BBQ & Auction, Thursday April 26 at SECU Family House

Golf Tournament, Friday April 27 at UNC’s Finley Golf Course

Please feel free to download images for your personal use. We request that if you would like to use these images for publication (online or otherwise) you first contact us by writing to kirsten@secufamilyhouse.org or calling 919.932.8005.

And, of course, please properly attribute the image:
Photo by Steve Campbell, Courtesy of SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals.

The class took place at the Chapel Hill studio, located in Meadowmont (address below), and participants were asked to provide a minimum donation of $15.

Pure Barre is a total body workout that uses small isometric movements at the ballet barre set to motivating music to tone and firm your physique. Visit their website to learn more.

Our thanks to Pure Barre RTP & Chapel Hill for raising funds to benefit SECU Family House. Every $40 we raised will Fund a Family’s stay here while a loved one undergoes treatment for serious illness at UNC Hospitals.

To sign up for Pure Barre classes, call the studio at 919-537-8305 or sign up on the Pure Barre Chapel Hill website.

Class Location:

608 Meadowmont Village Circle
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
ph: 919-537-8305

Event Flyer (click to see full size):

Generous support from the Chapel Hill community and UNC Athletics Department made the 2012 Tar Heels for SECU Family House BBQ and Golf Tournament the most successful yet. Co-hosted by UNC Men’s Basketball Coach Roy Williams and Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham, the event grossed $161,477 to benefit SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals. The net proceeds will amount to more than $130,000.

The two-day combined event—a BBQ and auction Thursday evening at the House, followed by a golf tournament at UNC’s Finley Golf Course on Friday—took place April 26-27 and involved close to 400 guests, including sponsors, donors, golfers, volunteers, House guests and patients, as well as coaches from UNC.

Roy and Wanda Williams not only hosted the BBQ and auction, but also presented a check for $10,000 from the UNC Men’s Basketball program to help underwrite the event, which was emceed by Jones Angell, the Voice of the Tar Heels. Both Roy Williams and Cunningham made remarks to the crowd and responded to questions posed by Angell.

UNC Health Care was the event’s presenting sponsor, followed by Butch and Tammy Davis and Uday and Laura Reebye, who served as platinum and gold sponsors, respectively. The silent and live auctions together brought in $27,827 for the House; patrons of the BBQ contributed another $19,490 and enjoyed ribs and BBQ donated by the Chapel Hill Restaurant Group; and the golfers contributed another $6,165. Sponsorships of $96,500 comprised the bulk of the funds raised for the event.

The highlight of the live auction was a bidding war over our newly-painted, beautiful Carolina blue golf cart that brought a final bid of $8,750. The event co-chairs Rebecca Dirksen and Courtney Toledo were assisted by Donna Jacobs and Lauren Sather. Sally Austin and Ann Petersen co-chaired the highly successful golf tournament for the second year in a row.

At the conclusion of his remarks, Cunningham summed up the evening’s theme with a quote from legendary coach John Wooden: “You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”

For more information, or to get involved in next year’s event, contact Yvonne Knutson, director of marketing and community relations, at 919-932-8001 or yvonne@secufamilyhouse.org.

SAVE THE DATE: Next year’s event is already booked for April 25-26, 2013.

We hope you can join us!

UNC Basketball Signed by Players and Herend Ram Figurine

The silent and live auctions and the raffle at our Annual Tar Heels for SECU Family House BBQ and Golf Tournament featured a wide array of unique items donated by local merchants and community members, with a delightful dinner provided by the Chapel Hill Restaurant Group. The auctions and raffle included the following items.

Raffle Items

• Goldworks necklace featuring blue topaz and a teardrop diamond
• Set of TaylorMade golf clubs

Silent Auction

Fine Dining Items

• In home cooking lesson for four with Personal Chef Lynn Edgar of Dinner is Served!
• Dinner at renowned restaurant Il Palio at The Siena Hotel
• Your choice of a birthday cake, “cookies n’ cocktails,” or cupcake decorating at Sugarland’s Raleigh location
• A coffee set with a Bodum French Press, drip filters, a tumbler, and three pounds of coffee donated from 3 Cups
• Bartending lessons and Scotch tasting from The Crunkleton
• Gift certificate for wine and dinner for two at Bin 54
• Fine dining package with gift cards to Glasshalfull, Kitchen, and Sandwhich
• One week of family dinners from Foster’s Market

Apparel and Gift Items

• Herend ram figurine from Peacock Alley
• Tar Heel jewelry set from Wentworth & Sloan
• Beautiful gift basket from South with a gift certificate and plates, bowls, placemats, napkins, a tray, and a cookbook
• Treat yourself with a gift card to Monkee’s and Caju salon
• Men’s Carolina Blue polo shirt (size L), provided by O’Neills Men’s Clothing Store, and TaylorMade golf bag
• Collegiate jewelry for Tar Heel fans provided by REEDS Jewelers
• Gift card to shop at Scout & Molly’s Chapel Hill location followed by appetizers and lunch at City Kitchen
• Simon Pierce wine coaster, courtesy of Jesters, with a bottle of fine red wine from The Chapel Hill Wine Company
• Three hours of design service from Franklin Street Design provided by Peacock Alley
• Hand painted Italian Vietri platter

Sports Items

• Running shoes and entry into a training program from Fleet Feet Carrboro: Be the Movement!
• Children’s week-long tennis camp led by UNC Tennis Pros
• One-month membership or massage from UNC Wellness Center at Meadowmont
• Round of golf at the Chapel Hill Country Club, Pine Needles Golf Resort, Pinehurst #8 at the Pinehurst Resort, and Old Chatham Golf Club
• Soccer ball signed by Mia Hamm
• Basketball autographed by  Tyler Hansbrough
• Two upper-level tickets to the UNC-Duke game at the Dean Dome
• Signed NBA jerseys from Tar Heel alumni Antawn Jamison and Tyler Hansbrough

Travel

• One night’s stay at the lovely Fearrington House Inn
• Two nights in relaxing Blowing Rock

Live Auction

The following items and more will be up for grabs during the live auction.

• Basketball autographed by Coach Roy Williams and the 2011-2012 UNC Men’s Basketball Team
• Blue Zone tickets and parking to UNC Football games, courtesy of Uday and Laura Reebye
• Delicious Bubba’s Cat Fish Fry for 25 people provided by Charles and Patsy Harrison
• Carolina Blue golf cart
• One week’s stay at a private home in Kiawah
• One week’s stay at a beach retreat in Wilmington

Click here for more information about the BBQ and Golf Tournament.

Carolina Blue Golf Cart

Tar Heel Necklace and Bracelet

Necklace from Goldworks

Tar Heel Bracelet from REEDS Jewelers

Tar Heel Jewelry from REEDS Jewelers

Cooking Lesson from Dinner is Served!

The SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals is honored to be one of the organizations chosen by Donna Kaye and Steve Reznick to accept gifts in honor of their wedding. We send our very best wishes to the happy couple!

Make your gift online

To make a donation in honor of Donna and Steve’s wedding, please visit our safe, secure online donation form.

1. Enter your gift information.
2. At the option, “I’d like to make this donation“ select “For Other Occasion” from the drop-down menu.
3. In the box labeled “Occasion,” please type “Kaye-Reznick Wedding.” This will ensure your contribution is properly credited.
4. If you would like a gift acknowledgement, provide your mailing information.
5. When you enter your contact information, you may choose to opt-out of any email communications.
6. Enter your payment information.

Make your gift by mail or phone

Please send contributions to:
SECU Family House
123 Old Mason Farm Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27517

Or, if you would prefer to make a credit card donation over the phone, please call Kathy Yasui-Der at 919.932.8004.

Thank You

Thank you for your gift, which will help us provide affordable, comfortable housing for a family facing treatment for serious illness at UNC Hospitals. Every $40 that we receive helps us subsidize a family’s staff in a room for a night.

You know you want some Chick-fil-A… that original chicken sandwich, those waffle fries, the milkshakes. Now you have an excuse to eat there: You’ll be raising money for the SECU Family House.

Thursday, March 15th, from 5 to 7 p.m. Chick-fil-A at University Mall will have “Spirit Night” for SECU Family House. Mention our name when you purchase your meal and part of the proceeds for the evening will come to us.

Volunteers and donations are critical to the SECU Family House’s ability to provide an affordable, comfortable home away from home for our guests who are receiving treatment at UNC Hospitals or who serve as the support system for those patients. On this Leap Day, here are 29 ways we rely on volunteers to help us make our House a home. We thank them for their service, and invite you to get involved!

1. Fold and sort house laundry
2. Organize the pantry to help minimize food waste
3. Bring by unopened perishable foods (milk, eggs, butter) to help stock our fridges
4. Perform (sing, ready poetry, play music) in the evening for the house guests
5. Drop off books or DVDs you no longer use for guests to enjoy
6. Help us tend to our gardens
7. Drop off skeins of yarn and other knitting supplies for our knitting group
8. Lead a knitting group, or teach newbies to knit
9. Provide a professional service for free to guests: massages, manicures, haircuts
10. Drop by gift cards to stores like Wal-Mart, Target and Sam’s Club
11. Donate stationery for our guests to use
12. Make a gift—of any amount—to our annual fund, the Circle of Hope
13. Prepare a meal for our house guests
14. Come by and bake some cookies for our guests
15. Become a front-desk volunteer who meets, greets and assists guests
16. Donate food storage items, especially durable Tupperware
17. Bring by pots and pans for our guests to use
18. Donate ground coffee, cooking oils or any other essential food item
19. Drop off paper products: paper towels, napkins, and toilet paper
20. Donate your hotel/travel size toiletry items
21. Help us bundle toiletry items into kits for guest rooms
22. Tend to the kitchen: empty and load dishwashers
23. Attend a Family House event, like our annual BBQ and Golf Tournament or House Party
24. Donate items or services that we can auction at our two annual fundraisers
25. Help with “around the house” projects, like cleaning windows
26. Provide a professional service for the house: painting, carpet cleaning, handyman work
27. Sell lemonade or baked goods, or hold another community fundraiser,  for Family House
28. Bring your therapy dog to the house to visit with guests
29. Make a $40 gift to Fund a Family for a night

Wivi Sternbach, center, with fellow "Racquettes" Laurie Parkhill Ecker and Olga Murphy

SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals thrives on the efforts of a committed, generous group of volunteers. Many have been volunteers here since our doors first opened in March 2008. Some, like Wivi Sternbach, were here even before then.

The opening date had been set, and the house was not yet livable when Wivi (pronounced “Vee-Vee”) responded to an urgent call for volunteers in 2008. Her first roles included helping to prepare guest rooms by doing laundry and making beds. Wivi says what drew her to the house initially was a sense of curiosity.

“The first time I saw the house I thought it was too good to be true,” she says.

Since leaving her home in Denmark, Wivi has lived in Chapel Hill for 32 years with her husband Dan, whom she met in Zurich, Switzerland, while he was a post-doc.

Once the Family House was up and running, Wivi once again responded to a call for volunteers, this time to pick up food from Trader Joe’s on the first Monday of the month, which soon became the first and second Monday of the month (she now delivers groceries three weeks in a row if there’s a fifth Monday in the month). Trader Joe’s donates food items that are not fit for sale but safe for consumption, and guests have access to generous amounts of fresh produce, bread, select meats, and desserts each week.

For a while, Wivi dropped off the food, wishing there was some way she could help guests enjoy it. A solution soon presented itself: Wivi now often uses her Monday morning grocery runs to her advantage when she makes meals for the house guests on the second Monday of every month. She coordinates her 16-member tennis team, “The Racquettes,” each month, working with the first four that respond to her call to prepare a meal.

Each team member has her own strengths and favorite foods to prepare—whether that’s cake, cornbread made from scratch, or macaroni and cheese. Depending on the meal, The Racquettes will either prepare meals at home or in the Family House kitchen, which is equipped with four cook-top stoves to ease food production for large groups. Groups preparing meals are asked to accommodate as many as 50 guests.

“I have everything down to a science,” Wivi says. “How much meat, how many potatoes, how many vegetables to bring.”

A gourmet-caliber chef, Wivi prefers to cook nutritional meals that feature chicken, London broil, pork loin, or ham. Though she modestly neglects to mention her culinary skills, it’s apparent that she does so because, to her, it’s about the act of preparing the meal, not the skills involved. “The guests are so thankful,” she says.

“When I leave here I’m so thankful that I don’t have to stay here.” She speaks from a personal place in saying so. Wivi and her husband lost a daughter four years ago at the age of 22. Her daughter’s illness required several surgeries, which took place in Charlotte. There was no place at that time like the Family House, so she had the additional stress and expense of finding lodging and meals—and being away from home—during those periods of surgery and recovery.

“My daughter, I think, is part of why I started volunteering here.”

She has been a steady, gracious, and generous presence in the house. After water damage in 2008 closed the house for three months of repairs, Wivi once again helped to pull the house back together for guests.

“It’s hard to say no,” she says, when asked to help. To Wivi, her fellow volunteers are like family—not only have many been here since we opened, but most also are connected outside of the house. So much so that she says walking in the doors here is “like coming home.”

The commitment of volunteers is something that Wivi sees across the board at the Family House. “Everybody’s always so willing to help.”

That commitment itself also feels like home to Wivi, who credits her Danish upbringing with instilling in her a sense of service.

“I think everybody should give back to the community,” she says. “Plus, it makes you feel good.”

When asked what SECU Family House means to them, Roger and Nola said, “It’s one more blessing. It’s like home. We’ve met so many wonderful people. We never have to ask for anything. It’s always there. There’s lots of love and compassion here.” Roger further noted that staying at the House takes a lot of “pressure” off of him. He can concentrate on getting well and returning home to his wife.

For Roger and Nola, SECU Family House is about the people—the guests and staff. Roger tells us, “Everyone here is great. There is no one like Janice (House Manager). She never fails me. When the chips are at their worst and I need a place to stay, she pulls it out. She never has a bad word to say. She’s got a positive attitude and that’s what I need for this disease.”

“Housing, healing, hope”: It’s what we strive to offer every day. For Roger and Nola, SECU Family House provides the kind of hope—for a cure, for a room, for some kindness and comfort—that they have come here to UNC to find.

On Thursday and Friday, April 26th and April 27th, 2012, the Tar Heels for SECU Family House BBQ and Golf Tournament hosted by Coach Roy Williams and new Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham will take place at SECU Family House and UNC Finley Golf Course. All proceeds from the tournament benefit SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals, a hospitality house providing comfortable, convenient, and affordable housing and support services for patients undergoing treatment for critical illness or trauma.

We are excited to have Coach Williams and Bubba Cunningham’s support to SECU Family House. Coach Williams and the basketball team have been annual donors to Family House.

Having recently moved to Chapel Hill the new Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham was honored to be a part of co-hosting this event. We are fortunate to have this dynamic duo.

Guests will gather for a tailgate barbeque ($75 per person) on the grounds of SECU Family House the night before the tournament with food kindly provided by Chapel Hill Restaurant Group. There will be a short program, live music, a raffle and auction of thoughtfully selected gifts, featuring sports memorabilia.

Click here to see what’s up for grabs in the auction.

The golf tournament is full, but you still can register online at www.secufamilyhouse.org for the Thursday evening BBQ.

Parking will be available at the NC Botanical Gardens, with overflow parking available at Finley Field and Finley Golf Course. Shuttles will drop guests at registration and return them to their cars at the end of the evening.

Sponsors

Presenting Sponsor

• UNC Health Care

Platinum Sponsor

• Butch and Tammy Davis

Gold Sponsor

• Uday and Laura Reebye

Silver Sponsors

• Mike and Cathy Fields
• Yvonne Knutson and Ann Petersen

Bronze Sponsors

• Franklin Street Partners
• Jon & Myra Jester and Gene & Jeannie Jester
• Pozen
• SKANSKA
• T.A. Loving Co.
• Wells Fargo
• Wells Fargo Advisors

Patron Sponsors

• Atma Hotel Group, Inc.
• Ballentine Associates
• Clancy & Theys Construction Co.
• Educational Foundation (The Ram’s Club)
• Jeff and Amber Elliott
• Steve and Lynn Fromme
• Genentech
• MHAworks
• Morgan Creek Capital Management Co., LLC
• Morris Commercial
• Paul Muenzner
• One to One DocuSource
• Tom and Kathy Shea

With additional financial support from Gilead Sciences

In-Kind Sponsors

• Benjamin & Associates
• Chapel Hill Restaurant Group
• Café Carolina
• Chick-fil-A of University Mall, Chapel Hill
• The Fresh Market
• Dana & Esteban McMahan
• TaylorMade
• Eddie Williams with Time Out Restaurant
• Top of the Hill
• UNC Athletic Department

Special Thanks to:

Jones Angell, Don Basnight, Carolina Dining Services, Chapel Hill Magazine, Dick Gordon’s Canadian Team, Chris Kubiak of Titleist, Nike, Performance BMW, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse,  UNC Finley Golf Course, Wentworth & Sloan, Eddie Williams and Time-Out Restaurant

And check out one of our featured auction item sponsors, Dinner is Served! Personal Chef Lynn Edgar serves up fine food that’s both delicious and nutritious. Bid on an in-home cooking lesson with her in our silent auction.