By James Windell
For the 26th year, We Care’s Island Sit fundraiser in South Haven accepted donations from the public to help those in need.
Executive Director of We Care I.N.C., Erika Morrison, was pleased with the response of both the volunteers who braved the cold to stand on the South Haven Welcome Island to collect donations and the amount of money that was raised on Saturday, February 22.
“We collected around $6,000, which was good, but just a bit under our goal of $6,500,” Morrison says. “We are still getting more donations by mail, and we have two more fundraisers coming up.”
We Care is a faith-based non-profit organization that serves everyone in the area who might need a helping hand. The organization that’s been around for more than 40 years provides over 25 programs and ministries through local churches, agencies and other organizations to assist people by meeting their needs.
Morrison said that We Care is in the midst of a fundraising campaign that she hopes will raise $43,000. “We are right at about $15,000 right now, and we only need about $6,000 more to trigger the matching funds from donors.” She indicated that she expects that between a trivia night fundraiser at Three Blondes Brewing on February 27 and a soup luncheon on March 9 at St. Basil Catholic Church, that remaining amount of money can be raised.
All of the money raised, Morrison said, would go towards funding their programs. “We focus at this time of the year on raising money for people who are cold,” she said. She noted that helping people with their utility bills was why the We Care Island Sit fundraiser was started. “We started sitting on the Welcome Island freezing so we could raise money for people who are cold.”
She added that this fundraiser was started by Paul Leyendecker at COSY-FM and Epiphany Episcopal Church in South Haven. “We had such a good response to the Island Sit that we decided to make the whole month of February the Warm Your Heart campaign.”
This year about 75 people, not including staff and board members, were involved in standing on the island accepting donations. “We were pleased to have South Have n High School students and the Mr. and Miss South Haven Court take the first hour,” Morrison said. Later in the day, she said, Kate Hosier, South Haven City Manager, and two City Council Members, Mary Hosley and Joe Reeser, were collecting donations.
