Care to Share, a local helping organization, is having a ribbon cutting at their new location, which also houses a gift shop.

The organization helps cancer fighters and their families in their battle.

“We try to provide help in many ways and each case is different based on the needs of that specific individual and their family,” said Teresa Davenport, president of Care to Share. “We will clean, mow, drive, provide meals, etc. One of our biggest expenses is gas vouchers so people can get to treatment. We also provide hotel rooms and meals if overnight stays are needed. We have supplemental drinks available at the office too. When asked what Care to Share does or what we can provide, our answer is’ What do you specifically need?’ and our team of volunteers do everything we can to meet those needs.”

“The space and gift shop are very exciting for us,” she said.

The ribbon cutting will be on Feb. 27th at 8 a.m. at the new office at 9 E. Wall.

The new gift shop offers shirts, sweatshirts, hats, earrings, slippers, dog beds, fishing lures, kooies, wristbands, keychains, throws, and other items for sale.

“Several people (vendors) have put their items in our gift shop as well and we get 20% of sales on those items, with some vendors giving us 100% of their sales. What a blessing that is!”

“If people would like to be a vendor, they can contact me to discuss,” she said.

The gift shop is owned by Care to Share.

The organization continues to offer, wigs,  jewelry, hats, slippers, throws, and several other items, free, to those fighting cancer.

The shop is open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.  “with hopes to expand our hours of operation with the help of people wanting to volunteer a few hours a month to include Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

 

“All sales from our gift shop will go to help our local cancer survivors in our catchment area, which is Linn, Bourbon, and Crawford Counties.”

Their mission statement is “Care to Share provides friendship and support through emotional and financial assistance to cancer fighters and their caregivers because we…… Care to Share.”

“We were organized in June of 2007 and started raising funds in March of 2009. We have no paid staff, a wonderful volunteer base, and a board of directors. We provide thousands of volunteer hours and hundreds of rides and meals every year. WE COULD NOT DO WHAT WE DO WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF OUR LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND BUSINESSES!”

 

We now have intake coordinators for each county. Leah Lewis and Debbie West for Bourbon. Richard Long for Linn and Greg Scott for Crawford. We also have a meal coordinator, Whendi Martin, a cleaning Coordinator, Karis Poyner, a Transportation Coordinator, Dadle Cathey, and our prayer chain and grants coordinator, Kathy Clark. We have other coordinator positions open as well if someone is interested in giving up their time. We are looking for a media person and people to pick one of our events as a year to be the coordinator for that one event one time a year. Being spread out in three counties, it would help us grow to find volunteers to head these events. We are also looking to grow our events in Linn and Crawford Counties, so if anyone has any ideas for a fundraiser, they are welcome to give us a call!!!!! We can be reached at 620.644.9090 or they may call me directly at 620.238.0902.

Upcoming Events

“Our next big event is the Pre-Spring Fling, February, 15 at the River Room featuring The Piano Man. Tickets and information can be found on our Facebook page. Something new to our organization is The Community Concert Series that we are collaborating with the City of Fort Scott.”