and white movie featuring our resi-

dents and closed with awards being

presented. If you would like to see

our black and white movie, “Like Us” on Face-

book!

Thank you to all who made this event possi-

ble: IHM Parish; Knights of Columbus from

IHM and St. Casimir who prepared our meal;

and to our Silent Auction Committee who gave

of their time to solicit donations from the area.

Hope you can join us for our 7th Annual Silent

Auction & Dinner in February of 2013!

As with any organization, we need to be able

to plan for our future. Our board has

recommended that a “Planning Committee” be

set up to explore a five-year plan for Rainbow

Homes. The first meeting took place in early

March with a “SWOT” (Strengths Weakness

Opportunities Threats) Brainstorming meeting.

This committee will be meeting quarterly at

Rainbow Homes. If you are interested in

joining this important planning committee,

please give Rainbow Homes call or e-mail.

Wishing you and your family Easter blessings,

Joann Davis, RH Executive Director

Our Mission

To provide ecumenical Christian housing and services

for adults with cognitive disAbilities,

where they can grow personally and spiritually to reach their God-given

potential. The residents will be

nurtured in a homelike

Christian setting.

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Volume 18 Issue 14

Spring—2012 Friends of Rainbow Homes,

Spring has arrived early in Michigan! I saw my

first pair of robins, either they stayed for the

winter or they are back from the south. Spring

is an arrival of new life in nature and can be a

breath of new life in organizations too! As you

will see, opening up this newsletter, Rainbow

Homes and its 30 residents are not setting

around waiting for something new to come

along. Our residents have been actively

engaged in the life of the greater Lansing

community.

RH had a wonderful, blessed Christmas

Season! In the Spirit of Christmas, our resi-

dents and staff donated mittens, hats and

scarves to the Maplewood Women’s Shelter in

Lansing. Many of our residents are involved

with the Holt Kiwanis Aktion Club. The Aktion

Club co-hosted the State Aktion Club con-

vention at Rock Lake. They packed 20 boxes

of toys, school supplies, and candy for

“Operation Christmas Child”. For Christmas

the Aktion Club members made treats of

doggies and collected old towels and bed-

ding for the Ingham County Animal Shelter.

The International Kiwanis Recognized the Holt

Aktion Club and presented them with the Dis-

tinguished Club Award for 2011.

We are also grateful to all who donated,

stopped by with gifts and helped us celebrate

Christmas. A special Thank You goes out to

Immaculate Heart of Mary parishioners for

donating items to our residents through their

parish “Giving Tree” project. Our residents

were thrilled with all your generous donations.

Our 6th Annual Silent Auction and Dinner was

a complete success! Over 220 people

attended the event this past February. Our

theme “Night at the Movies” included a

Residents Walk of Fame, a wonderful black

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Wish List Gas Gift Cards - 2nd Freezer/Fridge.—Large Totes

for Storage—Replacement Windows (30 needed) -

Lawn Games—Outdoor Chairs in Bag—Art Supplies

(Card Stock, Glue Sticks, Markers, Ink Pads, Low Tem-

perature Glue Sticks)

Want to help and need more ideas? Visit

our website and click on our “magic wand”.

Rainbow Homes

Annual Picnic

Sunday, August 5, 2012

At Rainbow Homes

1:00—3:00 PM

RSVP is required.

Call 517-699-8454

Meat and Drinks will be supplied

Call RH to sign up to

bring passing dish.

RH Community Living Support Services (CLS) is continuing to offer services and programs to fifteen of our residents and twelve participants living in the community. We are ex-cited to see attendance continue to grow on a monthly basis. We are offering new ideas that we will be implementing to better serve our community both here at Rainbow Homes and the greater Lansing area.

CLS is working with individuals to equip them with the skills needed to cook on their own. This has been a tremen-dous success and those in the classes leave with a strong sense of accomplish-ment.

We have also been working on an individual basis with our men’s and women’s spas, teaching each client the importance of hygiene and

months.

CLS has started a new science program called “Discovery”. So far our experiments have included water, straws, and vegetable oil. We are looking to discover the ever-changing world around us. On April 26th twenty of us will be attending a Detroit Pistons basketball game. A new “Financial Coaching” pro-gram, teaching about balancing our checkbooks and saving our money will be starting soon! Won-derful opportunities making 2012 CLS program a great success!

CLS Happenings!

RH Family Welcomes New Residents: Kevin 4 has moved into Rainbow Homes from Mason. Kevin works three days at Peckham, one day at his Grandfathers Rock Shop and spends one day at Mason Satellite. He loves sports. He is playing basketball with the Mason team and attends all sports activities with the group. He gave “two thumbs up” to attending the Red Wings game recently.

Mark has moved in from an independent apartment. He loves going to all the MSU games. Mark works at Transition North in the workshop. Mark wants to travel more and looking forward to our Chicago trip.

George has also moved in from an independent living site. RH got to know George on our previous trips. He loves to sing and has started attending the MSU Music Therapy program with several guys from Rainbow Homes. George enjoys going to church with the group, eating dinner together and having lots of friends to be around.

Congratulations! to Mary Ellen who is Michigan Kiwanis Aktion Club Governor. Her responsibilities as Governor has involved traveling to Cheboygan, Midland, Detroit, and Lapeer to help charter in new Aktion Clubs. Mary Ellen has challenged all Michigan Aktion Clubs to raise $1000 towards the Eliminate MNT project (Maternal-Neonatal Tetanus). She will be attending the Kiwanis International Convention in New Orleans as a delegate. Holt Aktion Club sponsored a dance March 10th to raise money for the Eliminate MNT project.

.

cleanliness in their daily lives.

Some events we have been able to facilitate are an outing to Lansing’s Zap Zone. Those in attendance were able to test their skills at Laser Tag and then cool down with a few video games.

In mid-January the first ever “Mocktail Party” took place in our community room. We had tables, music and nonalco-holic drinks to enjoy. It was such a great success another party is in the works for late March.

In February, a group of 15 men went to the Red Wings Game #24 in Detroit. It was an unfortunate loss for the Red Wings, but it was a great experience that we will continue to talk about for Page 2

Residents On The Move! Michigan District Speech Contest

Winner Recognized

Matthew Herman Receives Second Place

Award in Kiwanis Aktion Club 2010-2011

International Speech Contest. Michigan

Aktion Club’s David Coulter, District

Administrator and Mary Ellen Kane, District

Governor of Aktion Clubs present the

Speech Contest Award and Medallion to

Matthew Herman at the December ceremony

held at the Kiwanis Activity Center in Ann

Arbor.

MNT is caused when tetanus

spores, found in soil everywhere,

come into contact with open cuts

during childbirth. The disease

strikes the poorest of the poor, the

geographically hard to reach and

those without health care.

“TREASURED MOMENTS IN TIME”

Residents again enjoyed the Christmas holidays. A group made Rock candy at the Wellings home again. The powdered sugar fight was enjoyed by all!

Christmas Party for RH Board, Residents, Staff & Family was held Dec 7th at Meridian Christian Church. About 80 people attended to celebrate the season with a surprise visit from Santa (AKA previ-

ous board member). Thanks to Sue Bockrath, Donna Stacy and 4 LCC student volunteers for handling the kitchen to give Staff a break.

Residents and staff gathered at Coral Gables on December 10th to enjoy dinner, games and fellowship together. In lieu of a gift exchange, they bought mittens, hats or scarves to donate to the Maplewood Women’s Shelter in Lansing.

Day 4 Sites included Time Square,

Scenic architecture and down-town

sites. It was a good trip as most of the

participants asked where the next trip

was going to be as they stepped of the

bus!

2012 Trips

Chicago June 4th to 8th

Nashville October 8th to 11th.

On Oct 6th 2011, Fifty-three people left for New York City via Diamond Tours. The group consisted of residents,

family members and community friends. Day 1 The group enjoyed the fall colors through the Pennsylvania countryside. Day 2 Stops in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania where time was spent in Plaza of gift shops, vintage stores and retail shops. Upon arriving in New York, the group visited Central Park, Wall Street, Grand Central Station, Empire State Building, China Town, and Little Italy as well as Ground Zero. Day 3 The group cruised on the New York Harbor with views of the New York Sky Line, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

2012 RH Membership Drive

November 1st was the kick-off of our

2012 Rainbow Homes Membership Drive.

Thank you to all who have become a

2012 member. If you have read this

newsletter and believe in our mission,

please consider making this annual $30

donation. Donations can be made online

through PayPal, or by sending a check

made payable to Rainbow Homes.

Have a wonderful Spring!

Easy safe secure way to

donate online!

NONPROFIT ORG

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

HOLT MI

PERMIT NO. 2

Phone: (517) 699-8454

E-mail: rainbowhomes@sbcglobal.net

Web: www.rainbow-homes.org

“Designation Card” Use #1751 Rainbow Homes, Holt, Michigan

Special Recognition

We would also like to thank Fr. John

Byers, IHM Knights of Columbus

Council #10542 and the parishioners of

IHM Parish, Lansing for their continued

support of Rainbow Homes. Each of

our 6 Annual Silent Auction and Dinner

was held at IHM. We have been wel-

comed with Open Doors - Open Minds

& most importantly Open Hearts.

Thank you!

Remember! When United Way comes

around again, Rainbow Homes can

receive donations. All you have to do

is fill out a “designation card” and list

Rainbow Homes, our address and

#1751 as your

recipient.

Knights of Columbus

“Thank You”

IHM Knights Council #10542 &

St. Casimir Knights Council

#9711 for preparing our Silent Auction

Dinner. The food was wonderful! Thank

you for giving of your Time - Talent -

Treasure to Rainbow Homes.

We would also like to Thank St. James,

Mason Knights Council #9182 for attend-

ing our Silent Auction, making that one-on-

one connection is priceless!

Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish

Tootsie Roll MR Drive—

Palm Sunday Weekend April

1st. Please donate and thank

our area Knights of Columbus

for their dedication to persons

with developmental disAbilities!