"Butterflies for Hospice House" Features


Mackenzie Hirn, 12, Girl Scout Cadet

 

A Good Scout Helps Hospice

-- and earns a badge to boot!

Mackenzie Hirn is 12, in the 7th-grade at Inland Lakes Schools, and a good Girl Scout Cadet. Make that a great Girl Scout Cadet.


The daughter of Mike and Sharon Hirn, Mackenzie is a member of Girl Scout Troop 2179 in Indian River and enjoys the new experiences she encounters while earning badges. Her Girl Scout vest is awash with colorful patches, each signifying either a memorable experience (like attending National Jamboree) or venturing into a new activity. The whole objective is to broaden young girls’ horizons with new experiences.

It was a “Paperworks” activity badge that inspired Mackenzie to help VitalCare Hospice with its butterfly-themed Metamorphosis project planned for the Cheboygan Ice Pavilion in early August. It's a major fundraising event for VitalCare’s Hospice House, and company officials plan to decorate the facility with “100,000 butterflies” they receive from Northern Michigan communities and throughout the US --maybe even from foreign countries.


Mackenzie mapped out three different activities for her Paperworks badge. She made her own paper from scratch, made papier mache objects and learned some origami, the ancient Japanese art of paperfolding.

“I’d already done some origami,” said Mackenzie. “I have a couple of books on it. But I made the butterflies as a service project so someone could get good use out of them.”
 

That “someone” was VitalCare Hospice. Last week, a small box arrived, containing 38 carefully folded, three-dimensional butterflies in a wide variety of colors and surface finishes. There was a note: “I hope you are still collecting butterflies. I made these for a Girl Scout badge requirement and wanted to donate them to you.”

What a great Scout!

 

  

 

Citizens National Bank
Signed On
As an Early Donor

         Sending a clear message of support and participation, Citizens National Bank pledged a total of $15,000 to the Hospice House Solarium and Community Reflection Garden project. The pledge is scheduled to be paid over a three-year period.


On November 2nd, 2007, Kari Couture, Development Coordinator and Laura Daniel, Hospice Director, accepted the pledge on behalf of VitalCare. Presenters were Sue Eno, Executive Vice-President and Cashier, and Jim Conboy, Jr., CNB President and CEO.

 

Wheeler Motors Dresses Down
--for Hospice House

VitalCare Hospice House is $307 closer to constructing a solarium and Community Reflection Garden, thanks to a donation from the employees of Wheeler Motors in Cheboygan.


Ami Nowosad, Wheeler Motors Business Manager, recently presented the check to Kari Couture, Development Fund Coordinator, who accepted on behalf of VitalCare.


The donation is the result of Wheeler Motors’ Friday “Dress Downs” for an entire month, and is latest in a series of area organizations befriended by the automotive employees.

“Last November, a couple of employees got together and started the ‘Wheeler Motors Community Foundation’,” explained Ami. “The simplest way to put it is to say that we raise money for good causes. Participating employees donate $5 on Fridays, and that allows them to wear jeans and a Wheeler Motors shirt.”

  

 

Wheeler Motors' Business Manager Ami Nowosad presents a $307
contribution to Kari Couture, VitalCare Development Coordinator.

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Nowosad went on to say they normally raise somewhere between $300 and $450 for each cause. They are currently raising funds for Relay for Life, and have targeted the Humane Society for June of 2008.

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