IU Health Soup & Salad raises funds for Homeless Initiative Program (HIP)
4/5/2012
On Thursday, March 29th, several staff in IU Health’s Finance Department held a Soup and Salad fundraiser for our Homeless Initiative Program. Stephanie Groves, Sandy Graves and Shirley Hofmann have been long-time employees of IU Health and the Soup and Salad fundraiser is a product of their annual Thanksgiving and Christmas family drives. During the year, they sell snacks, ice cream and sodas for 50 cents in their department and last year raised close to $2,000 that helped three families with a total of 21 people at Christmas. According to Stephanie, they enjoyed helping people during this time so much that they decided to help people all year long.
They have held several Soup and Salad fundraisers over the last couple years and generally raise over $400 at each event. The soups are donated by the Gateway chefs and the salad and toppings are supplied by their department. They have not only raised funds to help local organizations like HIP, but have also been able to assist fellow employees during times of need. In the past, they also gave $400 to help women coming out of prison and Stephanie made them gift baskets with toiletries to put in their rooms. “Whenever there is a need, we try to help,” stated Stephanie.
In addition, often times they receive need requests and ask fellow employees to help donate in-kind items such as food and clothing. Sometimes people from other floors in the IU Health’s Gateway building will contact them asking how they can help. Stephanie said, “a single mom had no winter coats for her three girls and the next day one of the employees from the 8th floor showed up with the coats. Some people want to give and do things but they don’t know what to do or where to start.” Her and her co-workers are working to help those that want to give, find ways to do so.
Stephanie has a group called the Pray Partners and, whenever someone is in need, she can generally find the items they need or the help they are seeking. “Last year, I had two young couples starting out and they had nothing to fill their apartments. By the second day, after sending out the email, I had both apartments fully furnished from the kitchen to the bedroom. My friends are amazing!” said Stephanie.
On behalf of HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program, we want to thank these ladies for their ongoing generosity and compassion towards those in need. The funds raised at their Soup and Salad will be used by our HIP staff to purchase items needed for the homeless population in Indianapolis such as socks, toiletries, bus passes, bottled water and snacks.
Stephanie Groves and Sandy Graves are Financial Specialists, and Shirley Hofmann is an A/P Specialist and have all been with IU Health for over 15 years.