News and Events

Old Bag Luncheon

You’ve seen the teasers, now here’s the real deal; we’re having an Old Bag Luncheon as a benefit for Adopt a Family. The event takes place on Thursday, February 21st at the Mount Vernon Club House, 4701 Independence Drive, Bradenton, FL 34210. The doors will open at 11:30.

To reserve your place, send a check for $15 made out to Adopt A Family to:

Linda Miller
4812 Carrington Circle
Sarasota, FL 34243

A light lunch will be served along with plenty of fun when the auction of new and “gently used” handbags begins. There will also be a raffle and a few other surprises for all who join us.

So, bring cash to bid on the bags and bring a friend or two to share in the good times. If you have any questions or if you have lightly used purses that you’d like to donate for the auction email us at adoptafamilymanatee.com or call (941) 748-4424.

Quilted by Hand; Sewn with Love

Ladies in Church The fifteen quilters of Trinity Lutheran Church do more than just give gifts to the families they adopt from Adopt A Family each year. They give a lot of themselves, too. These wonderful women work about 6 months of the year cutting fabric, sewing squares and tying quilts for every child they adopt as well as one for the parents too. For the past several years the congregation has adopted 10 families and 30 children, which adds up to a lot of quilts. Among the many women sewing the quilts is Marilyn Newsham, one of our longtime volunteers at Adopt A Family.

Quilts This year 131 quilts were made, some for Adopt A Family and others to give to the elderly. These talented and giving people also made teddy bears for children and bags for Hope House. Many in the group are snowbirds so the ranks of quilters expand and contract, yet their work has been a constant activity over 13 years.

On Thanksgiving weekend, their beautiful handiwork including their quilts, teddy bears and other gifts they have made, were displayed at the Church where they were blessed by Pastor Bobbie Blackburn. All of these gifts will be a blessing themselves for the many families who will receive them on Christmas day.

Celebrity Bartending at the Polo Grill and Bar

Adopt a Family bartenders will be serving up drinks at the Polo Grill in Lakewood Ranch on Thursday, November 8th. Stop in for a drink with friends and neighbors between 6 and 9 and get yourself in the “spirit” of Christmas! Proceeds from tips will help the charity Adopt a Family provide Christmas gifts to needy children in Manatee. Take a chance and purchase raffle tickets for gift baskets stocked with Christmas goodies. This is your chance to get a little “spirit” on and help out a community cause—bring your friends so they can get to know us, too!

Santa Needs Volunteers and Translators

We now have a location! We are in the same general area as previous years but in a corner office space at Sarasota Bradenton Commerce Center, Suite 101, 7245 16th St East, Sarasota, FL. We expect to move into our warehouse October 15th and 16th and could use strong backs to help us put things in place. Our volunteer meeting and training takes place on Thursday, October 25th at 1 pm, in the warehouse.

We also plan to begin conducting interviews with our clients on Monday, October 29th so we’ll need to be set up and running at that point. If you want to help with the physical set-up or just volunteer, please email us at adoptafamily@ymail.com or call us at (941) 748-4424. Since many of our clients are Spanish speaking, we are in need of translators. This promises to be a great year.

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Do you eat at Wendy’s? Well, if you do, print this voucher and next time you go to Wendy’s, give them the voucher along with your payment for the food. They take the voucher, write in the amount you spent at Wendy’s and send AAF a check for 15% of your purchase. What a great deal—you get a meal and support us at the same time. So, maybe it’s time to put your money where your mouth is and eat at Wendy’s! (You can print and use the vouchers now through December 31, 2012.) Voucher

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.

Can You Help Us?

Psssstt... We're getting 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