Last spring, DAHLIA received a $5,000 local community service grant from Bellevue Rotary. Earlier this month, DAHLIA's Executive Director, Cheryl Jordan and Board VP, Wendy Peloquin were invited to attend a Rotary lunch meeting. What a fun, uplifting event - and so inspiring to witness the camaraderie and generosity of the club's members.

Cheryl's take on the meeting, "we learned about Rotary and they learned more about us." Long time DAHLIA supporter, Rotary member and mom to our resident, Jay - Joyce Shaffer was in attendance. Cheryl and Wendy were honored to be hosted by Howard Donkin, who sponsored our $5000 grant award. We used the money toward the purchase of a 2007 Toyota Sienna minivan now used by our Halcyon program.

Our dynamic DAHLIA duo practiced their ad-libbing skills, impressing the crowd with a presentation of all the wonderful things DAHLIA does for our residents. It was an afternoon of good food, better people, and a spur-of-the moment tag-team presentation! Thank you again Bellevue Rotary!

Bayley Construction has been such a fantastic supporter of DAHLIA Living for a number of years. And, they did it again. Bayley works closely with Enterprise (yes, the car company that "picks you up") for its fleet of construction vehicles and their representative from Enterprise asked Bayley to nominate a worthy non-profit a grant And, they picked us! Here's Ryan Lewis - Enterprise Fleet Management and Meriann Talbert - Bayley Construction presenting our own Cheryl Jordan with a check for $1,000.00!  

The Back Story
Bayley came into our world in late 2016, when they contacted us to say they wanted to "adopt" our residents for Christmas. Their staff would purchase gifts which would then be distributed by our "Santa Al" who had worked with us for years. 

For many years, Santa Al, who has, sadly, since succumbed to cancer, would purchase small items for each resident, dress up as Santa, and make the rounds to each home. As his health declined, he stopped being Santa for most every other organization, except us.

Enter Bayley Construction to the rescue!
In 2016, Santa Al enlisted the help of his friend, Gary (now known to us as Santa Gary) to perform his Santa duties, and asked Gary to please continue the Santa duties for our residents. Gary enlisted the support of the Bayley staff - and it's been amazing ever since! Bayley's staff purchase truly incredible gifts for our residents and they work hard to match the "wish list" for each resident (not only do they always meet the wish list, they always exceed it by leaps and bounds!). 

We are so blessed to have truly wonderful supporters in Bayley Construction and Enterprise Fleet Management! This grant is going to good use with our new van! Thank you!