News and Events

Old Bag Luncheon

The Old Bag Luncheon scheduled for January 30 at Tara has been cancelled. There were not enough people signed up for the event.

End of 2011 Year for Adopt a Family

We’ve put the 2011 Christmas Season to bed and what a year it has been for us! We served about 1600 families this year making Christmas brighter for over 4,000 children. We did a lot of shopping to buy all those presents, participated in fund raisers to get the money to buy all those toys and were the recipients of unprecedented support from our donor friends, donor businesses and volunteers. We set up shop, broke down that venue, moved and set up shop again in a new location—just another year for Adopt a Family.

A very warm thanks for all your help and making this happen. We did good.

Bradenton H.O.G.’s Come Through for Adopt a Family

The local organization Harley-Davidson Owner’s Group worked a lot of hours this year to benefit Adopt A Family. From October through mid-December they ran a 50-50 raffle to benefit our organization. This meant that every Saturday one or more of their members was at the Bradenton Harley-Davidson dealership selling tickets.

All that hard work paid off with a big check for over $1100. Board member Patti Peotter-Bettes drew the winning ticket on December 17th amidst general festivities hosted by the dealership.

Shop for a Cause Keeps on Rewarding

Many of you purchased our $5 “Shop for a Cause” coupons from Macy’s this summer and got good value when shopping at Macy’s. Macy’s is rewarding all those who helped the cause with a free coupon. Just click on the link below and print the 25% off coupon. You can read the fine print but it’s a pretty good deal because many items that are typically excluded with Macy’s coupons are not excluded on this coupon.

So, save a little on all that Christmas shopping you’ll be doing and make it a merrier season for everyone. Coupon

Team Jingle “Lights Up” Adopt a Family

December 9th is the kickoff of the Hill family Christmas light extravaganza. Every year they do a light display (of approximately 30,000 lights) computer controlled and set to music. This year’s event will be to honor Adopt a Family.

All are invited (and encouraged) to come by and enjoy the show. They are located at 2708 Bay Drive, Bradenton. So come on out and show your support for this initiative. We hear it’s going to be over the hill this year.

Special thanks to the Hill family for thinking of us.

We’re On the Move!!

We are closing the warehouse for the week of November 20th through the 26th because we are relocating. We will be moving our warehouse operation within the same Sarasota Bradenton Commerce Center from our current address to Building 7155 Suite 114. The warehouses we’re moving into are on the northern end of the Commerce Center. The main tenant of our new building is "The Furniture Warehouse."

We will be closed Thanksgiving week in order to make this move. Our new space was formerly the Pamaro Shop Furniture location.

We need our wrappers to show up as scheduled on Monday, November 28th as we will begin wrapping in earnest. We have ended our interviewing for 2011 and have taken on over 1500 families.

Place, Dates and Times

We now know where we will be working this holiday season and the dates, so get your calendars ready. The Benderson Company has been kind enough to let us use the same space we had last year which makes our set up run smoother. We will move into Suite 111 of the Sarasota Bradenton Commerce Center, Building 7455 at 7455 15th St East Bradenton.

We hope to move in during the 3rd week of October and will have our volunteer meeting at 1 p.m. on October 27th. We will be open to the public taking applications starting November 1 and ending November 18th. During the application period we are open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. For working parents only, we are open November 2, 9 and 16 from 4 until 7 p.m.

Wanted: Old Bags

That is to say, gently used old handbags (though new bags are welcome, too) will be auctioned off at the “Old Bag Luncheon” scheduled for September 26th at the Heritage Harbour’s Stoneybrook Golf Course Restaurant. How do you come up with the idea for an “Old Bag Luncheon”? Good question, and a big thanks to the ladies of Heritage Harbour for putting forth the suggestion as a way to raise money for the charity Adopt a Family, Manatee.

The lunch begins at 11:00 on Monday, the 26th and will include soup, salad, drink and dessert. Also included will be an auction of handbags where spirited bidding of an assortment of pocket books is expected. DON’T miss the fun.

For tickets, call Jan Lane at 896-7055 or Patti Sue Peotter-Bettes at 896-5293. The cost is $20; after the cost of the meal the remainder will benefit Adopt a Family, Manatee a non-profit organization that distributes Christmas gifts to needy children in all of Manatee County.

Only 183 Shopping Days left before Christmas….

Have we got a deal for you! If you need an incentive to get started on your Christmas shopping, how about a 25% off shopping pass at Macy’s? It’s as easy as you send us a $5 donation (to Adopt a Family, Manatee) and we’ll send you a coupon from Macy’s for 25% off your purchase.

The Shop for a Cause offer is an all-day shopping pass for 25% off regular, sale and clearance merchandise throughout the store as well as 10% off furniture, mattresses and area rugs. The pass is valid in all Macy’s stores and macys.com on Saturday, August 27, 2011.

The pass excludes Super buys, Specials, Everyday Value, cosmetics, fragrances, TAG Heuer, Tempur-pedic, products offered by vendors who operate leased departments in any of their stores, including Maternity, eSpot and Louis Vuitton. These are the major exclusions which means it covers many brands typically excluded. If you do this you’d be helping us and helping yourself because you get the coupon and we get to keep the $5.

So maybe you should think about purchasing some for your friends and family. If you do it through us, the money comes to us. If you buy the coupon at the store or elsewhere, the money goes to a different charity. We hope you want to support Adopt a Family Manatee as you have in the past.

It can be as easy as choosing 1,2 or 3 (below) and we’ll send you the shopping pass.

1. Email us back at Adoptafamily@ymail.com with a note that you want to purchase the coupon. Then send your name, address and $5 to Adopt a Family, PO Box 1553 , Bradenton, FL 34206 and we’ll get the coupon out to you as soon as we receive your money. You want to get this out before August 15 so that we have plenty of time to mail you the shopping pass.

2. Call us at (941) 748-4424 to let us know you are sending the $5, mail the $5 to Adopt a Family, PO Box 1553, Bradenton, FL 34206 with your name and address and we’ll mail you the shopping pass.

3. Send us a $5 check along with your name and address Adopt a Family, PO Box 1553, Bradenton, FL 34206 and we’ll send the shopping pass out pronto.

Wishing and Hoping

Do you have a wish list? Things you’d like for a Birthday coming up or something for a special Anniversary. Adopt A Family has a wish list, too. Only technically, it’s not our wish list but rather a list of wants and needs so we can make the dreams of children come true. We’re hoping you will pick up a few of the items listed below because it would really help. Just give us a call and we’ll arrange to get them from you or you can bring them to us when we are open in November. Contact us at (941) 748-4424 or email us at Adoptafamily@ymail.com if you have any questions.

What's Happening Right Now

Our big push to wrap and distribute 2010 Christmas presents has passed, we have feted our volunteers at our annual January luncheon and now we are taking some time to pause and reflect.

This is the time of year when the Board takes a look at how things went last year, what aspects of the operation went particularly well, what we might improve on and what we might want to do differently for Christmas 2011. We’re pretty certain we won’t be in the same location we were in the past few years so we need to plan for how we can adapt to a potentially different space.

Our buyers are also strategizing for how we will meet the needs of next year’s campaign. In particular, we’re looking at ways to better manage the clothing that we provide our families because as we serve more people the logistics become far more complex. We are also out shopping sales and storing purchases for use this Christmas Season so we have a ready excuse to go shopping any time!

A Letter From The President

Dear Friends,

Months of shopping, taking applications, sorting, moving, wrapping and boxing culminated again this year with hugs, joyous tears and grateful hearts!

"Thank you for all your support this holiday season."

"We appreciate all the time you put in to help make my family's holiday bright."

If not for Adopt-A-Family, I'm not sure what kind of Christmas my children would have had." (from a single mother of 4 and 1 grandchild)

"Thank you for bringing a smile to my children's faces."

"I'm calling to say thank you. I don't know what I would have done without Adopt-A-Family."

These are just some of the expressions of thanks that Adopt-A-Family received this year. With the help of our donors and volunteers we assisted nearly 1600 qualified, needy families and their children. What a successful endeavor this past Christmas,our 28th year of existence.

This is a time of new hope, of new energy, and of new appreciation for each other. May you have a new year full of happiness and good health.

Thank you for "Helping Us, Help Others".

Sincerely,

Elaine Henneberry

President, Adopt-A-Family

Calling All Volunteers

On Wednesday, October 27th we will be having our volunteer orientation and training session. Come to the warehouse at 1:00 pm and we’ll have your name badge and a special gift for you.

We’ll go over this year’s procedures and train those who have volunteered to help screen, take applications and work in the office. We’ve made a few changes that we hope will make your job easier and would like to talk to you a little about helping us get the word out to Manatee County of who we are and what we’re about. See you there.

Application Taking Begins

For those of you who will be applying with us this year, you can expect to find us in the same location as last year. Though we begin taking applications on November 1 at 9:00 am we will continue to take applications through November 19th at 3:00 pm.

Don’t feel you have to be there on the first day because there will be plenty of time after that. If you haven’t been here before, you might want to plan to apply later in the week or you could face very long lines (see attached photo of last year’s first day.)

Dreams Come True

As tropical breezes wafted about outside the Heritage Harbour Clubhouse, a seascape décor inside evoked Tropical Dreams. The annual Heritage Harbour Fashion Show, sponsored by the Dining Out Club, Helping Hands and Harbour Hatties featured Fashions by Irene (of Anna Maria Island). The Tropical Dream theme was mirrored in the fashions modeled by Heritage Harbour residents.

Each year the Fashion Show selects a charity to benefit from the show’s profits. This year’s attendees (approximately 140 guests) raised $5,504 for Adopt a Family of Manatee, the largest amount the group has ever raised. Adopt a Family’s president, Elaine Henneberry told the audience of some of the personal stories of the families that come to us for help. “We are truly grateful for this financial gift and thank everyone who contributed to Tropical Dreams,” said Elaine, “it was truly a dream come true for us.”

HOGS Run a Sweet 2 for 1 Raffle for Adopt a Family Manatee

Adopt a Family Manatee has many friends who have helped us out over the years. The Manatee Florida chapter of Harley-Davidson Owners Group (HOG) chose a particularly sweet way to do so, last Christmas.

Over six weeks, HOG ran a 2 for 1 raffle out of the local Harley-Davidson dealer at 624 67th Street Circle East in Bradenton. The raffle was set up so the owner of the winning ticket would collect half of the money and the remaining half would go to Adopt a Family.

The day of the close of the raffle, Adopt a Family Board Member Patti Peotter-Bettes drew the winning ticket. The winner, Robert Sweet of Myakka City further “sweetened” the deal by donating half of his winnings to Adopt a Family. Through the generosity of HOG and Mr. Sweet, Adopt a Family received a check for $1285 which was used to purchase clothing, books and toys for the children we serve.

A big thanks goes out to HOG from Adopt a Family!

Can You Help Us?

Psssstt... We've moved into our warehouse and are getting unpacked for the 2010 season. We're ready for the hundreds of families and thousands of children who will be asking for our help - we expect that this year more people than ever will be applying. In order to be sure every child who comes has Christmas presents we need to involve as many people from the community as possible. We need donations and people to adopt our families. Can you help us get the word out about our families?

Would you be willing to contact your church, social organization, professional society or local association to create an awareness of Adopt A Family and provide these groups with ways they might help us?

These are some things you or your group could do:

Put a notice in the bulletin or on the information board
Enclose our flyer along with your organization’s mailings
Invite one of our Board Members to speak
Put out a toy collection box
Allow us to put up a poster about our work
Sponsor a fundraiser for us