Friends and neighbors,

On Saturday, January 14th from 5-7 pm I will be hosting an informal fundraiser for a very worthy community cause - the Steps to End Domestic Violence Emergency Shelter and their related programs.

Please drop by. Bring your neighbor, your friends, your mother, your sisters.

The address is 166 Appletree Point Road, Burlington. Grateful for rsvp’s at birgitmb@msn.com. Home number is 802-497-1224.

Financial contributions are most welcome and are tax deductible. Checks should be made out to “Steps to End Domestic Violence”.

In addition, you will want to know that these women often have little if any culinary skills. We can help. If you have a favorite family recipe, please consider sharing it as part of your contribution. Bring along an essential non-perishable ingredient and the required pan/pot used in the recipe. The goal here is to share warm (funny?) memories from your families' recipe box while helping these women prepare wholesome and simple food for their own children.

We will be joined by Kelly Dougherty, the Executive Director for this organization as well as Andrea O’Connor, yoga and mindfulness teacher at the Hot Yoga Studio of Burlington VT. Andrea has agreed to offer a 15-minute mindfulness meditation retreat during the evening for those of you who are interested. If you haven’t met Andrea, this will be a treat.

Light refreshments, my niece’s great cakes and wine/coffee will be served.

Please feel free to forward this invitation to others. Visit the shelter’s website at www.stepsvt.org. And thank you!