• We provided 1,000 PPE units to frontline workers in April during the PPE shortage.
• We replenished $2,300 in supplies to Henry Ford Elementary School after their devastating fire in July.
• We provided 380 kids in Ypsilanti with winter hats and gloves.
Like most things in 2020, our fundraising and projects were impacted by COVID 19. While adding up donations and recapping our projects, I had to take a step back to pause.
This year didn’t look like we thought it would – we has plans to do so much more. But…
this mantra continues to ring true:
“it’s the little things that can make the biggest impact.”
Without your support, we wouldn’t have a foundation. Your donations make BIG difference. From our hearts full of gratitude and thanks, thank YOU for the things you did to make a difference.
Knuth Family Foundation and Fleece and Thank You are collaborating to bring you “Fleece, Love & Yoga” ~ A special event to be hosted at 242 Community Church on April 25th, 2020, from 9am – 2pm.
This indoor yoga festival will showcase a headliner, 5 local yoga studios, healthy food and blanket making.
Best of all, we’ll be raising money to benefit Knuth Family Foundation and Fleece and Thank You!
Tickets will be available for sale online beginning Friday, February 14th.
*Early Bird pricing will only be available 2/14-2/16*
• YOGA Classes on the Main Stage all day, as well as, classes from each local studio throughout the festival.
• BLANKET MAKING with Fleece and Thank You will be included with each ticket and available from 10am-2pm. We encourage you to make a blanket, make a video and make a difference!
• FOOD & VENDORS a small group of local vendors, ranging from healthy food, organic juices, organic coffee and specialty retail items will be available throughout the festival.
STUDIO LINEUP:
*Soul Shine Yoga is teaching Work Your Asana. *Breathe Yoga Salt is teaching a breathwork and movement meditation class. *Divine Power Yoga is teaching a Baptiste Power Vinyasa Class *Brighton Yoga Center is teaching Slow Flow *My Yoga Room is teaching their Signature Yin Class
Fleece & Thank You provides comfort and hope to children battling illness by giving the unique opportunity to create a fleece blanket and a cherished video message of support and encouragement. 60,000 children have received a blanket to date!
Knuth Family Foundation empowers kids in Southeast Michigan by way of various programs and events like: New Kicks for Kids, scholarships and stocking school food pantries. Our largest project is ‘Operation: Christmas Wishes’ which provides hundreds of low income elementary children with Christmas gifts.
WHAT DRIVES YOU?
Our goal is to bring joy to local kids and show them that they are loved by their community.
The Knuth Family Foundation collaborated with Mrs. Clarks’ Advanced Algebra class at Brighton High School to bring back the magic of Operation: Christmas Wishes.
This program, made possible by donors and fundraising, granted Christmas Wishes to 375 preschool, kindergarten, and first graders from a Title I school selected in Washtenaw County, where at least 40% of students come from low-income families. At this particular school 90% of the families are low income, 10% are homeless.
THE IMPACT: A Christmas they won’t forget
$30 was budgeted for each child to have a “wish granted” from their Christmas list. With the generosity of our Sponsors and Donors to this program, we hit our fundraising goal! In addition to their Christmas gift, we were able to provided each student with a blanket, hat and gloves, coloring book & crayons!
The Program
THE RESULTS
Our fundraising goal for Christmas Wishes was exceeded by $152, raising a total of $13,277! Thank you to all of the generous Sponsors & Donors, you made it possible.
VIDEO
GIVE
Knuth Family Foundation does many fundraisers throughout the year. Contact us today, make a one time or recurring Donation and become a part of making a wonderful difference in student’s lives!
Join Knuth Family Foundation as they lead us into the New Year with Bend & Brew (yoga + beer), held Tuesdays on the 2nd floor of Brewery Becker in Brighton, MI.
What’s your excuse?
I don’t do resolutions.
Why?
Because by February I’ve fallen off the wagon and beating myself up about not sticking to the resolution. I’ve learned that goals tend to to work much better for me. Whether it’s a goal or resolution that you choose to embark on, don’t let excuses of why you can’t get in the way.
Here’s a list of excuses that I hear from people about why people “can’t” come to yoga.
“I’m not flexible” … That’s why you go to yoga! We aren’t trying out for the Cirque Du Soleil. We’re doing yoga in a Brewery.
“I’ve never done it before” … You can’t expect to be perfect at something you’ve never done before! Check your ego at the door and give it a try. Channel your inner 6 year old. Did I mention, there are zero expectations?
Moral of the story: If you’ve been thinking about coming to yoga, just give it a try!
JANUARY 2020 BEND & BREW CLASS SCHEDULE:
Tuesday, January 7th @ 6pm
Tuesday, January 14th @ 6pm
Tuesday, January 21st @ 6pm
Tuesday, January 28th @ 6pm
Bring $10 and a yoga mat. Beer is encouraged, not required.
Knuth Family Foundation is hosting an Usborne Books and More online Book Fair Thursday, August 22nd at 7:30pm
Join us for the live party, or shop anytime on the website. Knuth Family Foundation will be donating books to help classrooms have a successful school year.
Professional athlete Sarah Boyle has partnered with Knuth Family Foundation to give athletic shoes to local kids who cannot afford a new pair. Join us by June 22nd to contribute to providing kids with new kicks.
HOW IT WORKS
A $75 DONATION = 1 NEW PAIR OF SHOES
Kids for the shoes will be nominated by teachers/coaches at their schools. From the nominations a committee will select the recipients of the shoes by July 31st and finally all shoes will be given out to kids by mid-August 2019 or as kids return to school in the fall.
FUNDS TO BE RAISED BY JUNE 22ND, 2019
Every little bit helps move this vision and project forward to help families and kids in our community. As an athlete or a parent, we know that something simple like having new athletic shoes is something we all get excited about wearing and can truly make difference in these kids’ lives. This encourages more play for kids, whether in gym class, a sport, or just out the front door.
Sarah Boyle, professional athlete partnered with Knuth Family Foundation to form “Kicks for Kids.”
As a professional athlete and former collegiate athlete, Sarah Boyle considered herself blessed to always have the new running shoes she needed for training. She didn’t have to wonder when she would get another pair or how she would afford them.
Sarah spent a number of years coaching at the collegiate level and it was there that her eyes were re-opened to the number of kids who come from families that were unable to afford a new quality pair of shoes for their son/daughter when they needed them. She personally witnessed a high school coach purchase a pair of shoes for an athlete because their family could not afford them.
The desire to give back to families in the community, along with her life experience, sparked the effort to make Kicks for Kids come to life.
Partnering with Knuth Family Foundation, together we hope to provide local kids without means to purchase new shoes, receive new kicks!
WHAT DRIVES YOU?
Our goal is to bring joy to local kids and show them that they are loved by their community.
Registration now open for “Mat, Miles & Mugs” an athletic fundraising event hosted by the Knuth Family Foundation at Brewery Becker. Register before Before May 1st for just $39.00. Registration after May 1st for $49. Your entry includes a commemorative beer mug, yoga, miles, lunch and one beer ticket.
Event Date: May 18, 2019 from 11am-2pm
Schedule:
10:30am-11am: Check-in! Beer mug and beer ticket pick up in the lobby of Brewery Becker.
Packet pick-up will be available the week before the event at Running Lab on Main Street in Brighton.
11am-12pm: Yoga taught by Allison Mertz on the 2nd & 3rd floor of Brewery Becker.
Bring your own yoga mat.
(Bar opens at Noon)
12pm: Miles! 1 mile and 3 mile option coordinated by Running Lab. Go at your own pace- it’s not a race!
Beer and food to follow!
Your entry includes a commemorative beer mug, yoga, miles, lunch and one beer ticket.
Yoga Strong Foundation, Good Sense Coffee and Hartland High School have pooled our talents together to bring you “Fuel for your Soul” a unique blend of locally roasted coffee. This coffee has a higher purpose: not only does it taste amazing, every bag of coffee raises money for our foundation’s initiatives.
This foundation offers Livingston County Scholarships and gives Livingston County kids the opportunity to connect with low income schools and make a difference in their lives through the Christmas Wishes project, as well as other programs that empower youth in Southeast Michigan.
Fuel for the Soul label
Good Sense Coffee roasted this 100% Organic, fair trade blend. Hartland High School students created the brand, including the logo, and are assisting with the social media marketing. We are making a difference in Livingston County with programs like this!
Good Sense Coffee, Fuel for the Soul label offers 100% of proceeds donated to Yoga Strong Foundation
Product description
Fuel For The Soul is a blend of South American, Mexican and African coffees blended and roasted in Brighton, Michigan. This is a “Medium” roast blend and was designed to have a wide flavor profile. This coffee shows nutty and earthy tones from the Mexican Coffee, wine and citrus tones from the South American coffee and a bright berry and floral note from the African coffee. It is 100% Organic, is fair trade and our Mexican coffee comes from our Woman coffee producers program which was designed to support and empower woman to pursue their passion for coffee and allow them to provide for their families through coffee farming.
Tasting Notes: Raw Cocoa, almond, winey, citric, blueberry.
PLACE YOUR COFFEE ORDER
100% of proceeds benefit the Yoga Strong Foundation.
The Knuth Family Foundation is a charity based in Michigan. We award college scholarships to kids who have participated in a sport for all 4 years of high school, AND are strong leaders in their community.
I know that many organizations offer scholarships – this is not what makes us unique. It has always been a passion of ours to make an impact in the communities in which we live and work. This is why the criteria is what it is: we don’t simply want athletes, though we recognize that being a student athlete is a laborious undertaking. We want those student athletes who also find time to give to others.
It really does take a village, and I want to be the kind of organization that helps those that see the future and benefits of helping others. We often hear people say that others should “pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” and yet many of those who need help don’t even have boots. For 2018 we created a Christmas Wishes program to help financially-strapped school districts to be able to share with their students-in-need during an extra-difficult time of year. This is a perfect example of what we do. We spend all year fund-raising for scholarships for the students who are so willing to give of themselves, while simultaneously finding other ways to make sure we’re doing our part locally to help the future, too.
Scholarships are the grassroots of our organization, we will never quit them, nor do we want to. But we also want to be able to help many people, and to do it year-round with focused quarterly projects. What does that mean? We are still figuring that out. We know that our second quarter project is college scholarship and our fourth quarter project is Christmas Wishes. Beyond that, we are doing some soul searching to find projects in the first and third quarter that we feel passionate about.
We are so grateful for your constant support of all things giving, and hope that if you every have an idea or group who you think could benefit from our help, that you’ll reach out to us!
The Knuth Family Foundation collaborated with Mrs. Grills’ Advanced Algebra class at Brighton High School to create Operation: Christmas Wishes, an opportunity to give to children from lower income families and giving you an opportunity to give in the Season of Giving!
Mrs. Grills’ Room, B13, is home to 28 Advanced Algebra students who will be granting the Christmas wishes of 349 preschool, kindergarten, and first graders! Together we selected a Title I school in Washtenaw County. A Title I designation is given to schools with a student base where at least 40% of students come from low-income families.
A Christmas they won’t forget
$30 is budgeted for each child to “grant a wish” from their Christmas list. Anyone can partner with us in gifting hope and a Christmas wish by donating to this cause, bringing Christmas to 349 children in Washtenaw county, Michigan.
Donations will be accepted until 12/14.
“Santa’s elves” will deliver gifts to the kids on 12/17.
Donate
Donations were collected via a Gofundme page or donations made here through our website. If you’re making a donation through our website, please note: “Operation: Christmas Wishes” in the message section.
THE IMPACT:
Together, we raised $10,860 in 15 days. Purchased, wrapped and delivered 349 gifts to young students.
You should know, of these 349 kids, 100% of the families are low income and 10% are homeless.
Video
In the Press:
Read the article about Operation Christmas Wishes posted on Livingston Daily
