Charities You Are Helping

Welcome to Fearless Threads and the charities you are helping page.  Fearless Threads is a company whose inception is the direct result of an act of passion, a passion for people and for the people who serve others in the community thru volunteering and charitable giving.  As a result, we donate 10% of all proceeds to local community non-profits that continually serve the disadvantaged population in the Pontiac Michigan area and beyond.  Visit the “About” page for our story.

On every product page, you will be given the opportunity to decide which charity you would like the proceeds from your purchase to go.  Use your voice here and make a choice.  It may seem like such a small thing, but for the recipient, it’s life.  I have provided a little information on each of them.  For complete details, please visit their websites.  All of these organizations are supported by donations and a volunteer workforce.  For volunteer links and information, check out the “Volunteer” page.

Lighthouse of Oakland County, Inc. (LOC) has been providing services to low-income families in Oakland County since 1972. What began as an effort to provide food and clothing from the back door of a local church has grown into a family of agencies providing a full range of services designed to move people from crisis and instability to self-sufficiency and independence.

Last year, Lighthouse of Oakland County provided assistance to families and individuals in need on 70,000 separate occasions. The services these deserving people received were provided by LOC’s three key subsidiaries: Lighthouse Community Development (LCD), rejuvenating communities through affordable housing and educated homeowners; Lighthouse Emergency Services (LES), providing emergency food, housing, medical, utility and other services to people who need immediate help; and Lighthouse PATH (PATH), which provides long-term housing and support to help women achieve self-sufficiency and a healthy family environment for their children.

These agencies are supported by Lighthouse of Oakland County, which delivers cost-effective administrative services, community outreach, volunteer recruitment, training and placement, grant writing and management, public relations, database management and a host of other services that enable its subsidiaries to focus on what they do best… serving the many who need us.

Lighthouse believes in people and their capacity to improve their lives. It empowers people to develop their potential and strengthen their communities by encouraging innovation and leadership, maximizing resources, and promoting cooperation among all Lighthouse constituencies.  www.lighthouseoakland.org

Gleaners Community Food Bank. As one of the oldest food banks in the United States, Gleaners Community Food Bank’s mission is to turn surplus food, which otherwise would go to waste, into millions of nutritious meals for hungry people in southeastern Michigan. For more than 32 years, we’ve been “nourishing communities by feeding hungry people”. Since 1977, Gleaners Community Food Bank has grown from distributing just one or two million pounds of food a year to more than 28 million pounds annually, equivalent to over 404,000 meals per month.  Gleaners fulfills its role with a sense of compassion and urgency, recognizing that in many instances, it is the only source of emergency food for persons in need.

Heavenly Housing. Lauren Brasile is the founder of Heavenly Housing, a non-profit organization.  This excerpt from her website will tell you all about it, in her own words.  I have been to Mississippi as a volunteer helping to rebuild the areas she is talking about.  That experience inspired my passion for volunteering and my business as well.  You can’t see that type of devastation and loss without coming out of it as a different person.

“…at a Habitat for Humanity work site in Jackson, Mississippi in May of 2006 building a home for a Katrina evacuee. It was during this week long volunteer mission that I saw firsthand the destruction of Coastal Mississippi. It was the beginning of hurricane season, and the one group that had been providing lodging (on any significant level) for volunteer workers was pulling their operations for fears over safety. They had set up large tented bunkhouses and had suffered some damage with a tropical storm that had recently been through the area. It was painfully obvious to me that coastal Mississippi would require years of rebuilding- and permanent lodging for the countless volunteers assisting in the process was necessary.”
About myself: I have been a Nurse for 20 years. I have also been working at Interior Decorating for the last several years. I am a wife, mother of 2 boys, and a Christian. I believe that God chooses the ordinary to do the extraordinary and that giving (time, talents, money, whatever) to others is the most important work any of us can do!

What is Heavenly Housing’s history?
Heavenly Housing is a newly created 501(c)3 non-profit charity. It is our belief that adequate, permanent housing will sustain volunteer efforts to areas that have suffered widespread damage and will require years of rebuilding. Heavenly Housing will allow volunteers to experience the joy of giving by providing this lodging.  Organizations that provide temporary initial housing options are necessary, timely, and appreciated! It is my hope that Heavenly Housing will compliment their efforts in housing volunteer workers for years to come and that Heavenly Housing will develop housing programs and methods of disaster response for future events. http://www.heavenlyhousing.org

Grace Centers of Hope was established in 1942. It has since grown and evolved into the largest and oldest faith-based outreach to homeless and disadvantaged individuals and families. Grace Centers of Hope (GCH) provides a full recovery and rehabilitation campus for homeless men, women and children who have been abused or addicted to drugs and/or alcohol.

Our Philosophy
Change begins when we, as a community, extend helping hands. We do not believe the homelessness and substance abuse addictions can be solved simply by throwing dollars at the problem. We believe that change occurs from the inside out. Consequently our faith-based organization is dedicated to recovery through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and supported through our challenging life skills programs.

Our Mission Statement
Grace Centers of Hope is a non-profit Christian organization committed to positively changing the lives of the homeless, addicted and unwanted through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, personal accountability, life skills education and work-related programs. The foundation of change is the local church which encourages residents to become strong in faith and independence while it lovingly promotes a sense of belonging within a community that truly can be called “home”.

Our Vision
We envision GCH as a committed community of believers, reaching out to those individuals whose lives have been damaged by addiction and self-destructive behavior. Our recovery programs will lead these individuals to reconciliation and restoration to God, their families, their community and to themselves. GCH will teach, train and discipline our residents. Through love and accountability, GCH will help residents refocus their lives as productive members of society. By introducing our residents to the eternal claims of the Gospel, we envision change from the inside out. Through a self-contained community including residential dorms, single family homes and well-run GCH-owned business, all centered on Grace Gospel Fellowship Church, we hope to provide hope, jobs and stability for many years to come for each of our residents.

The IBC Research Foundation is dedicated to researching the cause of Inflammatory Breast Cancer, IBC, an advanced and accelerated form of breast cancer usually not detected by mammograms or ultrasounds. Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most aggressive form of breast cancer.  It requires immediate aggressive treatment with chemotherapy prior to surgery and is treated differently than more common types of breast cancer.

There Is More Than One Type of Cancer We have been taught and are reminded frequently by public service announcements and by the medical community that when a woman discovers a lump on her breast she should go to the doctor immediately. Inflammatory breast cancer usually grows in nests or sheets, rather than as a confined, solid tumor and therefore can be diffuse throughout the breast with no palpable mass. The cancer cells clog the lymphatic system just below the skin. Lymph node involvement is assumed. Increased breast density compared to prior mammograms should be considered suspicious.

You Don’t Have to Have a Lump to Have Breast Cancer. Some women who have inflammatory breast cancer may remain undiagnosed for long periods, even while seeing their doctor to learn the cause of her symptoms. The symptoms are similar to mastitis, a breast infection and some doctors, not recognizing IBC, will prescribe antibiotics. If a response to antibiotics is not apparent after a week, a biopsy should be performed or a referral to a breast specialist is warranted.

The IBC Research Foundation is a volunteer organization without a walk-in office. Our volunteer staff work from their homes located across the U.S., including, but not limited to, Bainbridge Island and Seattle (WA), Citronelle (AL), Fair Oaks (IN), Anchorage (AK), Lecanto (FL), and Cherrylog (GA). There is no single physical principal place of business.  The IBC Research Foundation can be reached by emailing information@mail.ibcresearch.org or by leaving a message with our answering service at 1-877-stop-ibc (1-877-786-7422.) http://www.ibcresearch.org

Upland Hills Ecological Awareness Centeris a Michigan 501c3 organization, located in a beautiful rural setting in northern Oakland County. It was built in the 1970’s as a demonstration model for doing more with less, energy conservation, and alternative energy. The Center has 30 + years of experience in this field. The EAC is rooted in the desire to inform and nurture awareness, accompanied by actions that promote the well-being of all life on Earth. Since our inception we have been exploring the relationship between energy, ecology, wellness and wisdom, and encouraging others to do the same. We offer workshops and seminars, produce conferences and other major events and provide a variety of green living resources and information to a growing EAC community.

Workshops: The EAC offers programs and workshops on a wide variety of topics including energy, ecology, wellness and wisdom traditions, for both students and adults, presented by leading energy and wellness educators from around the state. Many seminars are provided on a suggested donation basis.

Energy Tours: Located in rural Oxford, the Upland Hills Ecological Awareness Center is a one-of-a-kind facility that demonstrates many examples of renewable energy, energy-efficiency and ecological design principles in action.

Earth Day Expo: Annual event to celebrate Earth Day in Michigan. Join with thousands of others; citizens, homeowners, business-owners, families and students interested in learning about healthy and earth-friendly living.  This event has exhibits and information on alternative energy, vendors, educational opportunities, food, eco friendly arts and crafts and just about anything you need to live GREEN.

Christmas In Action Volunteers unite around a common goal of completing home repairs for low-income-seniors and handicapped-elderly homeowners on the last Saturday each April.  This is a one day a year event that takes place in counties and states all across the country.
This amazing event is done in partnership with the local business community, civic organizations, church groups and schools who support this community project. Get involved, we have many rewarding opportunities for you to make a difference.