on - the bulk of the summer camp season is over. We are excited to report that over 35 local kids were able to attend at least one week of camp (some up to 5 weeks) - many thanks to the generosity of the T&E Care community and some local camp directors. We got scholarships for camps from many of the popular camps around the area including those listed below. Many thanks to all those community members who drove kids to/from camp as well. It's not always about the money - sometimes the kids just couldn't get to the camp! It was a great team effort for sure!
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Sky High Basketball Camp
Herb Magee Basketball Camp
The Kitchen Workshop Cooking Camp
Picket Post Tennis Camp
TEYSA Soccer Camp
The Center on Central Art Camp
Tredyffrin Township Day and Basketball Camps
United Methodist Church of Paoli - Innabah Program Center
Many parents sent in thanks notes after the camps had finished. Below are 3 of those notes. You can tell the impact the camps had on these kids:
If our finances are this bad again next year, I would definitely love to have this program available to us again. It was great to have the kids do something over the summer and not have to worry about the cost and have them enjoying themselves and seeing smiles on their faces! It's hard enough to decide whether or not to pay this bill or buy milk, so this program was definitely a God Send to us and my boys had a great time and I loved watching them and seeing them happy!! It was worth a few minutes of not worrying about money (for me)!! I can't thank you enough for this program.
This is a wonderful program that TE cares has available to the community. It gives our children an opportunity to have some activities that they otherwise would not be able to attend. I would just like to thank everyone that was involved in putting the program together and helping with the transportation needs. Thank you TE Cares.
If it was not for T.E Cares my son would never of had this wonderful experience. He didn't even mind getting up early ever day. In fact he jumped out if bed. I definitely think this is something that T.E. Cares should be proud to sponsor! Thank you all for this great opportunity for my son. I know this was a great esteem building summer for him an he made many new friends.
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TEEA 2nd Annual Walk for T&E Care and FLITE
Spring 2010
Many thanks to the TEEA for its great support of FLITE and T&E Care with a recent walk around Wilson Park! Many district teachers came out to help with this great event - all for a great cause.
(The caption for the picture is below.)
TEEA President Deb Ciamacca gets ready to walk with FLITE (Sheryl
Roche, Paige Skelly and Ayuko Siegel) and T&E Care (Cathy Lucas and
Debbie Weger) representatives. Sandi Gorman is on both boards, and
David Weger is just having a great time!
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FOLLOW-UP FOR
FIRE VICTIMS
On March 1, 2010,
baskets were delivered to the 17 families whose homes were destroyed due
to the January fire at the Strafford Station Apartments. Between these
baskets and the past support given to a number of the families - they
are now in good shape and able to move on with their lives. Many
thanks to all those who helped with donations of money or "stuff". Once
again the community stepped up big! Every family has the items needed
to start over. The baskets are just our way of saying "Welcome Home" to
everyone (items such as: tools, flashlights, kitchen towels, coat
hangers, shelf liner, cleaning supplies, toothpaste/tooth brushes, food,
girl scout cookies, soaps, etc. are included in the baskets).
The
following note was received from one of the apartment residents we
assisted:
As
my life is getting back to normal little by little, I would like to
take a moment, and from the bottom of my heart thank you and other
people who have helped me through the difficult times. I enjoy the new
comfortable bed, and I am very grateful to you for finding time to help
with tiding up when I had to move-in. I found today at the door the box
full of nice presents from TECARE, which I believe you too belong to.
That was very pleasant indeed, and warmed my heart. Thank you so very
much! Please pass my sincere 'Thank you' to everyone who has been
involved.
Particular thanks throughout the last
few months to:
- The manager of the Strafford
Station Apartments (Lori Liberatore)
and the staff there - not only did they help cover the hotel fees for
the families for almost a week after the fire, help with clean up and
moving for those families, wave the rent for a month for all those
families, and help all those families find new housing so within a week
they were back to being settled, BUT they also made a donation to
T&E Care after all the dust was settled. WOW - what a great
landlord and apartment manager! Many thanks Lori and crew!
- Mattress Giant (Floyd -
manager)
in KofP for giving us a great deal on all
the beds that we had to buy for the families.
- The discount given to us by the Bed
Bath and Beyond (Darrin - assistant manager) in Radnor so we
could
outfit the beds with some decent bedding (sheets, pillows, blankets,
and mattress pads); towels for everyone as well
- Community Backstop - they helped provide all the mattresses for the families that got burned out and didn't have insurance to cover them.
- Rita's
Water Ice (Rt 352/30 in Malvern) - general support
- Christopher's
Restaurant (Wayne) - support of one of the families
- Hillside Girl Scout Troop #4038
- donation of tools and flashlights to the baskets for each family
- Jenkins Arboretum -
donation of soaps and other items to the baskets for each family
- St. Norberts Catholic Church
(Paoli) members - for donations of gift cards for the baskets
- Trinity Presbyterian Church
(Berwyn) members - for donations of cash and items for the baskets
- Conestoga Boys Basketball Team
- for donations of food for the baskets
- Knights of Columbus -
for a donation for the baskets
And a special shout-out to those churches who "adopted"
the 7 families who needed extra support: St.
Lukes Lutheran Church (Devon), Main Line Unitarian Church (Devon),
Valley Friends Meeting (Wayne), United Methodist Church of Paoli, St.
John's Presbyterian Church (Devon), Our Lady of the Assumption Church
(Strafford), and St. David's Episcopal Church (Wayne). And a
final thanks to Kelli Maravalli of Wayne
Presbyterian Church and JoeAnna Haelig of the Red Cross for
coordinating the needs of the families. Great job to all!!!
As
we said before - this fire didn't turn out to be as bad as we initially
thought but it gave all the churches and various groups in our community
the chance to put together a coordinated effort to assist if such an
emergency arises in the future. Thanks to you we are confident that our
community will be ready and able if needed!
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SOUP
AND YUMMIES FOR T&E CAREMonday, February 22, 2010Thanks to Art Roman and The Kitchen Workshop for offering this special evening of cooking, with the proceeds going to T&E Care. A dozen people got to participate in this program and had lots of fun learning some great recipes. What a win-win for everyone! Foods cooked included:
Mushroom
Barley Soup
Old-fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup
Cream of
Cauliflower with Cheddar Soup
Hearty Lentil Soup
Irish Soda Bread
Whole Wheat Bread Sticks
Chocolate-Walnut
Biscotti
Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese Filling
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We are done
collecting items for the holiday drive 2009....
... and oh my ... what a pile! We are all speechless.
Once again we can't believe how incredibly generous the families in
this community are. We have sorted and delivered all the gifts, and
received many many words of thanks. Below are some of the emails and
notes we have received (slight changes were made to some to protect
confidentiality; otherwise - these are the notes verbatim):
WE all thank you from the bottom of
our hearts for the wonderful gifts you bring to us. You
are such a special T/E Team by giving joy and happiness to each
family in the T/E district. Again, thank you for your time and all the
gifts for all of us. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and
your families. Oh
boy I'm still in shock, I can't Thank you enough, Oh my gosh I can't
tell you what a blessing that was to receive the gifts. Oh from the
bottom of my heart I Thank you. It
is truly a blessing and saying. "Thank you" just does not say nearly
enough for the food and gift cards. There are no words to express our
feelings and deep appreciation for the help you have given us at this
time. I
want you to know how much I appreciate the generous gifts because of
your organization, my son and I can be comfortable in our home. Please
tell those who helped, thank you sooooooo much and big group Hugs &
Kisses! I
would like to take the time to thank the family that adopted us for the
holidays this year. My girls were so very happy with the items they
received for Christmas this year. My Son also! The smile on my
daughter's face was as wide as the ocean..She loves the Jonas
brothers... I can only say God Bless you for caring ..You are truly
appreciated...One day i hope I can play it forward. This was one of
the best Christmases in a very long time..Thank you once again and
Happy New Year !! I
wanted to reach out to you and say Thank you for the help you gave my
family for Christmas. The look on the children's faces simply made me
smile and cry. You kindness is no doubt from God. Please tell everyone
that has helped my family that i am greatly appreciative for all the
blessings they gave to me. I
want to thank everyone that is involved in T.E CARES for the gifts for
Christmas and the Christmas Dinner.I really appreciate everything that
you do for Me and My son.You have helped us on several occasions. I
realized If it were not for you and your generosity I don't know what
I would have done. - I want to thank the entire T&E Cares group for their
generosity. I feel so blessed by all that was given to us! Since my
parents passed away, I do not receive an gifts aside for the token gifts
we exchange between families with a $10 limit. The vacuum works nicely
and the movie tickets were a wonderful surprise! All the household
items and food items are greatly appreciated as well! My son was
delighted with all the toys he received! We are very thankful for it
all and those who took the time to choose each of the items, did an
excellent job! Please let all of the members and supporters of T&E
Cares know what a wonderful service they do and how very thankful we
are.
BOTTOM LINE ... a HUGE thank you to all!
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Holiday dinners for some special local families
On
December 24 a few volunteers met to put together special holiday meals
for 8 local families. These dinners were prepared at The Kitchen
Workshop in Paoli and delivered to each family. MANY THANKS again to
those helping out with this preparation, and to Art Roman of The Kitchen Workshop for once again providing the leadership to get this done.
Special
thanks also to two special groups. We really appreciate the extra
efforts that each of these groups offered to this program.
- Those at the Sugartown Rd. (in Wayne) office of
Coldwell Banker Realty who did a food collection so we could give each
of the families lots of extra food.
- Kate Little organized a cookie exchange and the
group donated boxes and boxes of homemade cookies that we were able to
include with the dinners for each of the families.
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Thanks for Thanksgiving Dinners for local families
This
Thanksgiving we again provided complete Thanksgiving dinners
for 8 local families (turkey/stuffing, potatoes, veggies,
pies/cookies). The dinners were prepared at The Kitchen Workshop
in Paoli - under the supervision and direction of Art Roman. Many
thanks to Art for facilitating this event.
VERY special thanks also to
What an amazing group of people!
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T&E Care Fall Fest - another successful event
On
November 7, 2009, the Fall Fest, an important T&E Care fund raiser,
was held at Waynesborough Country Club in Paoli. There was a great DJ,
an incredible silent auction, a yummy dinner, and lots of good
socializing! The event was very well attended and lots of bidding on
the prizes was held - so we are confident the proceeds will be a huge
help in the upcoming months.
Many many thanks to all those
who attended, to all those who donated prizes, and to all those who
send in donations in lieu of attending. Special thanks to the
committee members who helped make the night so special: Susan
Arnold, Jeanne Braun, Sage Bronzino, Chris Caine, Jane Creamer, Kit
Dempsey, Kim DeStefano, Mary Diller, Betsy Friend, Tanya Lanzilotti,
Amy Lord, Jeanne May, Kate McCanney, Anne Morris, Linsday Nolan, Tracey
Prestipino, Christine Reiss, Bettyann Silvius, Caroline Sweeny, and Margie Winters. And a very special thanks to Rita Seltzer for
all her efforts putting this together. There are no adequate words of
thanks to appropriately describe our appreciation to Rita - she is an
incredible community volunteer.
Click here
to see a complete list of those who donated auction prizes. In these
tough economic times - we are especially thankful to them! While it is
always dangerous to highlight certain donors - we do want to give a
shout-out to the Weigands and the Friends for donating their vacation
homes. It's never easy to open your home to strangers!
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Tyler Hedges Day 5K Race/Walk a huge success.
Many
of you may remember Tyler Hedges, a young boy from our community who
died of leukemia a few years ago. The 12th Annual Tyler Hedges Day 5K
Race/Walk was held in his memory on Saturday, October 10, 2009.
This year all proceeds from this race were donated to the Tredyffrin
Library AND T&E Care! We just learned that over $2500 will be
given to each organization. This is terrific news. They have
requested that it go to a fund to help with summer camp expenses for
local kids needing assistance. Many thanks to all who sponsored the
race and to those who participated in it! We are honored to be remembered along with Tyler!
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Lemonade Drive Helps T&E Care
One of our younger community members
recently decided to host a lemonade stand in her neighborhood. When
Anna Fuscaldo asked her mom what they could do with the money they
raised, her mom suggested putting it toward the School Meal Assistance
Program run by T&E Care. Anna agreed that was a great idea. Many
thanks to Anna's entrepreneurial energies - she raised $127!
Her efforts will help 6 local kids get help for a month of school lunches! Great job Anna!
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Thanks for the School Supplies - August 15, 2009
We
have received numerous thank you calls and notes for the help given
through the school supply drive. We just wanted to share one that was
recently sent by one of the kids getting the supplies. Hopefully
you'll understand the impact of your donations!
Dear T&E Care:
Thank
you for the school supplies that you gave us. Our mom was so happy
when we went to pick up the things at the school. We now realize how
blessed we are to have people like you in our lives. Some kids never
even receive half the stuff you gave us. We are so ready to go to
school now because of your generosity. My little sisters were so
excited when they saw that their backpacks were in their favorite
colors and almost screamed in excitement when they opened them and saw
all the supplies in them. I was amazed at all the items I received.
There were so many supplies they had to put them in a box! Thank you
again for all the things you've done for our family!
SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE 2009 - The results .... wow....
We
are done sorting through all the donations, dividing things up in the
appropriate bags, and delivering the bags to the schools. We say this
often and it sounds so commonplace - but this really is one fantastic
place to live. The generosity of this community is beyond incredible.
We easily had the donations to fill (in many cases over-fill!) the
required 110 bookbags, plus we did one extra bag for each school - just
to have ready to go. We have told the schools that we have enough
extra supplies to make a few more bags when the calls come in (and we
expect to get them). Because of your generosity - we had over $1800 in
gift cards so we were also able to include a card for clothing in many
of the bags. These kids should have a great start to the school year
... the rest is up to them!
We can't begin to thank everyone publicly who helped with this drive - the list would be too long. But to mention a few.....
- Thanks to all those who donated - whether it was sponsoring a
student, buying some pencils, or sending in a check or gift card - it
all helped and we obviously couldn't have done it without you!!!!
- We want to give a special shout-out to Johnson
Matthey - which as a local company agreed to sponsor 11 students for
this drive. They ended up taking in enough donations to fill 27 bags,
plus donated $80+ for the general cause. Thanks to the folks at
Johnson Matthey for really stepping up and helping out big time!
- Special thanks to those people who agreed to be
drop-off points. Having so many options for dropping off supplies
makes it so much more convenient for people to donate.
- Thanks to those who called families to confirm needs
and to those who gave up part (or all!) of their day on Aug 5 to sort
supplies (including a dozen high school students!).
- Thanks to the administration at Conestoga for
letting us sort the supplies at the school - we filled the cafeteria
with tables and tables of supplies - and made ourselves at home for the
day. The custodial support was terrific (those boxes were heavy!) and
everyone was wonderful to work with.
- And last but not least, special thanks to Margie
Winters and Julia Fisher for their expertise in running this drive, and
to Barbara McConnell for sharing past knowledge when it counted the
most! You guys were terrific!
This was truly a team effort in the truest sense of the word!
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“Shore-fire Grilled Appetizers”
Saturday, June 27, 2009 Over 12 people had the chance to enjoy appetizers and dinner at The Kitchen Workshop in Paoli - learning to cook these foods as well as eating them! 100% of the costs of this class were donated to the local food pantry REACT. Thanks to those people who came to this event, and to Art Roman of The Kitchen Workshop for donating all the funds to this important program. Menu: Chicken Satays with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce Grilled Vegetable QuesadillasBarbecued Chicken Pizza with Smoked Gouda and Chives Grilled Shrimp with Strawberry Mango Salsa Beer-Marinated Chicken TacosPortabella Mushrooms with Cajun Pork Please visit The Kitchen Workshop’s web-site at www.kitchen-workshop.com
for upcoming classes, summer cooking camps for kids, corporate
team-building opportunities and the offerings of children’s birthday
parties.The Kitchen Workshop - Paoli Depot Shoppes21 Plank Avenue. Suite 204 - Paoli, Pa. 19301
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TESD Staff Walked for T&E Care (and FLITE)
On Thursday, June 14, 2009, many Tredyffrin/Easttown School District staff members met at Wilson Park to walk 3 miles for T&E Care and FLITE (the Foundation for Learning In Tredyffrin/Easttown).
We
are honored that the local teacher's union
(Tredyffrin Easttown Education Association - TEEA) decided to host this
walk for these two organizations. Both T&E Care and FLITE work with
students and families in the district, coordinating much of this
through the school district. Many thanks to the great
staff of the TESD for their efforts in
planning this special event. Despite the dark cloud and drizzle on the
day of the event, much fun was had by all who participated. And $3500
was raised by the participants for EACH of the two groups! What a HUGE
help that will be for both FLITE and T&E Care.
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CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR SCHOLARSHIP WINNER FOR 2009
Congratulations
to our T&E Care Scholarship winner for 2009, Angelica Ortiz.
Angelica will be leaving Conestoga HS in June and heading to West
Chester University. She was a Peer Mediator and in the Anti Defamation
League at CHS, and sings in her church. She is a very hard working
student who represents well the mission of helping other people.
Angelica will be awarded a $500 scholarship to help provide books for
her college experience.
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BOOK DRIVE FOR LOCAL KIDS - a huge success!
Congratulations
to the
Conestoga High School Boys Lacrosse Teams for collecting hundreds of
books for local kids (K-12) so they will have some
great reading materials for the upcoming summer months. The response
of the community was terrific! Special recognition to Barb Herzlich and
Christine Reiss for helping to organize the drive.
Thanks to all for helping our local kids enjoy a fun summer with some great books!
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EASTER DINNERS and EASTER BASKETS - Yum Yum
An incredible Easter was enjoyed by some local families
thanks to members of the Main Line Unitarian Church (led by Judy Wilson
and Julie Chippendale) who made over 20 gorgeous Easter baskets, and to
the many families who donated hams and other food items for Easter
dinners for 8 local families. These 8 families were all incredibly thankful for our offers of support, and their kids LOVED their baskets! Thanks again to Art Roman of The Kitchen Workshop (Paoli) for also providing some of the food for the dinners. Art is a true supporter of T&E Care.
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FOOD DRIVE FOR REACT - a HUGE success!!!
A
huge thank you to the the Conestoga Girls Lacrosse Team and Booster
Club for holding a food drive at the Berwyn Pathmark on Saturday, March
21. We know it's not easy for people to
give up a Saturday to work on a project like this - many thanks to
those who stood outside and asked for the donations.
They collected two car loads of food donated by shoppers, and delivered
them to the REACT food pantry at the end of the day. The generosity of
the shoppers was overwhelming. Special appreciation to Joanne Priem
for coordinating this drive for T&E Care, and to Pathmark for allowing us to hold this drive at their location.
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EXCITING NEWS (not really a program, but exciting none-the-less!)
In early December 2008 we learned about a contest that was being run by Kristen Kalp of Essential Imagery
- who was offering free family portraits for a deserving family in the
area. We selected one of the families we have worked with and
submitted them for the contest - and we just found out that they won!
They will be receiving family pictures in just a few weeks. This is a
family that really values "family" above all else - and this is such an
exciting opportunity for them. Having "real" family pictures is
certainly nothing they could ever afford to get on their own. But it
is something that they will cherish for years to come.
We thank Kristen and encourage you to consider Essential Imagery for any future photography needs!
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FREE SOUP 'N STUFF FOR LUNCH/SUPPORT REACT
SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2009
THE EVENT WAS A GREAT SUCCESS!
Many thanks to those who came out and learned to cook broccoli/potato/cheese soup under the capable direction of Art Roman (The Kitchen Workshop in Paoli), and then got to eat the soup in the delicious bread bowls donated by Panera Bread
in Gateway Shopping Center. Lots of food was also collected for the
local REACT Food Pantry run by Mabel Purcell. The highlight of the
event was the presentation to T&E Care of a check from Panera Bread
for $2539.54! This donation from Panera came from the collection boxes
at the check-out stations at the Gateway Panera Bread, with collections
being gathered since their opening in April, 2008. Panera also matched
the donations with an additonal 25˘ for each $1 donated. MANY thanks
to Panera for the bread bowls and this donation, to Art Roman for
donating the supplies and his kitchen for the soup, and to all those
who came to make the event a success!
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| T&E Care board members meet with Art Roman (Kitchen Workshop) and Shawn Maloney (Panera) |
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Holiday Drive 2008
We
have been astounded at the generosity of the community once again this
year. The level of support was incredible. Every single item on the
wish list was "claimed", plus additional gift cards, boxes of food, and
gifts were dropped off. We have sorted and wrapped and delivered all
the gifts - and the families are soooo thankful. We'll post thank you
notes as we get them. Some are not directly related to the holiday
drive - but general thanks for the support of T&E Care. But all are
worth sharing. Hopefully they show you how much your kindness helps.
I would just like
to let you know that our family would have moved out of this area if it
was not for T&E Care. God bless all of you. My family was
overwhelmed at your generosity. When they came out Christmas morning,
both kids asked in wonder, "Where did all these packages come from?"
With tears in my eyes I answered repeatedly that there are people who
care for us, and we are not alone. Thank you from the bottom of my
heart for not making a bad situation better, but wonderful. Thank you for making such a difference for my family. We can't thank you enough. You are wonderful. Thank you and your
organization for helping my family through the holidays. I am very
thankful to know you.I can not wait for the children to open the
presents Christmas day. The people who delivered the presents were so
kind. What nice friends you have. One of these days I will be working
with you guys, spreading joy to families. I can honestly say that it is
not the "things ' that make it Christmas. It is the people that show
their kindness that make such a difference in our lives. Your group is
awesome. Thank you for
giving us a great Christmas. Thank you for everything you have given
to my family; food, gifts and any other necessities. You have made us
very happy. (a note from one of the kids) I just wanted to
thank you guys again for everything that you are doing for my family.
You really saved us. I really thought that my family would be split up
again because of losing our place. But because of all of you, that is
not going to happen. I really respect and appreciate you guys for the
work that you are doing. You really have restored my faith in people
again. I thought that we had nowhere else to turn and then you guys
came out of nowhere. My family thanks you so much. Please let me
know if I could ever help with anything with any other family in need.
And if you could please forward this email to all those helping. I
would really like for all of you to know how much this means to my
family. Thanks again. I wanted to just
take the time to thank you for coming into our lives. I can see already
a new drive and freedom in my mother and I know it is because she feel
a sort of comfort and peace that she is being surrounded by people in
the community who genuinely care for others. A feeling I don't believe
she's felt in some time! So thank you again!
Thank you
again to all those who made donations or supported us in any way during
this past year. We have truly given an incredible gift of love to
those less fortunate in our community. We hope you and your families
had a wonderful holiday!
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Thanks to The Kitchen Workshop for the Holiday Dinners
Thanks AGAIN to Art Roman, owner of The Kitchen Workshop
in Paoli, for making EIGHT local families complete holiday dinners on
December 24. Special thanks also to Rita Seltzer for organizing the
volunteers, and to all those who gave up Christmas eve morning to come
help prepare and deliver the meals. We know the families were truly
thankful for this incredible offer.
For some of these families
these dinners might be a can of spaghetti. Others might have stretched
their limits and bought the fixings for a special meal, but then
struggled the next week to cover a utility bill. What a terrific way
for a local business to help out. It was truly a holiday to remember
for these families!
One thank you note read:
I can't thank you enough for our Christmas Eve meal. Really it was a
Christmas to New Year's feast! We loved having the courses: first
soup, then salad, then the delicious ham and vegetables. The fresh
fruit was such a treat that we haven't had for a while. The tin was
such a thoughtful touch with the special cookies. After telling the
kids repeatedly that this was going to be a very lean Christmas, they
were totally overwhelmed, as was I. May God bless you as you have our
family.
Check out Art's website at www.kitchen-workshop.com.
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Barnes and Noble Gift Wrap Event
For the 3rd year T&E Care ran the gift wrap table at the Devon Barnes and Noble. We were there on Saturday,
December 13, from 9am-11pm. Thank you to the many many people who
offered to help out and to those who stopped by to say hi! Many thanks
especially to Julia Fisher for organizing this successful event.
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Scare Up Some CARE Party
Saturday, Oct. 25, 2008, 7pm-11pm
Waynesborough Country Club
This was a
very fun evening to help raise money for the T&E Care's Holiday Wish
List and the general fund. There was a great band, silent auction, delicious food, and super people! We know all who attended had a fabulous time! We thank the committee, chaired by Rita Seltzer, for organizing this incredible event.
It is likely that this event will take place again in 2009. Please
contact Rita Seltzer at 610-644-5942 or RSeltzer@Americantelecast.com
if you have any items for the silent auction (gift certificates,
services, items, etc.) or ideas for the party.
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Used Sports Equipment Collected
Thanks
to Play It Again Sports for making a donation to T&E Care in
payment for the sporting goods items collected during the recent drive
held in May 2008. Many items were dropped off and the store will have
a great opening sometime this summer.
Play It Again Sports is the premier store for
quality new and used sporting goods and fitness equipment. It will be located at 1004 Lancaster Ave in Berwyn.
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POLKA DOTS
Celebrated a special week and benefited T&E CareMay 12-16, 2008
Polka
Dots,
a specialty clothing store located near the Acme in the Paoli Shopping
Center, had a
weeklong celebration from May 12-16 to help benefit the community, and
specifically T&E Care.
Many many thanks to the Polka Dots staff for organizing this terrific
event, and to all those who stopped into the store! We REALLY
appreciate your support!!!!!!!
Questions - contact Susan Randels at Polka Dots (610-640-2714).
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SHOP IN PAOLI DAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 2008On
Saturday, April 12 the TE North MOMS Club hosted a
"Shop in Paoli Day" to raise funds for T&E Care. TE North MOMS Club is a
group of local moms who offer support for each other, and do helpful
activities in the community. For more info about this group go to http://www.momsclubtenorth.com/ or http://www.momsclub.org/For
their Spring 2008 activity they offered to help T&E Care! The idea was that when you shopped at specific stores in Paoli on that day
either a percentage of the sales went to T&E Care, or T&E
Care received gift cards (to give to families in need) directly
from the stores. Participating stores included The Blue Tulip, Polka Dots, Chico's, Julie's Gold Ribbon, Terra Culture, Van Cleve Collection, Robinson's Luggage, Paoli Hardware, Talbots, Paoli Nails, and Gentlemen's Choice. MANY thanks to all those participating businesses, and very special thanks to the community members who went shopping on this day - over $700 was raised!!!!! Wow! LOCAL families will really benefit by your generous help.
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PANERA BREAD - April 5, 2008
What
a fantastic time had by all those who were able to attend the Panera
Bread practice opening on April 5. 2008. Over 200 community members were in
attendance. The folks at Panera Bread outdid themselves - the free food
just kept coming and coming! The staff clearly got well-trained for
their official opening this week. Please stop by and show your
appreciation to the Panera Bread staff for giving us such a fun
opportunity to thank the community for your continued support. We did
take up a collection at the dinner so we could send some money to some
of the families whose homes were destroyed last week in the big
apartment fire in Malvern. Over $1200 was raised in just 1 1/2 hours.
You guys are terrific!!!
One final note - remember that Panera
Bread will have donation boxes for T&E Care on their counters ALL
YEAR LONG. And they will match any donations that come in with 25˘ for each $1.00 donated. Remind your
friends about this easy way to increase your donation!
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| Rick Shaw (center) presents the Good Sports check to Denny Willson and Kirk Gorman, T&E Care Board members. |
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GOOD SPORTS BENEFIT - March 15, 2008
Many
thanks to 500+ community members who came to the benefit given by the
Good Sports held at the Cabrini College Field House on March 15. The
Good Sports are a group of 12 local individuals who hold a party once a
year to to benefit some local charities and this year T&E Care was
one of the charities! Everyone had lots of fun dancing and eating and
just visiting with each other. The funds raised at this event will be
used to help local families when some bigger assistance is needed. What
a fun way to help a great cause! Thanks Good Sports!
Save the date for the 2009 party - March 28!
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