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Our friend Josh Nadzam has qualified for the Boston Marathon. And he’s dedicating his race to survivors of intimate partner abuse. 

Josh’s goal is to raise $2,040 for survivors. That’s $2 a day for every survivor of intimate partner abuse who will find safety and healing at our shelter during the month of the marathon.

This isn’t the first time Josh has run for survivors.

He also qualified for the marathon a few years ago and dedicated his race to our mission. And back in 2014, he ran from Lexington to the capitol in Frankfort to raise awareness and support for legislation to protect victims of intimate partner abuse in dating relationships.

“This cause is so dear to my heart. As a human I feel a responsibility to get involved but as a man, I feel a special duty to step up and act.”

You can cheer Josh on and contribute to his goal by making a contribution at the Bluegrass to Boston for Survivors fundraising page.

If you prefer to make a contribution by check, please include Bluegrass to Boston in the memo and mail to GreenHouse17, PO Box 55190, Lexington, KY 40555.

Image by Mothwing Photography.

Social media is a major part of many peoples’ lives, and there’s no reason that it couldn’t be part of their philanthropic life, too. Most of us see people posting about Facebook fundraisers – hosted for their birthday or other special occasions – on an almost daily basis, and for a variety of causes.

GreenHouse17 has been fortunate to be the recipient of several of these fundraisers, which are a truly easy way to donate to a cause that you care about.

Holden’s Giving Story

Holden Dillman, GreenHouse17’s Marketing and Community Engagement VISTA, hosted a Facebook fundraiser for his birthday, and he says that he loved doing it. “I have a lot of respect for Facebook for making it such an intuitive and accessible process,” he says.

Holden says he’s always felt awkward about receiving gifts for his birthday. “It stresses me out to get things I don’t use,” he says. “So I really appreciate the opportunity to host fundraisers on Facebook for special occasions.”

Holden considers his birthday fundraiser a success – the goal was $250, and close to $400 was raised. “I’m an AmeriCorps VISTA and don’t have the expendable income to make charitable donations as often as I’d like,” he says. “So this empowered me to be able to support an organization through my community.”

“It’s something that I definitely recommend others trying out,” he adds, “because it’s a way for you as an individual to connect people to projects and organizations that inspire you to do the work that you do.”

Your Giving Story

So how do you host a Facebook fundraiser? First, you click on the “fundraisers” tab on the left side of your Facebook newsfeed. Then click “raise money for a nonprofit organization.” After that, choose the nonprofit that you are interested in raising money for, and decide on the goal of how much money you’d like to raise. Then you can decide on the timeframe during which you want the fundraiser to run. Finally, choose a cover photo, fill in the details, click “create” and you are ready to start raising money for the nonprofit of your choice!

The nonprofit that you choose will receive the payment following the end of the fundraiser. Facebook charges no fees for donations made to nonprofits.

If you are interested in hosting a Facebook fundraiser and have any questions, please contact Mary Trollinger by filling out the form below.

Federal designation officially naming our organization a nonprofit entity arrived on February 14, 2005. Each year we celebrate this anniversary with a series of Valentine’s Day cards that you can share with friends, family, and partners on social media to raise awareness about healthy relationships.

Visit our social media pages on February 14 to share these cards with someone special. Or just click or tap on an image below to send one today.

Following early planning meetings with the architect, funders, and construction management team, we began to prepare the shelter for the construction scheduled to begin on January 14.

Commitment to non-interruption of services.

We are committed to continuing operation of the emergency shelter and our 24-Hour Hotline, also housed at the facility, throughout construction. As with any project of this scale, some complications are expected.

Our leadership team has prepared information to notify community partners about changes to shelter accommodations and encourage standard shelter referral procedures during construction. And our community engagement team prepared information to advise supporters.

Readying the shelter for change.

Despite the likely challenges, we are motivated by the possibilities the shelter renovation will create for survivors in our community for many years to come.

Our Executive Director, Darlene Thomas, recently met with survivors living at shelter to gather input, answer questions, and provide assurance of our commitment to their safety and healing during construction.

The next day, shelter staff and residents began moving beds and dressers in the west wing of the facility to common spaces. Design decisions for these temporary bedroom areas considered confidentiality, privacy, comfort, and storage needs of survivors.

Continue reading about the shelter renovation project at this link.

This post is part of a series about the renovation of our emergency shelter.

With plans drawn up and budgets estimated for the project, attention turned to securing funding for construction. Documents were gathered and narratives written to develop our first grant application for support of the shelter improvements.

Meeting community need.

Goals for the renovation of the shelter were closely connected to community needs outlined in the Lexington-Fayette Consolidated Plan, an action plan developed through a participatory process to inform local allocations for funding received through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) formula grant programs.

The decision was made to submit our first application to LFUCG Grants and Special Programs for consideration. Following competitive review of the application and public hearings prior to award confirmations, we received notification of $420,000 received through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program.

Seeking and reviewing bids.

With the guidance of their grant administration team and continued support of EOP Architects, the competitive bid process meeting federal funding could move forward. The contract was awarded to Elaine Allen LLC, a Lexington-based construction management firm with past completed projects for GE, Toyota, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, University of Kentucky, and Cincinnati Zoo.

Meetings with the construction management team quickly began. Meanwhile, our staff worked together on planning to assure continued operation of the emergency shelter and 24-Hour Hotline, also housed at the facility, during construction.

Continue reading about the shelter renovation project at this link.

When thinking about making charitable donations to an organization, sometimes the biggest stumbling block is actually remembering to make the gift itself. One way to make this easier is to set up a recurring gift through your debit or credit card with the organization.

Patti’s Giving Story

Patti Wente was first inspired to become a monthly donor after hearing a survivor of intimate partner abuse speak at a Tai Chi Circle of Danville fundraiser.  “Hearing her experience and how GreenHouse17 had helped her reclaim her sense of self-worth made me realize the positive impact GreenHouse17 has on the 17 counties it serves,” she says.

The Tai Chi circle had already been very active with GreenHouse17 – visiting the farm, donating gift cards and presents at the holidays, and acting as a sponsor for our annual film festival, Lunafest. Starting recurring donations helped Patti still feel connected to the Tai Chi Circle after moving to Lexington.

“Becoming a monthly donor was easy,” says Patti. “I just went online, signed up and filled out my credit card information. It’s a painless way to support a great organization and the important work it does.”

Mike’s Giving Story

Mike Ahern agrees that setting up the monthly donations was easy. “The process couldn’t be simpler, and when you see the positivity and progress being made for beneficiaries of GreenHouse17’s essential work, it makes that few dollars feel like nothing.”

Mike and his wife – who introduced him to GreenHouse17 after she discovered the organization through her job in the school system – set themselves a monthly budget for donating to charities. “We’re always looking for charities that we feel are making a difference in an area that we are both passionate about and that doesn’t get enough attention.”

“I would say that the best thing about a recurring donation is that you don’t even miss it,” he adds. “After a couple of months of donating, it just becomes another part of your life that you would never consider changing. The fact that we can make a small recurring donation to help victims feel like people again feels like the least we could do.”

Your Giving Story

Setting up a recurring donation to support survivors only takes a minute. Click on the heart donation icon at the  top of our website. Then, complete the short donor form.

You can choose your gift frequency – annually, semi-annually, quarterly, monthly or weekly – when you make your gift, and it will set up to take it out of your debit or credit card at the frequency of your choosing. 

If you have any questions about setting up a recurring donation or would prefer to get started by phone, our Development Manager, Mary Trollinger, can help. Call her directly at 859.519.1922, or send her a note using the form at the bottom of this page.