Since our last newsletter, there have been several noteworthy events. The most exciting event was the birth of our newest resident- a baby girl. TLC proudly welcomes this new baby girl into the world. She is the sixth baby born while the mom was part of the TLC program. We are overjoyed that this baby girl arrived in time for Christmas. Her mom will share the details as she chooses. The baby shower was held at TLC just a few hours before the baby arrived! Talk about timing! It was a double shower so we are still waiting for the other baby girl to arrive on the scene. Thank you Hernando County for providing a safe home for these precious families.
We really appreciate all those donations! We are so blessed, we hardly have time to
count our blessings, let alone put them away! A huge thank you to everyone in Hernando County who came together to make this an extra special Christmas at TLC. In February 2017, we will celebrate our 4th year of operation and all we can say is that each year has been better than the one before and the best is yet to come!
If we try to list all of our well wishers, we are bound to omit someone and we don’t want to cause hurt feelings. There were middle school kids, college students, businesses, clubs and individuals who all gave generously. Just look at our tree, all the gifts, and our full pantry! Thank you, thank you, one and all!
Kicking off the holiday season, a mentor group from Grace World Outreach Church
brought a party to TLC for our moms. It was a lovely grown-up Christmas party. The six hostesses brought gift bags and designer bags filled with great stuff (candy, lotion, hair stuff). They also brought lunch – everything from salad to dessert and beverages. They brought love. These are all lovely, godly women. One of the women was Valerie Herron, whom we haven’t see since she taught Life Skills classes way back in the beginning of TLC. It was great to see her. Valerie was amazed and so happy at the progress we’ve made since Little House days. We really appreciate these women and the time they took to minister to our moms.
One group needs special recognition for their extreme generosity. Tone U Gym brought Christmas to TLC this year. They collected money from gym members and went shopping. Their goal was to fill every wish on every list; Including large items like car seats and gift cards for underwear. One mom almost cried when she got new shoes. Santa knew he had brought just the right gift! Plus, Tone U brought all the fixings for Christmas dinner, fruit and a huge bag of homemade Christmas goodies. We feel their love and kindness. They have asked to come back next year and we couldn’t be more pleased.
We always appreciate people who help us with funding – especially when a group hosts a fund raiser for TLC and donates the proceeds. This helps our staff to stay focused on our very important job of building strong families. These groups helped recently:
Gamma XI Master, a chapter of BETA SIGMA PHI, hosted a benefit for The Life Center at Strong Tower Vineyard and Winery in Pasco County. They invited Evangeline and Barbara who enjoyed the hors d’Oeuvres and live music. A fun time was had by all as we partied under the twinkle lights and got to know our generous supporters. Thank you, Gamma XI Master.
Donovan Britton, a 13-year-old Gulf Coast Middle School student, participated in a Pay It Forward Project. He organized an archery tournament at his school. The pictures show the results of his endeavors. Thanks, Donovan!
Isabella Borba attends Gulf Coast Academy of Science and Technology. She also choose TLC for her Pay it Forward Project. She wanted to raise money for TLC. She painted mason jars with holiday themes and added several items and goodies in each jar. She made about 50-60 mason jars and sold them in front of Susie’s Grill in Spring Hill. Thanks, Isabella!
Lowe’s provided a huge blessing to TLC this year. We approached Lowe’s for help. We told them we had 8 families living at TLC and not one good washer. That’s a lot of unwashed baby clothes! We explained we had two very old refrigerators and each mom only got one shelf. Not what you would call adequate! Our budget just wouldn’t stretch far enough to meet our needs. We offered what we had and Lowe’s donated the rest. Our heroes! Now all TLC residents have clean clothes and fresh food. THANK YOU, LOWE’S!
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