The Gift That Keeps On Giving: Love

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The Gift of One Alcoholic/Addict Helping Another

In November and December A2WG focused on GIVING as a theme. We did:

  • ThanksGIVING Recovery Toolboxes- we made up boxes for women in treatment/detox or who were new to recovery. We filled those boxes with recovery literature, meeting list books for AA/NA, inspirational sayings, a “Woman in Sobriety” coin, recovery teddy bears, recovery silicone bracelets, cards with messages of hope, and a few other things. The boxes went to Home of New Vision, Dawn Farm and Maple Rock for them to give out, since these are the top places in town that have first contact with newcomers.

  • ThanksGIVING Baked Goodies Give Away– typically we have bakery fundraisers at Maple Rock (formerly the Washtenaw Alano Club), but this time we wanted to give to YOU. We gave out baked goods as a special thank you for supporting A2WG over the past year.
  • #GivingTuesday- This was our first year that we did this fundraising campaign and we weren’t sure what to expect. We set our goal at $1000. I honestly thought we weren’t even going to get close. Silly me! I forgot how giving the recovery community and our allies could be. Not only did we make our goal but we surpassed it by $765 and late donations are still coming in! 12 people signed up their Kroger cards with Kroger Community Rewards so we could receive donations from Kroger when they shop, and 7 people are volunteering for A2WG’s upcoming events in 2016 (so far).

Love is born through the giving of kindness

Our Hearts Are Full

With all of this GIVING we needed volunteers to help make boxes, do the bake sale and support A2WG through monetary donations. We got to be a part of watching women (and men) step up and be a part of helping the recovery community.
Most A2WG events are about the participants. The events listed above were about helping others. What was the effect? Full hearts! Women (and some men) were left with a feeling of fulfillment and joy (love) in their hearts knowing they had impacted a woman in recovery in some way.

We heard from the treatment facilities that the women were thrilled with their boxes. There were smiles on the people’s faces that received a free sweet treat, and the money and volunteers we got on #GivingTuesday will last for months to help women in sobriety.

It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.
What does love have to do with all of this?

Love takes all shapes and forms. The type of love we are taking about here is the unconditional love of one alcoholic/addict helping another, even though many of those that gave of their time, talent and treasures will never see the effects their gifts produced in these other people’s lives.
There is the love you placed in our hearts by the outpouring of support we received from the recovery community. Whether it was the person who thanked us for what we do when we gave them a free baked good or the people who took the time to register their Kroger cards. We got many well wishes and every time we did our hearts filled up a little more. Now don’t get me wrong, we don’t do what we do for the recovery community because we want pats on the back, we do it out of love.

Sometimes it’s hard work and sometimes it’s the same women year after year pulling a lot of the weight, but service with love is what we are all about and we wanted to let you guys know that…
WE LOVE YOU!
Thanks for strengthening our sobriety in 2015. We hope we helped strengthen yours. We look forward to seeing you in 2016 at one of A2WG’s awesome events!

Happy Holidays,
The A2WG Crew

Board members animated

Gigi

Animated board member Eileen

Eileen

Animated board member Cathy

Cathy

Animated board member Amy

Amy

Animated board member Tahra

Tahra

Animated board member Janice

Janice

Animated employee Liz

Liz

Want to become a member of the board and impact the lives of women in recovery? Let us know.

Thank You For Your Support This November!

Goal$9,220$10,000

Your donation helps us continue to support Recovering Women in Washtenaw County by providing fun and educational events, our yearly Women's Recovery Retreat, and free childcare at two recovery meetings every week.

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Free Child Care

The Ann Arbor Women’s Group’s free child care program fulfills a crucial need for parents in recovery. Since December 2010 A2WG has provided safe, free child care while parents attend their 12 step meetings.

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