Due to the enormous amount of snow that hit RVA over the weekend AND Richmond City schools being closed, Open University will not meet at St. Luke Lutheran on Monday, January 25th.
Paula and I will be working from home Monday, checking phone messages and answering emails if you need to get in touch with us.
Please be safe and stay warm and please check in with your elderly neighbors. – Julie
Gray Matters Newsletter Winter 2016
Open University Schedule Winter 2016
On Friday, December 12th we gathered together at St. Luke Lutheran Church for our Yuletide Celebration. We shared some good fellowship and delicious food provided by our Board of Directors. It is always wonderful when we come together and get to know one another better. Everyone had a great time.
I had a fantastic time this past Sunday at Grace Baptist Church’s Christmas Mission Market. It was my 6th year representing TSCOR. It has become a part of my own Christmas traditions and I look forward to it each December. It was great spending time with Karen Hamlett, Randy Scott, Jimmie Gaunce, Bernie Henderson and Sandy Morrison. They are all volunteer drivers for the Center and Bernie & Randy recently joined our board of directors. Both Grace Baptist and TSCOR are blessed by them all. – Julie
Our 2013 – 2014 Annual Report is available. Please click on the link below to view the report, or call the office at (804) 355-7282 to request a hard copy.
Well…I think we are getting better at this Amazing Raise thing every year!! All of you who participated this year get an “A+” for effort. I am incredibly proud of how you all have stepped up to give this thing a real try. We surpassed our total unique gifts from last year almost two-fold – from last year’s 46 unique gifts to this year’s 72!!
The main thing we have learned about The Amazing Raise is that it’s not about the amount raised but about how many individual donors you get giving you at least $50. Getting those unique gifts at certain times throughout the 36-hours can really pay off. We will try to arrange a more organized attack strategy for next year. If anyone would like to help with that, let’s get together early next summer and make a plan.
Again, a big THANKS to all of you who took part in the craziness and for supporting The Shepherd’s Center of Richmond. We can’t do it without you! – Julie
Tomorrow is the day! Everybody ready for The Amazing Raise!? I will be posting one last time later today with the link to our donation page, but I wanted to remind you that if you could make your donation at 6am tomorrow, we may have a chance to win that Early Bird Prize. I will be up making a donation for me and a friend and I know my sister is rallying her family too. See who you can rally to donate early!
One note – There is a small service charge on donations made during The Amazing Raise (estimated at 6.5%). So, if you would care to only make part of your total annual donation during The Amazing Raise, please do so, but make it at least $50.
I want to thank all of you in advance – Let’s have a great Amazing Raise this year! – Julie
The Amazing Raise is only 4 days away and we look forward to this 36 hour “give-a-thon.” I hope you read all about it in our fall Gray Matters. The biggest question tied to The Amazing Raise is always, “What is a unique gift?” Let me explain.
A unique gift is a donation of $50 or more made by one individual. For example, if Mr. Smith and his wife donate $100 on one credit card for both, it only counts as one unique gift. But, if Mr. Smith donates $50 on his credit card and then Mrs. Smith donates $50 on her credit card, it counts as two unique gifts. The goal is to get as many different people as you can to donate. And once you have made your donation of $50 or more, you are counted as one unique gift and will not be counted again if you make another donation during The Amazing Raise. So in general, it is a whole bunch of different people donating unique gifts to the organization of their choice. And we hope that you choose The Shepherd’s Center of Richmond.
These unique gifts count towards prizes of grant money given by the Community Foundation throughout the 36 hours. Follow this link to see the list of prizes: https://theamazingraise.org/#prizes.
So get your whole family involved, like I did. If they have a credit card, their donation can be counted as a unique gift too! There will be a direct link to The Shepherd’s Center’s donation page here on our website that will be active at 6:00 a.m., Wednesday, September 17th. You can find out more about The Amazing Raise at www.theamazingraise.org.
If you have any questions, please post them here, e-mail me at jadams@TSCOR.org or call me at 355-7282. Let’s have an amazing, Amazing Raise! – Julie
Hope you saw the great article about The Shepherd’s Center of Richmond on the front page of the Richmond Times Dispatch this morning! If you missed it, here is a link to the article online:
When I set out to redesign our website, the immediate challenge seemed to be how to create a site that would be “senior friendly”. I had to wonder ~ What exactly does that mean? I wanted to create a site that was easily navigated by the men and women who make up the extraordinary organization that I am privileged to direct, The Shepherd’s Center of Richmond. For more than 25 years, TSCOR (The Shepherd’s Center) has been a vital and vibrant part of the Richmond, Virginia community, though surprisingly few people know about it. TSCOR is all about people who are 50 and better, and there are some stereotypes that persist when it comes to “seniors” and computers, not to mention social media. There’s a notion that “they aren’t online”. So why bother with a website at all?
The fact is, that women over 55 are the fastest growing demographic group of Facebook users, and those over 60 are doing far more online than keeping up with the grandchildren. Take a look at this article from CMS Wire.com, Social Media Minute: Seniors Embrace the Web or this one from Mashable – Baby Boomers and Seniors are Flocking to Facebook Our stereotypes may need a drastic overhaul!
My staff and I have been to several conferences in the past year which focused on the need for non-profits to get with the program with respect to web presence and the use of social media. My task became clearer: Build a good website – period. The seniors will do just fine. There is a wealth of information on the web and in print about how to develop a non-profit site that will be accessible to your members, informative to those seeking to use your services, and clear to your donors. There is an enormous and ever-growing body of research available to guide non-profits as they begin to understand what motivates and inspires Baby Boomers to volunteer. Ultimately, the task was to distill some of this information and create what we hope will be a successful website. I did try to make it easy on the eyes with a black on white format and a font size that was easily readable.
So today, we’re celebrating the launch of The Shepherd’s Center’s new web home. There is still a little tweaking to do, but I think we’re ready to be a presence on the web and in the blogosphere. If you’re curious about what The Shepherd’s Center is and does, you’re warmly invited to take a tour! For our members, the over-50 crowd, WELCOME! Don’t hesitate to “share” this blog post on your Facebook page, or post a link in your twitter feed! I hope you’ll find the new site clear and easy to use.
Linda
The Shepherd's Center Of Richmond 