It's All about Shoes

Imagine trying to function with shoes too tight, too big or non-existent because your family cannot afford to buy new shoes.  A surprisingly great number of children in Collier and Lee counties suffer because they don't have shoes that fit. Recognizing this need, the nonprofit Laces of Love was founded in 2006 to provide new shoes (preferably sneakers) to low-income and disadvantaged children and to educate the public on the needs of these children.

Laces of Love has provided more than 12,000 pre-kindergarten to high school children with new shoes.  Last year alone, 4,706 pairs were distributed through public schools and organizations that serve needy kids. 

Susy Warren (Class XI) and Dusti Beaubien (Class XIII), pictured here (L-R, Founder and President Jeanne Nealon, Dusti and Susy), are board members of Laces of Love.  Susy reports that the organization needs a volunteer CPA to help with financial filings and provide other advice.  This summer, volunteers are needed to host shoe parties and deliver the shoes to schools at back-to-school time.  These lunch or dinner parties might be where family and friends bring shoes as hostess gifts.

Throwing a party, asking guests to bring a pair of shoes and then delivering them to a local school sounds like an easy and fun way to volunteer this summer!

For more information on the organization, visit the Laces of Love website.  To volunteer, contact Susy Warren on her cell at 716-310-6880.

photo courtesy Brynn Bruijn

Event Planning for Good Health

The Neighborhood Health Clinic continues to be a tremendous medical resource for low-income, uninsured, working residents of Collier County.  It was a dream of Nancy and Bill Lascheid (pictured below) to provide a facility that relied on volunteers to deliver quality medical care with whatever they needed to heal their bodies. That dream has been realized and exceeded.

Now the nonprofit is getting ready to celebrate their 10^th anniversary, and they need a leader to chair or co-chair the event committee, which already has several members who are eager to work. The chair should plan to spend about four hours a month from September through December and then probably double that amount of time until the actual celebration in May.

CEO Nina Gray (Class XI) (pictured at right) reports that the clinic "is richly blessed with GNL graduates and members who volunteer on a regular basis and/or offer their expertise as pro bono consultants," including: Anne Davis, Bill Kroeschell and Lynne Nordhoff (Class V); Count Darling (Class VII); Mary Cooper and Nancy White (Class X); Joe Davis, Janet Gordon, Elynor Flegel, Bob Morantz, Pat Scoville and Barry Zell (Class XI); John McDonough, Danny Tyler and Steve Weisberg (Class XII); and John Cox and Mike Dillon (Class XIII).

If you'd like to join this sterling organization of proven leaders, view the GNL volunteer opportunities listing or e-mail the Clinic's volunteer coordinator, Eileen Iaizzo.  For more information on Neighborhood Health Clinic, visit their website.
 

photos courtesy Neighborhood Health Clinic 

Volunteering the GNL Way

Count Darling (Class VII) recently interviewed John McDonough (Class XII) (pictured at right) about his volunteer contributions, including the donation of equipment that has enabled Neighborhood Health Clinic to expand its services to include dental care.  Here is Count's report:  

One thing is for certain - the members of Class XII will be joining the greatest talent pool of leaders in Collier County, if not Southwest Florida.  Whatever your interest and your passion for making a difference, you'll find it through GNL.  One new graduate, John McDonough, is already involved with two healthcare charities which are perfect matches for his interests.

John has been an Insulin-dependent diabetic for 66 years.  Not surprisingly he has a personal interest in diabetes, especially in the early detection and treatment of pediatric diabetes.  John is also an amputee, which led him and close friend Ron Santo (former Chicago Cubs great), also an amputee, to create and establish a company that designs and manufactures artificial limbs.  Their "been there" experience has helped them become leading innovators in this specialized field.  And John's interest in pediatric diabetes also led him to volunteer and become involved at the Collier Health Services Inc. (CHSI)

Along the way, John founded another company--one which designs and manufactures medical and dental equipment.  He is the chairman of McDonough Medical, which is a leading manufacturer of dental x-ray equipment in the United States.  During the Class XII visit to the Neighborhood Health Clinic (NHC), John asked Nina Gray, NHC CEO and GNL Class XI, about the Clinic's dental care program. 

Although the dental community has treated Clinic patients in their offices, due to the high cost of equipment, the Clinic did not have an in-house facility equipped for this purpose.  It took John just one phone call back to his son in Chicago to have a state-of-the-art digital dental imagining machine (x-ray) on the way to Naples! John and Marilyn are pictured above with Nina Gray and the dental x-ray machine he donated to the Clinic.

John McDonough is not unique among GNL alumni.  He is a proven leader and innovator.  He cares deeply about others, and he is generous with his time, talent and treasure.  But that's the profile of a GNLer!

Dr. Dave O'Sullivan is shown with a Clinic patient on the first night the new dental care and treatment room was opened.

photos courtesy Neighborhood Health Clinic