THANK YOU!

 

May Thanks

Furniture Works (402 Washington St. NE, Olympia) has a “Nickel Mondays” promotion where they will donate 5% of sales to a local non-profit. May’s non-profit is the YWCA’s Other Bank.  Thank You for your kindness and showing a good example of a local business helping the community.

 

THANK YOU to Olympia for a GREAT event on 5/3 for the screening of “Girl Rising”.  The evening drew close to 600 attendees!  Our sincere gratitude to Intel for an amazing night.

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Intel demonstrated their leadership as a corporate advocate for the empowerment and education of girls around the world through their strategic founding partnership with 10×10 to promote awareness and action around the importance of girls’ education. Intel believes that education is a fundamental right for everyone and has worked for decades to improve education around the world. Why Intel? Because technology can be a bridge and an accelerator. Empowering girls with the tools, resources and opportunities they need to succeed transforms their lives and the lives of everyone they touch. Thank you to our friends at Intel.

A “Girl Rising” shout out also goes to our wonderful friends serving in the Olympia Junior League, Soroptimist of Olympia, and Zonta Club of Olympia. Thanks for joining us as our local partners.

On May 8th we handed out 120 Mother’s Day bags to visitors at the Other Bank. These bags were filled with special donations collected over the last year. Volunteers filled the bags, and teens from Haven House decorated the bags with special messages and art to brighten the day of the recipient. Many women expressed that our gift would be the only one they would receive. Thank you to Haven House for helping create the bags and to everyoneone who donated items we gave to deserving mothers.

 

April Thanks

To everyone involved in the Spring Into Action Luncheon. The April 23rd benefit raised more than $12,000 for YWCA programs. Special thanks goes to Lucky Eagle Casino (Our Sustaining Sponsor), Olympia Federal Savings (Corporate Supporting Sponsor)  TwinStar Credit Union & Heritage Bank (Corporate Raffle Sponsors) and retired Thurston County Superior Court Judge Paula Casey for being such an eloquent speaker. And of course, all the volunteers who helped plan and staff the event. Volunteers put in nearly 200 hours for SIA. You rock!

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The congregation at Westminter Presbyterian Church for hosting an Easter product drive. They brought in more than $700 in in-kind product donations to The Other Bank in one month. They’ve decided to continue collecting hygiene products for The Other Bank.  They’re one of many local businesses and organizations who host continuous drives. Check out the list here.  

March Thanks

YWCA Volunteers

 

The YWCA honored its volunteers at a volunteer appreciation luncheon March 7 at the Lacey Community Center. About 50 volunteers and staff attended the event. Each year, YWCA volunteers do various tasks like data entry, participate in mailings, greet clients and the general public, collect, repackage, stock and distribute products at The Other Bank, and assist with special events. In 2012, volunteers served more than 4,400 hours!

Thank you volunteers for all that you do!

We estimate The St. Martin’s University women’s and men’s basketball teams and staff collected between $800 and $900 worth of product for the Other Bank during their monthlong product drive. No matter how what size everyone’s individual donations were, they made a huge impact!

Dr. Douglas Sheets at Sheets Dental in Federal Way for a generous donation of two boxes of toothpaste.

The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Olympia held its annual “Blessing of The Toilet Paper” ceremony and product drive for The Other Bank March 3.  Members of the congregation and the general public collected rolls of toilet paper over the month of February and built a toilet paper pyramid at the church that nearly reached the ceiling! The Rev. Chuck Harris blessed the pyramid of toilet paper—which consisted of about 2,000 rolls—before it was delivered to The Other Bank. That’s enough to keep The Other Bank stocked with toilet paper for the next four months!

February Thanks:

Honey Dubes, a senior at Olympia High School collected about $300 in product for The Other Bank for her senior culminating project. Honey was honored as a “Young Woman Of Achievement” at the YWCA’s 2012 Women of Achievement celebration in November. Thank you for all your hard work and continuing efforts of practicing the Y’s mission of empowering women!

The Evergreen State College: Thank you for allowing us to hold a simultaneous product drive during your production of “The Vagina Monologues.” Your cast and other Evergreen students made us feel so welcome. The product drive filled up our collection box with pads and tampons! We enjoyed the show and hope we can do a product drive during next year’s production!

Tanya Mote and the Mothers & Daughter’s Group: In a little over an hour, your group assembled 350 hygiene kits—enough to fill seven boxes! Three-hundred and fifty Thurston County School District students living in poverty will have hygiene products thanks to you!

 

January Thanks:

Thank you to all the individuals, groups and community members who participated in the first Marking Luther King Day “Community-Wide Product Drive” for The Other Bank. The event, led by local AmeriCorps members, drew 50 volunteers and brought in donations of product totaling $6,800! Volunteers also assembled a total of 1,276 hygiene kits!

 

We’d like to give special recognition local and corporate businesses who donated product:

 Bed, Bath & Beyond of Olympia. Bottles of hand soap your customers purchased filled nine boxes!

Alpha Omega Janitorial Supplies: Your seven pallets of cleaning products absolutely amazed all our volunteers and staff.

Meconis: Your donated party platter of subs was delicious and volunteers were appreciated the nourishment while serving.

Kapust Dentistry and Community Chiropractic: Your donation of personal care and dental products helped our MLK Day volunteers assemble more hygiene kits in a single day than is usually possible in one month!

 

For a complete list of groups and volunteers who served and/or donated product, visit our Other Bank ‘Giving Thanks’ page.

 

December Thanks:

As the end of the year comes to a close, the community has continued its commitment to giving, whether in monetary contributions, or volunteering their time in service.

A big Thank You goes out to all the staff, volunteers and community members who came together to make the YWCA’s 2012 Clean Christmas event a success. A total of 300 holiday bags were decorated and distributed to clients from Thurston, Lewis, Mason and Grays Harbor counties.  Thank you all for taking some time out of your busy schedules to participate in such a beautiful act of kindness.

 

 

Special recognitions go to:

Lucky Eagle Casino: For sponsoring our event and providing hot cocoa, apple cider, candy canes and cookies to all. The warm drinks were so wonderful on a rainy, windy day.

Olympia Cub Scout Pack#2: For not only collecting an estimated $500 worth of product for The Other Bank, but for volunteering to help sort and stuff dozens of bags for our clients.

Bed, Bath & Beyond: Employees held a winter glove drive for clients of the YWCA of Olympia’s Other Bank. Bed, Bath & Beyond’s  generous customers purchased more than 1,300 gloves throughout November and December. The gloves were added to our “Clean Christmas” gift bags.

All our product drive hosts for the month of December who collected and donated products:

 

 

The Olympia Barber School staff recently spent a day serving YWCA of Olympia clients. Their staff volunteered to give 24 clients complimentary haircuts. Clients were overjoyed when they learned their names were drawn from the lottery. One client reported the haircut came just in time for her to begin a new job. Olympia Barber School staff said clients and their families are enjoying their new styles. The YWCA thanks the Olympia Barber School staff for its hard work. We hope we can team up with you again for a project in the future. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

November has given us a lot to be thankful for. Here are just a few examples of kindness and generosity from around the community:

Bed, Bath & Beyond of Olympia donated 600 + pairs of winter gloves purchased by customers for the annual “Clean Christmas” event for The Other Bank. You can still donate by going to the store and purchasing a pair of gloves at any register for $1.99.

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Thanks to the 2012 Women of Achievement honorees, sponsors, staff, volunteers, local businesses and anyone else who donated time, products or services to our celebration. The event could not have been successful without your help. The evening brought in over $24,000 in cash and in-kind donations. We hope to work with you all again next year!

 

 

 

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October is another spooktacular month of community giving!

Wow, a BIG THANK YOU to Williams Group Marketing & Design who met a challenge this month with swift resolution and excellent customer service!  We also learned of their continued generosity and we are so grateful! THANKS!

Stroller Strides (a local exercise program using baby strollers!) turned 2 this fall.  As part of the celebration, Stroller Strides owner, Kim Bauer requested that her striding moms and dads bring product for The Other Bank!  They collected:  314 diapers, 78 rolls of toilet paper, 12 boxes of facial tissue, 2 big packages of baby wipes, 18 bottles of shampoo, 2 bottles of dish soap, 3 bottles of laundry detergent, 7 bars of soap, and several  toothbrushes!  THANK YOU to all the Stroller Strides Moms & Dads! 

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September Thank Yous: 

Did you see the latest photos of our amazing new accessible ramp at the Kearney House? We wanted to send a THANK YOU to MSGS Architects and Garner Miller for their design of the ramp. It is not only functional, but beautiful!

 

 

September brings the annual United Way Day of Caring to our doors. This year the Saint Martin’s University Women’s Basketball Team worked all day to remove the carpeting in the Kearney House. WOW!  THANK YOU ALL from Team YWCA!

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Another wonderful August of Donations! We’d like to thank: 

The employees of the Lacey Lowe’s Home Improvement (Yelm Highway & College) for their incredible volunteer work on August 23 & 24 to install a handicap-accessible ramp for the YWCA of Olympia’s Kearney House.  Their effort brought 26 members of the Lowe’s team to our doorstep who worked tirelessly to “Build Something Together”. Thank you also to the Lacey Lowe’s Voice Team!

Thanks to our friends at Lowe’s!

 

Dan Burrington of Random Acts of Kindness cuts the ribbon for the new handicap accessible ramp!

Our good friends at ICSEW (Interagency Committee of State Employed Women) held their annual Toiletries Drive from August 1-17 and delivered an enormous amount of hygiene and daily household products between 8/20 and 8/29 for our Other Bank.  The AMAZING tally for this effort was $10,055 in cash and product donations from over 18 agencies! THANK YOU!

Key Bank placed collection bins in their South Sound branches for the YWCA’s Other Bank. What a wonderful donation!

Tumwater School District and the Tumwater Public School Employees for the 8/11 Stuff the Bus event. Along with a number of other community partners, they collected donations of school supplies, food, hygiene items and new or gently used books, which are so important for our clients in Tumwater.

Jubilee residents are continuing their much-appreciated regular donations!

A monthly shout out to our supporters at the Lacey Rotary for their never-failing weekly collection of cash and Other Bank products.

Our amazing individual donors who show up with bags and boxes and kind words. THANK YOU ALL!

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July 2012 was a wonderful month for the Other Bank and the YWCA of Olympia.

Lakefair hosted a YWCA booth for our outreach efforts. Bonaventure filled up their store window with donations. The WSECU collected donations during their 7/28 Shred Day event. All of these AMAZING efforts contributed to our ability to help people in our community stay clean and healthy.  Thank you!

Girl Scouts Troop #40604, led by Jennifer Thompson, held a donation drive and collected over $1,100 worth of hygiene items for the Other Bank! The girls created their plan which included a yard sale and passing flyers around their neighborhoods. The girls also delivered the products and put them on the YWCA Other Bank shelves. Their positive energy and compassion really came through. Our thanks goes out to these young women with big hearts, with best wishes for their continued good works.

A big thanks to KGY radio for putting out the word that the Other Bank is in urgent need of supplies. Their concern prompted the generosity of the community which means more people will have the essential things they need to keep themselves clean. We feel proud to have a radio station that uses their resources to inspire and raise up the community. Thank you KGY Radio!

Thank you to GFWC Capital Women’s Club and Dorothy & Linda for helping our gardens look so amazing and weed-free. It’s beautiful!