Page 15 - Samaritas Fall/Winter Our Hands 2022

MISSION PARTNERS

GRANTING HOPE

“Success is like a snowball…the more you roll in the right direction, the bigger it gets” (adapted from Martin Luther).
New foundation and corporate grant awards allow Samaritas to expand our proven solutions and make them accessible
for hundreds more Michigan children, families and senior citizens.

The John Laing Charitable Trust and John Laing Group is partnering with us to provide life skills training for another 80
older foster youth residing in Independent Living Plus (ILP) community homes. ILP coaches share best practices as a team
and offer engaging, effective instruction to youth on the verge of successful adulthood. We thank the Children’s Foundation
for supporting the Refugee Youth Health Navigation initiative, connecting children with critical community medical support
to improve their physical and mental well-being. The Steelcase Foundation has a renewed focus on the social-emotional
needs of Grand Rapids students after the pandemic. The Foundation partnered with Samaritas to start new child and
adolescent psychiatric services delivered by a qualified physician assistant under the auspices of a part-time psychiatrist.
We will expand care to hundreds of families with children needing immediate evaluation and early intervention treatment.

We are so grateful for funders such as the Ticket to Dream Foundation, Community Foundation for Southeastern
Michigan, Fifth Third Bank, Flagstar Bank, United Dairy Producers, 313Connect, and the Peter C. and Emajean Cook
Foundation. Their belief in Samaritas’ proven ability to transform the lives of our clients extends our reach. And Samaritas
Nation, our organization of 1,300 employees whose collective efforts serve over 11,000 individuals each year, grew even
stronger thanks to West MichiganWorks! Going Pro Talent Fund grants aided staff hiring, training, and retention initiatives.

Join Samaritas to scale what works for more vulnerable people. If your company has a foundation that could support
programs like the ones at Samaritas, please reach out to Pam Debono at pam.debono@samaritas.org.

DONOR SPO TLIGHT
DONOR SPOTLIGHT

The wonderful story of Bill and Alice Edwards deserves to be shared. After high school, Bill learned
a skilled trade at Ford Motor Company. Within a matter of months, he was drafted for service in WWII
and spent three years in the South Pacific. He returned to Ford following his service and worked as a
machine repair person for forty-nine years, without missing a single day's work.

Alice Rhodes grew up in Lake Orion, graduated from Michigan State University, and taught 2nd
grade at Lake Orion and Walled Lake schools.

As older adults, Bill and Alice met at a dance, fell in love, married, and they spent thirty-seven happy
years together. Bill and Alice lived in Walled Lake for years, where they attended St. John's Lutheran
and Bill volunteered at the church's apple orchard, which supported the kids' summer camp of the
same name, "Luther Vista." Alice enjoyed volunteering in the church, especially during pastie season. They retired and moved
to Kaleva in 1997, joining Bethany Lutheran Church and serving as volunteers there and in the community.
Bill and Alice became supporters of Samaritas after hearing about the importance of the work through their church. For years,
they were committed supporters. Alice passed away in 2011. Bill remarried in 2013 to Martha West and passed away in 2021.

When they made plans for Alice's estate, they included Samaritas as a beneficiary. Because of their generous, simple act of
including Samaritas in their estate plan, Samaritas this year received a generous bequest from her estate.

Would you consider including Samaritas in your estate plan and leaving a legacy like Bill and Alice? Please reach out to
DeeDee McVety at deedee.mcvety@samaritas.org

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