IMPORTANT DATES

April 20^th – Partnership Closed for Easter
May 4^th - Kites on the Green

Johnston Chamber visits for April Breakfast Before Business April 9th

YOU CAN HELP

EASTER IS COMING
Spring is here, which means it’s time to talk Easter. We will be providing a boneless ham or whole chicken to each of the families we serve this month, hoping to make their spring celebrations a little brighter. Donations to support this are welcome and appreciated! You can donate online, or with a check made out to the Johnston Partnership.

VOLUNTEER
There will be many opportunities to volunteer with the Partnership this summer. Besides the need to staff the food pantry and clothes closet every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday starting in June we will need volunteers to help serve meals each day at Chapel Ridge and Sterling Point. Soon, St. Paul's Presbyterian church will be starting their garden.

Click this link to volunteer:
http://signup.com/go/rMX3nG
Review the activities listed and choose the one(s) you like. It’s easy — you will NOT need to register an account or keep a password.

PERSONAL CARE ITEMS NEEDED
We are very low of basic personal care items. We would love to have your donations of toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, conditioner, body wash and diapers over size 4.

THANKS TO OUR WONDERFUL VOLUNTEERS

Thanks to all our wonderful volunteers!!! We estimate that about 4,300 hours have been donated by Dragon Power, Friday Friends, pantry, clothing, pickup/delivery drivers for food, and board members during the past year. That number of hours is equivalent to 2 full time staff people. Mentors provide another 1,500 hours working with students.

April is Volunteer Appreciation Month. Board members are thanking volunteers with treats and messages all through this month.

SUMMIT MIDDLE SCHOOL RAISES $4,000

CommUNITY Days at Summit Middle School raised about $4,000 in cash and personal care items for the pantry during the month of March. The money raised will be used to support bags of food which are sent home with about 50 Summit students each week

CommUNITY Days is a cooperative event between the Summit PTO and Summit Student Leaders which strives to increase fellowship between Summit families and provide an opportunity for students to learn about their community and actively help others.
This year Chelsey Tanke and Lynette Hillabrolt were the PTO coordinators. The Summit Student Leaders include about 50 7th graders. Teacher Matt Hiatt coordinates their many activities throughout the year.

This year CommUNITY Days activities included:
Pizza Ranch CommUNITY Night
Pizza Ranch donated 5% of all the sales that night to the Johnston Partnership. Summit Student Leaders cleared tables and helped during the event.

Jack Brooks holding donation check for the Partnership

Personal Care Drive
Students brought donations for Johnston Partnership to school. All items donated were given points toward a school wide goal of 8,000 points which would earn the students a 10-minute recess (this is a big deal because there is no “recess” for middle school students on a regular day).
Students earned points for shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, toothpaste, mouthwash, dish soap, laundry detergent- towels and toilet paper, deodorant, hair brush/comb, toothbrush’s, diapers, etc.
The students met their goal of 8,000 points!

Summit Hat Day
Summit Student Leaders raised about $180 by selling “Hat Passes” that allowed students to wear a hat in school for a day for a cash donation or an item from the donation list for Partnership Place.

Summit Social
This was student lead party from after school until 4:30 PM. The pool, gym, and cafeteria were open for swimming, games, contests and dancing. Most popular was the concession stand. Pizza sold out in the first half hour.

Roller Skating Party
A “healthy and a safe” event students could attend with friends

WALNUT HILLS THANK YOU

Thanks to Walnut Hills United Methodist church group for packing snacks this week. We hope these last until the end of the school year.

FEATURE STORY

MEET CHELSEY TANKE
It was a good day back 2008 when Chelsey Tanke and her husband, Jerrod, moved to Johnston from Minnesota. Johnston schools and community got a family committed to giving back and hungry families gained a champion.

Chelsey has been active at every school her children have attended over the years. This year she has students at Summit, Johnston Middle and High Schools. She was the Horizon PTO President for 3 years and is currently the Johnston Middle School PTO President. She has been very active with the Summit PTO chairing the CommUNITY Days Project for the last 5 years and also has filled in where there is a need or when no one else has volunteered to coordinate! This year, Chelsey coordinated a duct tape fundraising effort, spring staff conference meal, Cookie Walk, and teacher appreciation activities.

Feeding hungry kids is another passion of Chelsey’s. She volunteered in Des Moines with their summer feeding program and then coordinated volunteers to provide summer meals for kids in Johnston in 2016. Cash donated though CommUNITY Days will go to the Friday Friends fund at Summit.

Chelsey has a degree in social work. She works part-time at Ideal Transformation and also subs as an associate at Horizon elementary school. She is a very busy mom but makes time to volunteer. She says “My parents were my biggest influences when it comes to volunteering and giving back to the community. They are the most generous people I know. I feel that it is important to teach my children the same lesson. It instills a value that is reachable through volunteering.”

The Tanke’s are passing these same values on to their 4 children:

Cora, a senior at ISU, volunteers for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) which helps children navigate the foster system
Leighton, a sophomore at JHS does various volunteering including our pantry and working on his Silver Cords for High School
Kade, a freshman, spends his Sunday mornings helping with Sunday school for 4 hours each week. He is also a Student Leader at Hope Grimes
Aili, is at Summit Middle School in 7th grade This last year for her birthday she collected personal care items for Partnership (pictured below)

Thank you Chelsey and family for making a difference in the Johnston community!

Stats for the Month of March

	March of 2019
Families Served	273
Individuals Served	1,261
Friday Friends/Dragon Power Bags	1,119 bags
Clothing Distributed	359
Volunteer Hours	393
Donations	$13,033

Partnership Place

(5870 Merle Hay Rd, Suite D)
Tuesdays 9am - Noon
Thursdays 9am-Noon
Saturdays 10am-2pm

Closed holidays and holiday weekends
Donate anytime we are open

Partnership Staff:

Andrea Cook (Program Director)
Chris Wilson (Jump Project Coordinator)

Board Members:

Chris Higdon (President)
Tom Foldes (Pres-Elect)
Kathy Nichols (Treasurer)
Lauren Steenhoek (Secretary)
Amy Johnson
Barb Allen
LuAnn White
Judy Anderson
Paul Williams
Peggy Martin
Susan Lucas