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Taking her cue from Laura Bush’s push to get everyone involved in making communities a better place, Lake Worth resident Lynda Richey founded, “Showers for Blessings,” a charitable organization that partners with other charities by hosting shower parties.
“Everyone has a favorite charity they would like to help if they knew how,” said Richey. “I want to facilitate people who want to help, but don’t know how to start.”
After recruiting women from her circle at John Knox Presbyterian to be on her board of directors, Richey sat out to show others just how to start helping. “Women love to get together and go to parties,” Richey said. “They buy jewelry, makeup and other things they don’t really need just because they love to get together.” Hosting a Showers for Blessings party gives everyone, women and men an opportunity to get together while, “Doing good things,” she said.
The first Showers For Blessings party was held in November of last year for NICA (Northside Inter-Church Agency) in Fort Worth. The next was for Grace House in Weatherford. Then came the Candlelighters of Greater Fort Worth. And in May of this year Jean Gechter hosted a shower for the Azle Animal Shelter at her home in Azle with help from Beth Starns of Lake Worth. “It was a shower so we ate cupcakes with no calories,” Gechter laughed. “And we had a good time that benefitted someone in our own community.” Anyone can host a Showers For Blessings party to benefit the charity of their choice. Individual charities are screened and interviewed by board members to determine their need. Hosts are responsible for providing the shower location, refreshments and postage on the invitations supplied by Showers For Blessings. Invitations are complete with the Showers for Blessings umbrella logo, designed by the art director for the Container Store company, where Richey is a general manager. “All I told her was that I saw an umbrella,” Richey said. “Then I ordered a thousand and stepped out on faith.” She hasn’t been disappointed. Showers For Blessings already has another six showers scheduled this year. Each shower theme is based on the needs of the organization being helped. NICA needed hygiene product to give out to their people, Grace House asked for food to fill the pantries of the people depending on them for help. Candlelighters requested travel-sized personal-care products to fill care-packages for the families at Cook Children’s Hospital and the Azle Animal Shelter asked for pet food, shampoos, dishes, toys, carriers, bedding supplies and lots more. “It was wonderful,” said Karen King, the shelter volunteer who attended Gechter’s shower. “They asked me about our low cost spay and neuter program and donated a lot of the items on our list.” Showers For Blessings does ask that a representative from their organization speak at each shower along with one or two people from the chosen charity. “And we encourage people to come with us to make the deliveries,” Richey said. In return everyone gets the joy of giving. To host a shower, email Richey, lkrichey@gmail.com or call John Knox Presbyterian Church, 817-624-9265. |
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