Hello,

I'm Quinn Phillips from Ozone House Youth and Family Services. I am requesting an Awesome Grant to create a youth fitness room at our emergency shelter for homeless and at-risk kids. The grant would be used for equipment which would be used by hundreds of young people each year, and would save our organization $900 annually.

We deserve this grant, because Ozone House is one of the most awesome non-profits in Michigan! We give homeless and runaway youth: a safe place to stay, counseling, support, and opportunities to have fun and improve themselves, all free of charge. Check us out at: www.ozonehouse.org

We're also awesome at recognizing our donors. This would make a great photo op!

Why do we need the money? We've been looking for ways to get our clients more active. Besides teaching them the importance of regular exercise, physical activity really helps ease the depression, stress, and frustration that many at-risk youth experience.

In the past, we've bought passes to local gyms. Although the kids really enjoy going, they are embarrassed when they see people they know. Since they must be supervised at all times, their friends quickly realize they are there as part of a program. Also, gym memberships for up to six youth are expensive. Having our very own work out room would save us over $900 each year. We've recently had to cut our hours at our Drop-In Center due to funding problems, so anywhere we can save money would be an enormous help.

I love taking on big projects to help out at-risk kids in Washtenaw County. As a facilitator of the Queer Zone support group for LGBTQ youth at Ozone House Ypsilanti, I single-handedly created and organized the annual “Kicked Out the Jams!” benefit concert which has raised over $8000 for LGBTQ youth at risk of homelessness in the past two years. You can read more about my awesomeness here:
http://markmaynard.com/2011/10/youve-just-crossed-over-into-the-queer-zone/

How will we pull this off? The agency has already approved turning our basement into a work out room, if we find funding for the project. We have plenty of volunteers willing to set everything up, we just need money for equipment.

Thank you for your consideration,

Quinn Phillips
Education Coordinator
Ozone House Youth and Family Services
qphillips@ozonehouse.org
734 662-2265