Altrusa Autumn Affair to raise funds for our community

Altrusa of Montrose is offering a new event this November 7 to raise funds to benefit our community and others with connections to the people of Montrose. The Altrusa Autumn Affair will be held in the beautifully-restored Lark & Sparrow Historic Venue at 511 E. Main Street from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. The evening will feature live jazz by The House Blend, delicious appetizers and desserts catered by The Bistro, and a silent auction with a fun twist. Along with gift baskets and centerpieces, the auction will include two special collections of gift cards and gift certificates from local merchants for a wide range of goods and services. The winning bidders on these baskets of gift cards can use all the cards for themselves or can give some away as gifts for others.

Altrusa is a non-profit, world-wide volunteer organization of people with diverse backgrounds and experience dedicated to improving our communities by personal service. Our local Montrose club was organized in 1975 and, with its 50 members, is one of the largest and most active clubs in the entire international organization.

Altrusa Clubs develop and fund specific service projects to meet community needs and are recognized nationally and internationally for their significant contributions. Locally, Altrusa of Montrose provided over $40,000 in scholarships, donations to non-profits, and community service projects during the  2014-2015 fiscal year. All profits from the Autumn Affair, which replaces Altrusa’s long-running Holiday Festival fundraiser this year, help enable the service organization to continue its many projects and services.

Altrusa of Montrose volunteers for Bosom Buddies at their annual walk/run, organizes and donates books for Seasons Readings, provides a children’s library for CASA, offers awards for teaching excellence at our local schools, contributes to Adult Basic Education, provides books to every First Grade student in our district (in a joint project with the Montrose Library and Rotary), helps sponsor the Montrose Community Dinner (Thanksgiving), donates Love Hug Bears to Montrose Memorial Hospital to give to young patients, grants scholarships to local students, and has provided assistance to many organizations such as HopeWest, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, Dolphin House, Passage Charter School, Montrose Botanic Gardens, Community Options, and many more.

Tickets are available through October 31 for $35 each; starting November 1, the price goes to $40. Tickets may be purchased at Fabula, 317 E. Main, during regular business hours, or from Brown Paper Tickets online at http://altrusa.bpt.me. Brown Paper Tickets charges a small processing fee for each ticket sold.

Altrusans prepare gifts of books for children

The Montrose Daily Press and Altrusa of Montrose partner to bring new and gently used children's books to clients of Health and Human Services for the Holidays. The two have been bringing books into the homes of local children for 10 years and have collected and donated thousands of books for area youth over those years.

Seasons Readings runs through December 15, 2009 with donation drop off sites at the Montrose Daily Press, City Market South, Genesis Christian Book Store, Starbucks, and The Coffee Trader.

Montrose Altrusa members tie ribbons on the first batch of Seasons Readings books for the season.

Altrusa of Montrose Service Committees

Community service is a fundamental part of Altrusa. Our Club's Service committees are:

Service - Reviews funding requests from other non-profit organizations for projects which provide a service to our local community and beyond, and makes recommendations to the Board to issue grant money. The Service committee oversees the other service-related committees listed below, and presents new service projects to the Club.

ASTRA - An extension of Altrusa for young people age 12 to 25. Provides opportunities for school, community and international service projects, personal development, and career planning. The ASTRA club strives to create an environment that will promote fellowship and better understanding among all people by fostering positive relationships.

Awards - Our immediate Past President submits our service projects to Altrusa International and to Altrusa District Ten for consideration of service awards.

Bell Ringing - Volunteer to act as Salvation Army bell-ringers during the holiday season.

Christmas Baskets - Provides needed goods to several local-area families at Christmas time.

Educational Services - Prepares scholarship applications, distributes to schools, reviews applications, interviews students, and awards scholarships.

Environmental - "To understand Nature is to love her. To love her is to desire to protect and preserve her." This committee's mission is environmental education and projects in areas such as recycling, composting, and beautification projects.

International Relations - Seeks to improve awareness of and relations with other cultures and countries. The committee seeks to achieve this goal by carefully selecting projects and programs with an international focus and by highlighting various United Nations International days throughout the club year.

Lifeline - Installs & maintains Lifeline units in the homes of over 100 Montrose-area residents.

Literacy - Provides funding for Adult basic education; recognizes 8 local teachers per year with Apple Awards; creates Buddy Bags filled with reading books, activity books, crayons, etc. and distributes about 200 bags per year to Hilltop, the Dental Clinic, Tri-County Resource, Women's Resource Center, and Medical Mission; organizes a project for Make a Difference Day; collects new and used books for Seasons Readings, which are given as holiday gifts for children identified by Social Services.

Love Hug Bears - Delivers approximately 700 stuffed bears each year to Montrose Memorial Hospital emergency room & same day surgery unit to be given to children when they enter the hospital. This project, started in 1998, continues to be an outpouring of love from Altrusa members to bring comfort and security to children who have to make a trip to the hospital.

Member Issues - Seeks to address concerns to women, men, and children's health and welfare. Major on-going project is to provide assistance for the annual Bosom Buddies Walk/Run.

Tender Touch Turbans - Knits and sews turbans for cancer patients to keep their heads warm after losing their hair. Provides between 30 and 50 turbans each year for people in the Montrose area.

"Christmas Basket" and "Literacy" Committees report to the club

Ruth Heath spoke to our Altrusa club on behalf of the Christmas Basket Committee. This year, she and Sally Senger got the names of two families in our area where grandparents are raising their grandchildren, and are in need of assistance.

In past years, the committee created actual baskets of items to give to families in need. However, this year they decided to talk to the recipients in advance, and delivered gift certificates to both families based on what their actual needs were. Ruth reported that both families were very grateful for the assistance.

Kay Hotsenpiller and Sheryl Starbuck reported on the many activities of the Literacy Committee this past year. Each month, a teacher is honored from a different school in our community, based on the recommendation from that school's principal. While Altrusa of Montrose had presented "apple" trophies to the winners in the past, more recently the committee decided to give each teacher $25 in MAMA Bucks instead, since it is quite common for teachers to spend their own money for items they use in their work.

They reported that 103 "Buddy Bags" were filled with coloring books, pencils, reading books, and other items for children, and that organizations such as Tri-County Resource Center, Adult Education Center, Montrose Medical Mission, and Montrose Community Dental Clinic received these big, blue tote bags decorated with the Altrusa logo.

"Seasons Readings" is another project of the Literacy Committee, in conjunction with the Daily Press. Collection boxes for new and gently-used children's books were placed around town, and collected books were tied with ribbons. Health & Human Resources then donate the bundles of books to needy children for Christmas. This year, 720 books were given away.

On "Make a Difference Day", the Literacy Committee presented books to the Adult Education Center for Adults who are learning to read.

As always, we at Altrusa of Montrose are proud of the good work done by our numerous committees!

Commemorating United Nations Day & Human Rights Day

Carol Parker, vice chair of our Altrusa International Relations committee, gave an informative and inspiring presentation at our December 4, 2007 meeting about Altrusa, the United Nations, and Human Rights.

The complete text of her presentation can be read or downloaded here.

Some of her key points:

Carol contacted one of Altrusa’s UN Representatives and learned that Altrusa is a dues paying member of the Commission on the Status of Women and also of the UN Association of the USA. As an NGO (non governmental organization) Altrusa is attached to the Council of Economic and Social Affairs and the Department of Public Information. Altrusa has 3 active representatives who try to cover as many committees as possible. We have presences on the NGO committees for UNICEF and the UN Trust Fund for Women as well as the Migration Committee. Our representatives attend weekly briefing held by the Department of Public Information.

In 1946, Altrusa was the very first international classified service club to have an official observer appointed to the United Nations.

In 1978, Altrusa received consultative status with UN, the most prestigious category of status for NGOs. This status is for NGOs whose competence enables them to make occasional and useful contributions to the work of the United Nations and who are available for consultation upon request. We can be proud that Altrusa falls within this category.

Eleanor Roosevelt, an Altrusan, served as chairman of the Commission on Human Rights at the UN, and was one of the drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Here are a few of the projects ASTRA and Altrusa have been engaged with that speak directly to basic human rights:

We have supported several projects in Nepal, one the poorest nations on earth. We have populated a school with much needed books and sent many duffel bags of shoes and clothing to very poor villagers. ASTRA funded a teacher for a year in Nepal, whose ongoing efforts have afforded many village children the education needed to pass the entrance test for higher education. ASTRA funded a Nepali infant nutrition program that retrieves babies from the brink of death because of basic nutritional deficiencies.

Altrusa funded the development of educational materials for a project of HM International that seeks to empower villagers in Zimbabwe.

Last year Altrusa funded water filters in Mexico. ASTRA funded orphans in Uganda one year and a child soldier rehabilitation project there last year.

Our impact is not only being felt by the international community but right here in Montrose as well. How are we combating poverty here? By providing Buddy Bags to at risk youth, by funding numerous projects with the Resource Center and Safe House; by providing 1000’s of books to disadvantaged children through our Seasons Readings program, through ASTRA’s provision of nearly 100 emergency supply boxes for Social Service kids; and even by supplying Life Line units to the elderly, many of whom live on fixed incomes.

And so as we remember United Nations Day and Human Rights Day, I feel honored to be part of an organization that values peace, human dignity, education for all, and works to combat the effects of poverty and illiteracy worldwide…..and I hope you do as well.

Altrusa of Montrose projects

• Adopt-a-Highway
• Altrusa Park and Exercise Trail
• Altrusa Park Extension
• Annual Scholarships
• Apple Awards (teachers)
• ASTRA
• Bosom Buddies
• Buddy Bags
• Defibrillator purchase
• e-Waste Recycling
• Flowers by Altrusa (Cerise Park)
• Holiday Baskets
• Kids on Wheels
• Lifeline
• Love Hug Bears
• Pennies for Peace
• San Juan Cancer Center
• Scholarships  
• School Recycling/Education
• Seasons Readings
• Tender Touch Turbans
• Youth Appreciation Day