Muralists’ art brightens reception room
The Society for American Mosaic Artists (SAMA) held a Mosaic Marathon Feb. 28 – March 1, during its annual conference at the Lexington Center, to create a triptych for The Nest. Conference attendees dropped into the marathon room to help create the mosaic designed by lead Artist Christine Brallier (www.cbmosaics.com) especially for The Nest. The installation team, which included mosaic artists as well as volunteers Jim Brown and Bill Riley, arrived on Monday, March 5 to install the art. The entire group joined in applause when the three panels were hung, adding light, hope and inspiration for The Nest participants and staff alike. The Nest is especially grateful to Terri Pulley of Winchester for suggesting us as the recipient and to Christine Brallier for her heartfelt work on the project.
Dine for The Nest
May 29 and July 10
Puccini's
Smiling teeth
833 Chevy
Chase Pl
Lexington, KY, 40502
859-269-0404
20% of the day's proceeds will support The Nest.
Join us!
NAIFA Bluegrass donates hours and dollars to providing food boxes
The hands around the tables repeated their tasks like pros. Many of them had been packing 200 or more food boxes in an assembly line for years. Cans of green beans, corn, packets of gravy mix, boxes of corn bread mix and instant mashed potatoes, bread and bags of fruit—they all went into the boxes with canned ham and potatoes. Then there were the 10-pound rolls of freshly ground beef that families could choose as an alternative to the ham.
Members of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors Bluegrass has made this possible for Reindeer Express families at The Nest for years. Member Sandy Gragg first became acquainted with The Nest 15 year ago through a board member. He found donors and volunteers to help upgrade some of the facilities.
Gragg is much like other members of the association who have donated their energies to supporting The Nest. He says his business philosophy as always been “Do unto others . . .I’ve been up, I’ve been down financially. I would hope that if some time I need help for my family someone would help them,” he says.
Gragg has connected the group with people in the community, like Ron Mingua of Mingua Beef Jerky, who have donated in some way to the food boxes. In the case of Mingua, he donated the freshly ground beef. Association members greatly appreciate the community support which can lower their costs. Gragg remembers that the first food boxes cost $8 each; this year the cost was $31.
Jim Tackett is another key association member who organizes the event and shops for the food. Member Tracey Francis connected the group with the Walmart at Palomar Center, which has financially supported the food boxes and Reindeer Express. These are only a few of the dedication association members who make the food boxes happen.
While the shopping and food box assembly takes dedication, the association’s volunteerism doesn’t stop there. Members also participate on the day of Reindeer Express. They distribute the food boxes, often carrying the heavy loads to cars and sometimes offering someone who walks a ride so they’ll be able to transport the box. NAIFA Bluegrass has become part of The Nest family through their fundraising and volunteering efforts. It's a partnership that helped to feed more than 200 families during this past holiday season. It also allowed the NAIFA members an opportunity to receive "thanks" firsthand for some of the families they assisted.
A Night for The Nest
Thanks so much to our sponsors, silent auction donors, emcee Kristen Pflum, band Catch 22, event co-chairs Patty Breeze and Pam Mehr, board members and everyone else who made this such a wonderful event on August 6. Congratulations to Rosie Harless who won our Caribbean trip raffle.
We hope to see you all again next year!
Proceeds from this event support The Nest—Center for Women, Children and Families.
We thank our Night for The Nest sponsors for helping to make this event possible.
The Nest depends on the generosity of its donors to sustain and build its programming. Funding comes from a variety of sources, including government sources, private foundation funding, contributions from individuals and businesses. We also accept substantial in-kind contributions of clothing and other items used in the Crisis Case Management Program, such as:
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Thanks to the follow supporters:
We're proud to be an early adopter of the Bluegrass Community Foundation's goodgiving. net initiative that provides nonprofit transparency to donors. The site also allows for secure online donations to The Nest. Check it out.
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We appreciate these sponsors and donors to our 2011 Night for the Nest: M. Austin Mehr Law Offices, P.S.C. Toyota Breeze Financial Bristol Group Fifth Third Bank Hilliard Lyons Powell, Walton, Milward The Nest is also partnering with Petesdeals.com. This new deals site is organized by Smiley Pete Publishing, which publishes Business Lexington, Southsider and Chevy Chaser. Petesdeals.com is partnering with local nonprofits to help raise money and The Nest has been selected as one of the organizations that will benefit. Check out Petesdeals.com to receive a daily e-mail offer about a great deal. When you buy something, be sure to select The Nest-Center for Women, Children & Families so that we receive a portion of the proceeds. And share the site and our name with your friends!
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Good Foods includes The Nest in the Give Where You Live program
As a cooperative, the Good Foods Market and Café follows the same principals as other cooperatives. One of those is a concern for the community. “Part of our mission is to have a sustainable community,” says Ann Marx, Owner Services Manager. They strive to do that by partnering with regional farmers, working with organizations like Bluegrass Pride (with whom they are able to compost food waste), partnering with businesses and supporting nonprofit organizations.
The Give Where You Live program at Good Foods identifies six nonprofits a year that it would like to support. For two months, shoppers can donate to the organization at the checkout and Good Foods will match that donation by 25 percent. In addition, each time shoppers use his or her own bags, .10 cents goes to the organization. Ann explains they used to give five cents back to the customer but then began to question if that was the best use of the money. Five or ten cents doesn’t typically mean a lot to a Good Foods shopper. But, when collecting all of those cents for an organization, it can add up to hundreds of dollars, demonstrating how a cooperative effort can really make a difference.
Ann is like many people who are part of the Good Foods community. They want to help address problems that exist in the central Kentucky but they don’t have the time or ability to solve every problem on their own. “This is an easy way to help,” she says. The Nest was the nonprofit partner for November and December. “You do such good work for people who so desperately need help,” Ann says. “You all (The Nest) fill a tremendous need and it feels really good to be able to support your work.”
Good Foods will continue the Give Where You Live program in 2011.
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Scouts celebrate founder’s birthday with donation
Daisy Scouts 826 from Garden Springs and 830 from James Lane Allen are working to make the world a better place by collecting items for The Nest. In early November a small group of the scouts, representing all of the 15 girls who worked on the project, delivered art supplies to The Nest Child Care Center. Although the project already helped them earn one of their Daisy petals, they plan to continue supporting The Nest for an entire year.
Co-leader Valerie Williams felt like The Nest would be a good place for the troops to support because of the organization’s work is on behalf of women, children and families. “Juliet Gordon Lowe, the Girl Scout founder, would have liked that,” Williams says.
Co-leader Jennifer Milburn points out that, “Juliet Gordon Lowe loved art.” That made art supplies a natural for the troop to collect when they celebrated their founder’s birthday. Children in The Nest’s Child Care Center will be enjoying these supplies for months to come
The leaders agree that giving to others is a good lesson for their troop members to learn so the girls delivered the art supplies in person. They plan to return around the holidays with other items The Nest can use in meeting the needs of the community’s families.
Donor Story Archives