Midwest Family Lending is committed to protecting your well-being by closely monitoring the global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and taking measures in response to minimize the virus’ spread.
We are following recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the states in which we do business to do so with as minimal disruption as possible.
Our main office has been closed to public access.
All our licensed mortgage loan originators are working from home under secured digital access.
We will continue to share updates here on our website. If you should have any questions or concerns, I may be reached at chuckw@midwestfamilylending.com.
Stay safe, and enjoy this time with your families,
Pictured from left to right: Emily Graber, co-founder of Help-A-Heart; Sara Fuller, licensed mortgage loan originator; and Shannon and Grady Greco. Midwest Family Lending’s Sara Fuller, along with nephew Grady Greco and mother Shannon, present Emily Graber, co-founder of Help-A-Heart with a $2020 donation through Midwest Family Lending’s MFLCares program. Sara nominated Help-A-Heart to be February’s charity after seeing the program’s impact firsthand when it helped Grady through heart surgery.
Help-A-Heart is MFLCares’ February charity and has received an $2020 donation through Midwest Family Lending’s MFLCares program. The funds will be used in support of the nonprofit’s mission of “sharing love by providing emotional and financial support for Iowa families affected by congenital heart disease.”
“We’re incredibly grateful for the support of caring businesses like Midwest Family Lending that help aide our efforts to ensure families going through this feel less alone,” says Emily Graber, co-founder of Help-A-Heart. “Losing a child to this disease is something all of us think about daily. It’s not a club you’d choose to be in if you had a choice.”
Through MFLCares, Midwest Family Lending employees nominate and select one cause a month to support that is dear to their hearts.
“This cause is very close to me because of my nephew, Grady, who was born in 2011 with a double inlet left ventricle (the same condition as Graber’s son’s). He’s since had four surgeries and has come a long way,” says Sara Fuller, licensed mortgage loan originator with Midwest Family Lending. “Help-A-Heart was there in the time of need when my family was in the hospital needed food and support.”
Help-A-Heart’s Story
Graber co-founded Help-A-Heart 14 years ago with Melissa Hooper after the two met and became friends when their sons were having heart surgery. The mothers dreamed of starting an organization to help families both financially and emotionally while their children have extended hospital stays due to congenital heart disease.
“It’s a financial toll,” Graber says. “When you’re in there for months or longer, it’s just not feasible. Someone has to go back to work. You still have your bills and your mortgage, and you’re eating out all the time. We wanted to ease that financial burden a bit.”
What They Do
Provides $100/week or $400/month. Help-A-Heart has provided assistance to more than 400 different Iowa families since inception
Provides meals for families on surgery day
Gifts for heart kiddos and families during hospital stays
Gift cards for food and gas
Payment for lodging or their stay at the Ronald McDonald House
Special visits to families in the hospital (many times bearing gifts)
Monthly support group meetings held Valley Community Center in West Des Moines, the second Thursday of the month
Special events including: Mom’s Night Out, Valentine’s Day, Iowa Wolves Game, Christmas party, and other family oriented events
Who’s Eligible?
Iowa families with a child with a congenital heart defect
No financial requirements
Generally referred by nurses & social workers at the hospital, but can be referred by friends or family
Eligible after child has exceeded a 2-week hospitalization
Grady Greco is all smiles posing with Help-A-Heart’s Emily Graber. Grady’s family received support through Help-A-Heart when he had heart surgery. Funds from MFLCares will benefit families like the Grecos.
Below is a list of ideas of how you can give your talents and share your time:
Write notes of encouragement
Provide food for support group gatherings
Provide childcare for support group gatherings
Donate an auction basket for our annual fundraiser
Craft, sew, and create items
Donate gifts for heart kids and their siblings (note: button-up onesies make a great gift for infants in the hospital because it provides a passageway for wires and tubes)
Stuff and mail envelopes
Volunteer at events (example: “manning a booth”, set-up/ tear-down, taking photos)
Design T-shirts and posters for events
MFLCares is a program of Midwest Family Lending, a local mortgage company committed to creating customers for life and to community impact.
“Seeing the families connect and support each other and make friendships has been the hugest blessing for us,” Graber says. “It’s bigger than either of us thought could happen.”
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Through MFLCares, Midwest Family Lending employees nominate and select one cause a month that is dear to their hearts.
Each charity will be spotlighted in its respective month. We’ll share how it supports our communities and how you can join our team to help get involved. All of MFLCares’ 2020 causes will also receive a $2020 donation in support of their missions.
“We started the MFLCares program in 2016 in an effort to create a conduit between our communities and the incredible causes within them. However, throughout the last four years, it has become much more than that. MFLCares is a huge part of who we are as a company. Each month, we get the opportunity to meet the real people behind these organizations, and it’s always both inspiring and humbling. We are proud just to play a small part in growing the awareness for these admirable charities.”
Chuck West, president of Midwest Family Lending
MFLCares is a program of Midwest Family Lending, a local mortgage company committed to creating customers for life and to community impact.
Midwest Family Lending’s Chuck West presents Best Buddies Iowa participants at Urbandale High School with a $2020 donation through Midwest Family Lending’s MFLCares program. Pictured from left to right: Monica Lewandowski; Sean Powers; Elizabeth Rae; Midwest Family Lending’s president Chuck West; Israa Elshafie; Hannah Wortock; Vanny Hlawn; Amber Steele, Urbandale High School’s Best Buddies advisor and Alex Shaw.
Best Buddies Iowa has been selected as MFLCares’ first featured charity for 2020 and has received an $2020 donation through Midwest Family Lending’s MFLCares program. The funds will be used in support of the nonprofit’s mission to “establish a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development, and inclusive living for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).”
“We are honored to have been chosen as MFLCares’ January charity,” says Carrie Mueller, state director of Best Buddies International. “We’ve seen incredible growth and a societal shift in the last three-five years — people are craving human interaction. They’re recognizing isolation and wanting to do something about it and develop relationships that matter. Midwest Family Lending is a great example of a company leading the way to make a real difference in providing purpose for those in our community in need of support.”
Through MFLCares, Midwest Family Lending employees nominate and select one cause a month to support that is dear to their hearts. All of MFLCares’ 2020 causes will also receive a $2020 donation in support of their missions.
“My wife and I were fortunate enough to get invited to the Best Buddies’ Chef Challenge last fall, and we were very impressed with the organization,” says Chuck West, president of Midwest Family Lending. “We found the participants in the program to be incredibly inspiring and very deserving of the help Best Buddies provides. The experience compelled us to better understand their program, which resulted in Best Buddies being our choice for the MFLCares charity of the month for January. We hope this helps share their incredible story.”
What They Do
The IDD community that Best Buddies serves includes, but is not limited to, people with Down syndrome, autism, Fragile X, Williams syndrome, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury and other undiagnosed disabilities.
Programs include:
Best Buddies is the world’s largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Its programs empower the special abilities of people with IDD by helping them form meaningful friendships with their peers, secure successful jobs, live independently, improve public speaking, self-advocacy and communication skills, and feel valued by society. Just because these individuals have intellectual disabilities doesn’t mean they don’t have value.
Best Buddies Iowa has programs in 200 schools across the state. They are the 35-year-old program’s foundation. However, earlier just this month, Best Buddies Iowa launched its career placement program, making Iowa the 17th state to offer one. The goal is to provide full-time employment with benefits with an employer of interest to the Buddy.
How You Can Help
A lot has changed within the last 50 years, for Americans with IDD, but there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done. There are many ways to have a positive impact in the lives of Iowans with IDD through the Best Buddies program:
Join the Friendship Walk, May 2, 2020 at Western Gateway Park
Consider a position on its Advisory Board
Assist with a corporate donation
Be a Buddy
Employ an individual with IDD at you place of business
The job we do every day at Best Buddies isn’t about the work. It’s about the stories. Positively impacting the lives of Iowans with IDD and our network of volunteers who make it happen. Everyone has their own story to tell, but all of them are about being a part of something bigger than ourselves.
-Carrie Mueller, State Director, Best Buddies International
MFLCares is a program of Midwest Family Lending, a local mortgage company committed to creating customers for life and to community impact.
Midwest Family Lending’s Kim Hinrichsen presents Jerry Dominicak, executive director, and Kelly Erie, public relations manager with the Siouxland Humane Society a donation of $1800 through Midwest Family Lending’s MFLCares program. While there, Kim and her husband Gary fell in love with Finn (black lab pictured smiling far left) and adopted him!
Siouxland Humane Society has received an $1800 donation through Midwest Family Lending’s MFLCares program. The funds will be used in support the nonprofit’s mission to “provide services and programs that promote the humane treatment of animals in the Siouxland area.”
“We are honored to have been chosen as MFLCares’ December charity.” says Jerry Dominicak, executive director of the Siouxland Humane Society. “Support from organizations like Midwest Family Lending helps not only the homeless pets here at the shelter but also supports our Siouxland community outreach programs like our pet retention program, which helps keep pets with their families. We can assist those in need with pet food, supplies, vet and spay/neuter services, which may help them keep their family member with them.”
Through MFLCares, Midwest Family Lending employees nominate and select one cause a month that is dear to their hearts to receive a donation.
“We got our schnauzer, Katie, at the Siouxland Humane Society 10 years ago,” says Kim Hinrichsen, licensed mortgage loan originator with Midwest Family Lending. “She has been such a blessing to our family, and now we’ve adopted Finn. He is a very loving dog with lots of love and kisses to give. The Siouxland Humane Society offers so many services to homeless animals that need shelter and so many other resources.”
The Siouxland Humane Society (SHS) is Siouxland’s only open admission full service Shelter, caring for thousands of pets each year. SHS takes great pride in finding forever homes for 100 percent of the adoptable pets. Along with the homeless pets cared for each year, the SHS also serves the people of Siouxland through its many programs and services, some of which include adoption/surrender, spay/neuter assistance, humane education, veterinary/food/sheltering assistance, cruelty/neglect investigation and so much more. Visit their website for more information and a full list of resources.
How You Can Help
Spay/Neuter Your Pet
The single most important measure that you can take to save lives and solve our country’s pet overpopulation crisis is to spay or neuter your pet. The Siouxland Humane Society offers an array of spay/neuter assistance programs assistance programs.
Adopt
Give a loving home to a pet in need.
Give
The Siouxland Humane Society is a 501c3 nonprofit organization (Federal ID #42-6000336) that depends on the generosity of individuals and businesses to care for the thousands of pets it takes in each year. SHS offers so many ways for you to give on behalf of the homeless pets in the community. Whether you give to us through a memorial or tribute, monthly, leave us in your estate plans or one of the other many ways listed, be assured that you are making a difference for a worthy cause.
Volunteer
Because SHS is funded solely by private donations, it depends on help from volunteers to offer its many programs and services. Your willingness to join Best Friends will make a tremendous difference in the lives of Siouxland’s abused, neglected, and homeless animals.
This donation has meant so much to us all here! It will help so many hundreds and thousands of people, pets and families. We are thrilled to have you step up and help those who cannot speak for themselves.
Jerry Dominicak, executive director of the Siouxland Humane Society
MFLCares is a program of Midwest Family Lending, a local mortgage company committed to creating customers for life and to community impact. Check out our calendar to learn more about all the great causes in our area MFLCares has supported this year.
Midwest Family Lending’s Marti Myer presents Amy Zuck, public information director with Christian Opportunity Center (COC), a donation of $1800 through Midwest Family Lending’s MFLCares program.
Christian Opportunity Center (COC) has received an $1800 donation through Midwest Family Lending’s MFLCares program. The funds will be used in support of the local nonprofit’s work to make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities.
“COC is always looking for opportunities to serve our community and enhance the lives of individuals with disabilities,” says Amy Zuck, public information director with Christian Opportunity Center (COC). “For a business like Midwest Family Lending to take the time to hear our story and share what we do with their networks will help us to build those opportunities.”
Through MFLCares, Midwest Family Lending employees nominate and select one cause a month that is dear to their hearts to receive a donation.
“I chose COC due to the fact of the great life experiences they provided to my great uncle,” says Marti Myer, processor with Midwest Family Lending. “Thanks to COC, he was able to live his life completely as himself and not for any disabilities.”
“When we heard the reason COC was chosen, it made this experience so special to us,” Zuck says. “To be selected by a family member of an individual that we have supported in the past for this donation truly touched every employee of COC’s heart.”
What They Do
Charity Christian Opportunity Center (COC) has been proving what’s possible for Iowans with disabilities for 50 years. COC prides itself on its caring and quality staff and its responsiveness to the needs and wants of the people it serves.
Christian Opportunity Center (COC) staff and volunteers provide services to more than 300 people with disabilities in four regions of southern Iowa. COC offers a full range of services for working and living in Des Moines, Indianola, Knoxville, Oskaloosa, and Pella. Work skills training includes the Community-Based Employment (CBE) program and small group employment. Training in living skills includes homes with 24-hour staff support, apartments with minimal staff support, and community-based living arrangements with follow-along support.
Check out this video featuring interviews with COC employees and people supported to learn more:
How You Can Help
Volunteer
Do you want to make a difference in the lives of people supported? If so, contact Chrissy Edsall, volunteer coordinator, by phone at 641-628-8087, ext. 1108. Christian Opportunity Center (COC) and people supported have benefited greatly from volunteer efforts, such as:
MFLCares is a program of Midwest Family Lending, a local mortgage company committed to creating customers for life and to community impact. Check out our calendar to learn more about all the great causes in our area MFLCares has supported this year.
“This donation from MFLCares will truly make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities in our residential, vocational and spiritual services.”
Midwest Family Lending’s Mark Engleman presents Taylor Sullivan, communication & technology coordinator with Crisis Intervention & Advocacy Center, a donation of $1800 through Midwest Family Lending’s MFLCares program.
Crisis Intervention & Advocacy Center (CIAC) has received an $1800 donation through Midwest Family Lending’s MFLCares program. The funds will be used in support the local nonprofit’s mission to “unite communities to end violence and oppression for all people.”
“Each day we face the worst of what humans can do to each other and the ways systems often fail survivors,” says Taylor Sullivan, Crisis Intervention & Advocacy Center’s communication & technology coordinator. “When a business like Midwest Family Lending takes the time to hear our mission, it’s also coming alongside us to see violence and oppression in its own communities and doing something about it. Thank you for choosing to donate and support our mission to make our communities stronger and safer.”
Through MFLCares, Midwest Family Lending employees nominate and select one cause a month that is dear to their hearts to receive a donation.
“It was
important to me to support a worthwhile charity in my community,” says Mark
Engleman, mortgage loan originator with Midwest Family Lending. “When I learned
about all CIAC does to support the diverse needs of fellow Iowans whom have
been hurt by others, I knew our team would agree this cause needed to be on our
calendar for 2019.”
What They Do
Crisis Intervention & Advocacy Center is an amazing resource serving these diverse needs in 10 southwestern Iowa counties. The center’s services are free, voluntary, confidential and available to all without discrimination. Trained advocates provide acute crisis response and long-term advocacy services. Crisis intervention includes support, listening, information, options and assessing danger. Advocacy includes exploring alternatives, formulating action plans and providing follow up and resources.
A sexual assault occurs in the U.S. once every three minutes.*
One in three girls and one in seven boys will be sexually assaulted before his or her 18th birthday.
Battering is the major cause of injury to women between the ages of 18 and 44.
Access
to support for victims and survivors of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, homicide,
violent crime and those experiencing homelessness is even more challenging for
those living in rural communities, like much of the state of Iowa.
How can you help?
Crisis
Intervention & Advocacy Center could not provide its many services to the
community without the help of its many volunteers and supporters. Opportunities
to help include:
Helping to educate the community about Crisis Intervention & Advocacy Center, the services provided and the dynamics of domestic abuse and sexual assault
Providing child care during support group sessions or assisting with office operations, facility maintenance, deliveries, etc.
Donating money, making in-kind donations, including Crisis Intervention & Advocacy Center in your will or other planned giving vehicle, or by helping to plan a fundraising event
Your
support offers hope to these victims.
“By supporting survivors we aim to unite communities to promote social change.”
– Crisis Intervention & Advocacy Center
MFLCares is a program of Midwest Family Lending, a local mortgage company committed to creating customers for life and to community impact. Check out our calendar to learn more about all the great causes in our area MFLCares has supported this year.
Thankful. Grateful. Blessed. These words adorn everything from throw pillows to dish towels currently on display on store shelves and remind us that November is a season of gratitude. We have so much to be thankful for in the harvest season and throughout the year.
We often don’t think about the blessings of
finding purpose through employment or autonomy in daily activities of living.
These are gifts people with disabilities don’t take for granted.
November’s MFLCares Charity Christian Opportunity Center (COC) has been proving what’s possible for Iowans with disabilities for 50 years. COC prides itself on its caring and quality staff and its responsiveness to the needs and wants of the people it serves.
“Christian Opportunity Center (COC) is so incredibly grateful to be chosen as the November MFLCares’ recipient,” says Amy Zuck, COC’s public information director. “This donation will truly make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities in our residential, vocational and spiritual services.”
Christian Opportunity Center (COC) staff and
volunteers provide services to more than 300 people with disabilities in four
regions of southern Iowa. COC offers a full range of services for working and
living in Des Moines, Indianola, Knoxville, Oskaloosa, and Pella. Work skills
training includes the Community-Based Employment (CBE) program and small group
employment. Training in living skills includes homes with 24-hour staff
support, apartments with minimal staff support, and community-based living
arrangements with follow-along support.
Midwest Family Lending employees selected COC
as November’s charity after learning about the impact the public benefit
corporation has had on one of the team’s family members.
“When we heard the reason COC was chosen, it made this experience so special to us,” Amy says. “To be selected by a family member of an individual that we have supported in the past for this donation truly touched every employee of COC’s heart.”
Check out this video featuring interviews with COC employees and people supported to learn more:
MFLCares is a program of Midwest Family Lending, a local mortgage company committed to creating customers for life and community impact. Through MFLCares, Midwest Family Lending employees nominate and select one cause a month that is dear to their hearts to receive a donation. Check out our calendar to learn more about these great causes in our area.
Pictured from left to right: Midwest Family Lending President Chuck West presents Derek and Michelle Draisey of Bryce’s Warriors Foundation a donation of $1800 through the company’s MFLCares program.
Though each of the charities MFLCares supports throughout the year are meaningful to Midwest Family Lending’s employees, Bryce’s Warriors Foundation holds a special significance. Bryce was the son of one of our loan officers, and Bryce’s memory and impact lives on through the foundation in his name. Midwest Family Lending was honored to present a $1800 donation to this cause dear to our hearts.
“We thank Midwest Family Lending for this very generous donation,” says Bryce’s Warriors Foundation’s Michelle Draisey. “This kind of financial support will allow Bryce’s Warriors to expand the support that we give to heart transplant children and their families. Our very small and modest charity is growing because of people and businesses like Midwest Family Lending. You are the reason we are able to find new areas that we can make an impact in the lives of these children and their families.”
Bryce’s Warriors Foundation supports the Bryce Draisey Memorial Dollars for Scholars scholarship fund, families of children waiting for and who have had heart transplants, Children’s Miracle Network and Iowa Donor Network. Funds raised through the Foundation also provide Thanksgiving meals to children and families in the PICU at University of Iowa Hospitals, as well as food and gas cards to those families in need while a child is living at the hospital.
“MFLCares is a blessing to Bryce’s Warriors as our largest single donor three years in a row now. We can’t thank you enough!”
-Michelle Draisey, Bryce’s Warriors Foundation and mother of Bryce
Record Funds Raised at the 7th Annual Bryce Draisey Memorial Golf Tournament
The majority of Bryce’s
Warrior’s funds are raised through an annual golf tournament held each
September at which Midwest Family Lending staff participated. About 130 golfers
attended the 7th Annual Bryce Draisey Memorial Golf Tournament,
which raised record funds of about $18,000!
The Draiseys credit the event’s success to the ideas, support and hard work of Bryce’s Warrior’s volunteer board.
“Derek, Brooklyn, and I would
like to thank everyone who was involved this year whether you donated funds,
prizes, raffles items or treats, helped out with the tournament, or played in
the tournament,” Michelle says. “To all of those who have been involved with
Bryce’s Warriors since day one, in any capacity, your continued love and
support overwhelms us continually.”
MFLCares is a program of Midwest Family
Lending, a local mortgage company committed to creating customers for life and
community impact. Through MFLCares, Midwest Family Lending employees nominate
and select one cause a month that is dear to their hearts to receive a
donation. Check out our calendar to learn more about these great
causes in our area.
