Associates of Rochester College

Founded in 1959 to Provide Financial Support for Rochester College
associates@rc.edu 

June 2007 Newsletter

Let Us Soar With Eagles
and Not Grow Faint

Dear Ladies & Gents,

Our new fiscal year has arrived and we must be about the Lord’s work.  As Associates, that means raising money to support the college.  I would like us to go beyond where we were in the earlier years of the Associates – a time when we had a thousand members.  The bigger we are, the more we can accomplish.   

This coming year, your Board plans to visit all of you at your own chapters.  Julie Harper will be contacting you to set a date for us to come and visit.   We also would like to talk to those of you who do not have a chapter but who want to be involved.  You are missed and we would like to support you in your efforts to help Rochester College. 

The Board will meet monthly.  We ask you to attend three general meetings in the coming year.  They will be October 2, 2007, December 4, 2007, and March 4, 2008.  Meetings this year will begin at 7:00 instead of 7:30.  At our three on-campus general meetings, we plan to invite speakers like Dr. Westerfield and student groups to share with us their experiences at Rochester College.   

We are planning some great things, but they will only work with your help.  We are working on a Saturday outing that will involve both family and friends.  Please keep the Fall Festival in mind and plan to take part in it.  

Jesus said, “Seek and ye shall find; knock and the door shall be open to you.”  Please pray for the Board as we make decisions to help Rochester College.  Without your backing we are nothing. 

In Christian love,
Jeannette Schiele
President

We are all overbooked and stressed out.  And when someone calls to ask you to help the Associates, that’s just one more thing to be stressed about.  But it doesn’t have to be.  There are many ways to support Rochester College and the Associates that don’t take up much time and don’t require long-term commitments – except your commitment to Rochester College.  Here are some things you might not have thought of:

Using Scrip Gift Certificates…
You hear about this all the time.  But do you know that this is by far our largest fundraiser?  And we don’t have to bake, buy, make, bring, or take home anything!  We don’t have to spend any more money than we would if we weren’t using Scrip.  Most of our gift cards return anywhere from 3% of the purchase prices to as much as 15%!  Let me give you an example: 

If you spend $200 a week at Kroger, using the gift card (which can be refilled at the Kroger store from your credit card or cash), 5% of your purchases goes to Rochester College.  That’s $10 per week.  That doesn’t sound like much.  But if you spend $200 a week for 52 weeks – that’s $520 to Rochester College in a year!  And you haven’t spent an extra dime.  The only time it takes is long enough to tell the cashier you need to put money on the card before she rings up your purchases!

Donations of Time…

OK, you don’t have the money to give.  But you do have some time.  So you volunteer to work at just a couple of events a year.  You could:

• Work at Fall Festival (September 29^th) for your chapter.  That’s 2-3 hours on a beautiful Saturday, and when your shift is over, you can walk around the festival, shop, and visit with friends you haven’t seen since last year’s Festival. 
   

• Cook chili or spaghetti for your chapter’s Sunday evening supper fundraiser. 
   

• Help mail out the newsletter once every couple of months. 

You don’t have to volunteer for every event -  just the ones that fit into your schedule.

Donations of Money…

So, you don’t have the time.  And maybe you live outside of the Detroit area.  But you do have money to donate.  You don’t want to be called on for every project – maybe you just want to send a check.  And you can do that any time. 

Your contribution is 100% tax-deductible.  You’ll get a receipt for your tax records.  And you didn’t have to do anything other than write and mail the check to Catherine Sadurski. For mailing address, email jharper@rc.edu.

If You Live Outside the Detroit Area…

Sponsor a fundraiser in your area.  You  may live in an area where there are other friends of RC.  Invite them, and all your other friends too, to come to a spaghetti dinner for $5 per person, and raise $200 for RC.  That $200 can be used to buy 4 books for the library, or fund part of a scholarship, or help build the athletic center.  But don’t think of it as just $200 – think of it used together with other people’s $200, and it becomes $2,000, then $20,000.

Recruiting Students…

Of course, the main reason we work so hard to help fund the college is so that  more students may have the opportunity to come here and learn, become stronger Christians, and develop relationships with other Christians that will last a lifetime.  You could put some flyers about RC out on the bulletin board at church.  Ask the elders to invite the chorus or Autumn to come perform for a youth event.  Bring a group of teens up for a High School Preview Day or Homecoming or Celebration weekend.

Working together, we can achieve more then we can alone.  Let’s work together to support the college we love.
 

Julie Harper & Sharon Whitlatch
RC Alumni & Trustees

Coming to a Chapter Near You!

The Board of Trustees will be visiting various chapters throughout the year.  If you would like to the board to come for a specific occasion, such as a membership drive or a fundraiser, let Julie know at (248) 212-7143 or email jharper@rc.edu.  Otherwise, we will be contacting each chapter to set up a time for us to come visit with your group.  If you don’t have an active chapter, or would like to work with another nearby chapter, let us know, and we’ll get you set up.

We are also hoping to start chapters in faraway places – like Nashville, Dallas, Abilene, Oklahoma City, Pompano Beach, and Washington, DC.  These are areas where we have large groups of alumni and RC friends, and it wouldn’t be hard at all to get a group together to do one or two fund-raisers per year in these areas.  If you live outside of Metro Detroit, and are interested in starting a chapter in your area (or working with one), please let us know.

Julie Harper & Sharon Whitlatch
RC Alumni & Trustees

Pioneer Spirit Summer Program

What’s coming up in June? GRADUATION OPEN HOUSES, WEDDINGS, AND SHOWERS!   SCRIP Gift Cards make PERFECT gifts for all those occasions! We have gift cards for Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Babies-R-Us, Bath and Body Works, Blockbuster, Borders, Linen’s N Things, J.C. Penney, Kohl’s, and countless restaurants.  What newly married couple or graduate would not like dinner out on YOU!  Contact your Chapter’s SCRIP coordinator for your special orders.  If you currently do not have a SCRIP coordinator in your chapter, please contact Ann Luchsinger for information on establishing one!

ATTENTION GARDENERS! 

We have an exciting new opportunity to raise money for RC this year.  We have an agreement with Bordine Nursery where we can buy their gift cards for 15% off!!!  They are $20 cards, are good for one year, and can be used for any Bordine merchandise.  Some of their merchandise is a little more expensive than other nurseries, but their quality is excellent.  If everyone would use Bordine’s for just half of their gardening needs this year, it would make a big difference in what we can give to RC.  Contact Lynne Stewart, Norma Morris, or me to obtain the cards.

MEIJER 

All of you who have been using the Meijer Community Rewards program are aware of the changes in this program.  You have to re-enroll in this plan using your current account number and the Associates ID number of 918175.  Briefly, we will earn 1% of every purchase (vs. having to purchase a minimum in the past before we could earn any money.)  The 1% only applies to purchases using a Meijer credit card.  If you pay with cash or any debit card, we will earn 0.5%.  If you use any other credit card, we will earn nothing. 

REMEMBER 

You can view or print the current (updated daily) list of Scrip available at any time.  If you have a computer or know someone who does, log onto www.glscrip.com and click on “Retailer List.”  You can list it alphabetically, by category (Apparel & Accessories, Department Stores, Dining, etc.) or detailed, which shows the rules for each retailer. 

Note:  Farmer Jack and Bordine’s will not appear on these lists – we have separate agreements with them 

SCRIP isn’t just to give away – you can use it every day!

- Ann Luchsinger

Hostess

PLEASE plan to be a part of the three upcoming General Meetings--the dates are October 2, December 4, and March 4, time at 7:00 p.m. (Note new earlier time.)  We will be changing our meeting format to also include a short program of information or entertainment.   Hosting is needed for the October and March meetings to handle refreshments and a brief devotional.  Please email me if you can help out.

- Carol Passage

July Board Meeting     Back to Top

The July Board Meeting will be June 10, 2007 at 7:00 pm in the office of Lynne Stewart at Rochester College.