PRESS RELEASE: Meet Our MI Freedom Center Volunteers!

Meet the volunteers who make our mission of "Serving those who serve us" possible

Dear Member of Media,

You are cordially invited to join us at Freedom Center Park in Canton, MI on Saturday, August 17 from 4 pm-7 pm for our MI Freedom Center Volunteer Appreciation event! Our volunteers are the key to our mission of serving those who serve us in the military. One of the best ways to understand what a difference we make to our guests is to talk with our volunteers since many were guests before they volunteered.

After a rough start to 2019 which included the temporary loss of our 501(c)3 status, we now have a lot of good news to share...and we would love to share it with you!

First of all, our 501(c)3 tax-exempt status was restored in record time (55 days) back on April 30th after a clerical error resulted in an automatic revocation by the IRS. We continue to receive comments from members of the donor community, though, who mistakenly believe that our status is still revoked. Your story would help to dispel this notion and allow us to re-focus upon our core mission of service.

IRS Letter Reinstating Tax-Exempt Status

Second of all, without any prompting on our part, comments from our guests helped to earn us the "2019 People Love Us Award" from Yelp.

Third of all, we have earned the Gold Seal of Transparency from charity watchdog, Guidestar. We are now actively working towards our Platinum rating.

Read all about this and more in our 2018 Annual Report which you can view by clicking on the image below or getting your very own copy at our event.

Food and beverages will be provided at the event. You are welcome to partake as our guests, but please RSVP to this email so that we can ensure that we have adequate supplies .

Freedom Park is family-friendly park at the corner of Palmer Road and Sheldon Road in Canton.

In case of sprinkles or threats of sprinkles, please come anyway. We have reserved the pavilion to keep us dry.

Thank you for your support of our mission to serve those who serve us!

Honored to serve,

Patrick Colbeck

MI Freedom Center, CEO

P.S. I'll bring one of our guest books for you to peruse as well so that you can hear about our Freedom Centers directly from our guests ;)

Just one example of the correspondence we receive is the following from Kim Aquinaga, PROUD wife of MAJ Steven Aquinaga:

"I just want you to know how important the Freedom Center at DTW is to our local and traveling veterans. As a wife of a 34 year veteran of the US Army, I know of the struggles, (especially with tired children) when traveling. This relaxing spot where you can grab a quick snack or take a quick nap between flights is a life saver. Whether it be awaiting "dad" to return home from a deployment,or waiting to get on a plane for a much needed vacation away from active duty life, this place is an appreciated part of DTW…"