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FUSION Executive Board Fall 2011 Quarterly Report
Dear Friends of FUSION,
Wednesday August 3, 2011. Forecast? Sunny, warm, Fantasia! Yes, once again the weather cooperated for the 18th consecutive year as our supporters and community members flocked to another summer event featuring local artists, silent and live auctions, Asian inspired entertainment and fantastic food.
Fantasia was the result of superhuman efforts by of all our volunteers, especially co-chairmen Kathryn Everett and Fran Morris. Thank you both for your time, talent and passion to the FUSION mission to help our homeless families.This year’s event netted $126,000, including $74,000 in sponsorships, to help provide services and shelter for our 16 families. Thanks go to our many sponsors and volunteers who make this happen every year.
FUSION could not serve the families we do without the generosity of our sponsors, individual donors and compassionate hearts of those who attend our summer event. THANK YOU!
Like the Rose Bowl parade, we begin planning for next year’s event before the last table and chairs are put neatly away. Please mark your calendars now for the first Wednesday in August, 2012. Plan on sunny, warm and fun.
Fantasia Co-chairmen Fran Morris and Kathryn Everett
City Council Recognition
The Federal Way City Council presented a special award to FUSION at their August 2 meeting. Peggy LaPorte and Bob Wroblewski were present to accept the tribute that recognizes FUSION and its many volunteers “for the work they do to improve our community’s quality of life and promote self-sufficiency and stable families.” Read the full proclamation.
Planning For Our Future: Endowments
Our finance committee has been working overtime to plan for our future. After record activities in 2010 our Board of Directors agreed that this year we would catch our breath and be ready for what the future brings. Sandy Huggins, who chairs our Fund Development, takes the lead in preparing grant applications along with several others, including Ralph Horner and our founders Peggy LaPorte and Phil Wamba.
The new buzzword around the table is “endowments.” Who better to help us understand what this all means than our newest Advisory Council member Tom O’Neal. (If this name sounds familiar it’s because his wife Betty Jean chaired our Summer Art Event in 2010.) Tom is a senior vice president and financial advisor with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Federal Way. Tom addressed the Board at our September meeting and offered to assist a committee who would work on establishing FUSION’S first endowment fund. Kristen Barsness, another member of our Advisory Council, is also advising our group. Thank you, Tom, for joining our team and for the expertise you lend.
Fall Appeal
Fall means colored leaves, cool weather, football, World Series and the FUSION Annual Appeal! Yes, it is that time of year again when we will be asking for your continued support for the families we serve on your behalf. You will be receiving a request soon after Thanksgiving if you are on our mailing list.
Remember, you can support FUSION financially online at any time by going to our web site at FusionFederalWay.org. Just hit the “Donate”button.
Storage Space
FUSION Housing needs additional storage space for all the furniture donations offered to us. If you have or know of available warehouse space or an empty storefront we could use, please let us know at 253-874-1257 or
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. Your help is greatly appreciated!
Duplex Remodeling
Thanks to a $31,00 grant from Pierce County SHN 2060 funds and a pound of persistence from Phil Wamba, FUSION is now able to replace the roof, redo insulation in the crawl space, install a new furnace, and completely renovate the kitchen of our Northeast Tacoma duplex unit. Keystone Construction, who built our third home around the corner, is doing the remodeling project.
Contractor's drawing of FUSION's new duplex kitchen.
Family: Letter From a Friend
The following is a letter from VT, a former FUSION client.
Dear FUSION,
We would like to take this opportunity to give you a big huge thank you from the T Family. “THANK YOU, FUSION!” Your program has been a tremendous help for the T Family. We will never forget Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and Mother’s Day for all the holiday baskets and gifts you prepared and sent for us. You made us a happy family. Thank you also for giving us extensions as we resided at your unit. You made the impossible possible for us. We greatly appreciate everything, little things to the humongous things you’ve done for us.
Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity and your help and support throughout our stay at our residence in NE Tacoma. We’re truly blessed with such wonderful, good and caring people like you. We especially thank Phil Wamba and Carl Buehring for their support helping us from the start, and we are very grateful for helping us with the truck moving to our new place. That was a great help and a weight off my shoulders. Thank you so very much. It has been a pleasure knowing you two and FUSION. We will miss FUSION and most likely we’ll miss the place we lived.
We hope and pray for the success and blessings for the program furthermore. We also pray for the good and health of all the wonderful people of FUSION. We love you all and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Thank you so very much and God Bless.
The T. Family
Phil Wamba (center) and Carl Buehring take a break with VT as they help her family move on from FUSION's transitional housing into permanent housing.
Reaching Out
FUSION volunteers often help other local non-profits with similar missions of helping the homeless -- such as the Multi-Service Center, Caregiving Network and Reach Out -- by attending their fund-raising events. Co-founded by our own Board vice president Nancy Jaenicke, Reach Out partners with Catholic Community Services just as FUSION does to screen homeless clients and provide support services.
For the past three winters they have been offering overnight shelter and meals to men in Federal Way. At a recent pancake breakfast held to raise funds for a similar facility for women, FUSION’S Board president Bob Wroblewski was honored as a Local Hero and guest speaker.
For more information, visit the Reach Out web site.
Participating in a Reach Out fund-raising breakfast are (left to right) Local Hero Megan Johnson; Federal Way mayor Skip Priest; FUSION Board president Bob Wroblewski; Reach Out founders Laurie Fiorito, Nancy Jaenicke and Willa Gaines; King County councilmember Pete von Reichbauer; and guest speaker Sheila Sebron.
Respectfully, Carl Buehring,
FUSION Founder
