Donors

Birthdays are a special time of celebration, a time to gather with friends and family to rejoice in the life of a loved one. Birthdays can also be a burden. The expense of a party, cake, and birthday presents does not fit in the budget of a family living month to month.

Girl Scout Troop 12515 knows that birthdays are important! As the troop brainstormed for their Bronze Award Project, they decided that every child deserves a birthday party!

For the Penningroths, the idea started small. Through an adult activity at Wayzata Evangelical Free, Paul and Lisa packed bags with food and delivered them to IOCP. “Seeing others involved got us interested in doing more.”

Armed with the list of needed items, they made a monthly family outing of going grocery shopping and dropping off the food at IOCP.

“The economic downturn affected our investments,” admitted Lisa. “While we’re fine, it made us realize how quickly a change in circumstance can impact a family.”

This past year, Paul took the idea a step further.

To our surprise, my husband and I turned 60 this past year. We’re grateful to be around, of course, but a bit bemused to realize that, given the odds, we have more time behind us than ahead of us.

The occasion provided the impetus to update our will.

Our family was introduced to IOCP through Bob’s Sleep Out many years ago. One of our sons, Toby, announced he wanted to participate and I remember scrambling to find an appropriate cold weather sleeping bag. He obviously survived because he is the same Toby who is now on the IOCP Board and helped make the new facility happen in Plymouth.

When he took me to see the “old grocery store” and I toured the interior (with many memories of standing in line at the checkout) I realized the tremendous opportunity that building would give to the community through IOCP.