Hello/Hotep Friends of IGF,
Since the last newsletter there have been soooo many positive opportunities that have come our way. We are in the midst of strategic planning with our young people, staff and board members, the first session was thought provoking and helped us to build stronger bonds as a community.
With the assistance of our Bethel Social Work Interns and Service-Learning students handling all of the cooking, we hosted the 2nd Annual Pottery With A Purpose Fundraiser! The proceeds from this event will be our seed funds to develop housing for young people and raised close to $500.
Earlier this week we were blessed to have our work featured on CBS This Morning! This came about from support of the Catalyst Initiative and its Director Suzanne Koepplinger. I’m so grateful for the care that so many have shared with IGF and look forward to telling you about it!
Blessings to you all,
Dr. D.
Give to the Max Day
November 14, 2019
The annual Give to the Max Day is quickly approaching. We invite you to please consider helping IGF meet it's fund raising goals this Thursday. Early giving is now open, make your donation today!
IGF Featured on CBS This Morning
IGF was featured on CBS This Morning on November 6, 2019 as part of their Stop the Stigma series around mental health. We are honored to have been part of the Youth Cultural Healing Summit and to have the opportunity to share our work with others to help them begin to heal.
Pottery With A Purpose Raises Over $500
Submitted by Justin Haughton
Housing is an essential need for every individual in the United States. At Irreducible Grace Foundation, we believe in helping fulfill the vision that one day every individual has a place to call home. In particular, the youth of this country who have the unprecedented pressure of trying to juggle school, work, and extracurricular activities with no place to call their own. Like many organizations, IGF saw the fundamental issue with this situation and strove to fulfill the mission of seeing every youth in stable housing. To build upon this vision, the staff of IGF began brainstorming ideas to raise funds for under-resourced youth who are in need of housing; and thus, Pottery With A Purpose was born.
The annual fundraiser is hosted by Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church. Dr. Fry makes pottery as a way of self-care. She and her pottery classmates donate pieces of their work to this event, whose proceeds go towards housing funds for youth of color. The event is held each fall and admission includes brunch and a $5.00 voucher to be used towards a piece of pottery.
IGF interns worked hard to prepare brunch, with the smell of bacon, sausage, roasted veggies, and egg bake filling the air. Guests quickly flooded the common space eager to participate in this amazing cause. As they filled their plates with food and purchased pottery, the Church was filled with spirits of grandeur. When all was said and done, the event
turned out to be a success as IGF was able to raise more funds than the previous year.
The reasons to support housing for youth are long. Youth are the future and ensuring their well-being is one of the main goals that IGF prides itself around. Events like Pottery With A Purpose help keep the dream alive for every youth and adult to have stable housing of their own. However, this vision is not just shared by IGF. Many organizations around the Twin Cities and countless organizations around the country share this same reality. It just goes to show how small things in life such as pottery, can have an essential purpose.
Personal Self Care
Submitted by Ranae Pageler
The United States is a place where people are busy, busy, busy and rush from one place to the next. The national value of staying busy leaves little time for rest and rejuvenation. Every Sunday at 2:00pm youth and young adults from the Twin Cities area walk through the doors of Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church in Frogtown to take a step back and breath. Conversations and self-discovery take place over plates of homemade food and within community; an atmosphere of rest permeates the space. As a place of rest, Irreducible Grace Foundation opens its doors to the whole person - the joys and struggles.
So often we move and give so much throughout our day, we forget to take time for ourselves. Aware of this reality, IGF set up a Self-Care Sundays with activities focused on personal self-care. Colored pencils and paints were pulled out from the closet; shea butter and lavender oil saturated the room; vegetables were chopped and eggs cooked to create an individual meal; rhythm and connection were created through the beat of the drum; awareness and unity formed through acting. Each Sunday's theme is different and restorative in it's own way.
Personal self-care does not have to occur solely at Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church at 2:00pm; taking care of one’s self can occur every day. It can be a silent breath in the midst of a busy day, using a sugar scrub, making a meal, or dancing. Personal self-care is about finding and implementing what gives you life and revives you despite a hectic schedule. We need to take care of ourselves even though society perpetuates a rhythm of business.
We invite you to join us at a Self-Care Sunday, our schedule can be found at https://www.irgrace.org/event-calendar
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