Hannah Center Inc., of Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids, has launched its “12 Weeks of New Beginnings” holiday fundraising campaign, an initiative designed to provide sustainable support for women and children facing hardship throughout Central Wisconsin.
I spoke with Kara Lineal and she discussed the Center and the Campaign in more detail.
Once again, if you’d like to learn more or donate to the Center and the Campaign, you can find them online: https://hannahcenterinc.org/holiday-fundraiser-womens-shelter-wisconsin.
(AI assisted transcription via Otter.ai)
Riley: “Can you explain what the Hannah Center is?”
Kara: “So, Hannah Center really supports both the community and women and children facing hardship and they have a few different service offerings. So one, they offer women’s shelters where women and their children can live. The average length of stay is between nine months to a year.”
“So, it’s a place where women can recover from whatever type of hardship they’re facing, whether it’s homelessness, addiction, domestic violence situation, but it’s really a long term state to get on their feet and become independent. So, those are the residential services that are offered in both Marshfield and as of 2024 Wisconsin Rapids as well.”
“Another service that Hannah Center offers is the Kairos Care Program. So, with the support resources that have been built up over the last 30 years for residential services, they wanted to make a bigger impact in the community and offer the similar services to women who don’t reside at the centers.”
“And so Kairos’ Care really meets women where they are. They don’t have to be residents and supports women to create a personalized goal plan, the things in their life that they, you know, want to accomplish or want to change, any place that you know where they need support or help.”
“Our mentors go out into the community and support those women to achieve their personal goals. So, Kairos care is the second service and then the third service that Hannah Center offers is the Caring Closet, which is essentially an open resource for the community.”
“It’s supported by community donations of items for infants and children up to age six. So this is diapers, wipes, formula, bottles that anyone in the community, really, it serves all of Central Wisconsin can come and and pick up these types of essentials for free. Those are the three services, residential services, Kairos care and the Caring Closet.
Riley: “And we are in the holiday season, can you explain what the “12 Weeks of New Beginnings Holiday Program is?”
Kara: “So, Hannah center is predominantly supported by community funds, community donors and we really need support in keeping the doors open. The 12 Weeks of New Beginnings is a campaign to fundraiser. Our goal is to reach $75,000 in community support.”
“It costs over $500,000 to provide all of these services on an annual basis, so literally just scratches the surface in helping us with operations. Every dollar earned goes to operating the residences and the services that are provided. The 12 Weeks of New Beginnings includes three different ways to give.”
“So, we’re really looking for monthly giving, monthly donors, and that’s our ornaments of Hope campaign. So, with any monthly commitment to give, whether it’s $10 or $100 a month. You can also submit a positive affirmation that will be turned into an ornament for our Christmas trees at our residences.”
“And these will be shared with the women and children who live at the Hannah Center residences and really show them that there are people out there who care, who want to see them succeed, and want to share a message of positivity this holiday season.”
“We’re also promoting Giving Tuesday. We’d like to raise $10,000 on Tuesday, December 2, for giving Tuesday. This also comes with an opportunity to provide a positive affirmation that will be turned into an ornament for our trees.
Third, there’s the silent auction, which starts November 26 through December 3, we’re auctioning gift items, travel experiences and the auction, the goal is to raise $10,000 for Hannah center.
Riley: “Can people donate and volunteer for other things happening at the Center.
Kara: “So, the Caring Closet is always looking for donations of the items I mentioned, car seats that are not expired, formula bottles, wipes, anything that can help out children and infants and volunteer opportunities, we’re always looking for volunteers.”
“Our residences are staffed 24/7 for safety and security, so we’re always looking for house advocates that can help support the center, as well as skills like a cooking instructor that you could come in and teach the women how to make a healthy meal.”
For example, financial mentors. We have life skill classes on a weekly basis, parenting classes. So, any kind of professional skill or personal skill, we’re always looking for support across a broad variety of volunteer opportunities. We’re looking for grant writers, even legal services, things like that.
Riley: “Where can people go if they’d like to learn more?”
Kara: “Yeah, visit us online at hannahcenterinc.org, or visit us on Facebook at Hannah Center, Inc,. We give timely updates about all of the different things that we have going on and holiday campaign updates. And our website also offers a place to donate and information about our campaigns and volunteer opportunities.”
(Image courtesy of The Hannah Center via press release.)
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