Highlights from RITI’s September INN SIGHT

Since moving into our own new home at 409 Ayers Street earlier this year, RITI has celebrated with a total of 42 individuals in our Family Inn and Recuperative Care Center as they’ve moved from RITI into permanent housing. Congratulations to our beloved guests!

CITI CAMP

The Children In The Inn (CITI) Camp program finally made its home at RITI this summer. CITI Camp has operated for 14 years on the campus of Colonial Cumberland Presbyterian Church. This summer, seven children in the Family Inn spent their days with interns, volunteers, and staff learning about different regions of the world, creating art, participating in yoga, having dance parties, playing on the new playground, and even went on a field trip to the Memphis Rock & Soul Museum!

VOLUNTEERS & INTERNS

Interns and committed volunteers made CITI Camp possible. A special thanks to:

INTERNS

• Kellece Branner (Rhodes College)
• Greg Rainey (Maryville College)
• Anna Benafield (Rhodes College)
• Mireille Bitangacha (Centre College)
• Kiera Giacomini (Sewanee: The University of the South)
• Paul McMorris (Rhodes College)
• Trinity Smartt (Sewanee: The University of the South)
• Sara Tahanasab (Centre College)

CITI CAMP VOLUNTEERS

• Lisa Loehmann
• Laurie Kay
• Mary Anne Giannini
• Peggy Jean Craig

In addition to our CITI Camp volunteers, we’re grateful the following people made serving with RITI a part of their regular schedules this summer:

• Caroline Davis, coordinating the soon to open Thelma Tate Children’s Library
• Shreya Visvanathan and Patricia Woods, assisting RCC staff
• Peter Giannini, fix-it extraordinaire
• Front Desk Team: Desonia Alexander, Judy Holland, Lynn Hostetler, and Kathleen Meier

MEAL VOLUNTEER GROUPS

As we welcome our new Kitchen Manager, Latissa Hooker, we are abundantly thankful for our host congregations and friends who have supplied 3 meals a day and evening hospitality for RITI guests since we moved-in April 26. Congregations will continue to provide meals through September.

CONGREGATIONS & FRIENDS:

• Bartlett United Methodist Church
• Birthright of Memphis (Nancy Reed & friends)
• Brunswick Cumberland Presbyterian Church
• Byron Forester
• Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
• Catholic Church of the Incarnation
• Cavalry Episcopal Church
• Collierville Christian Church
• Charie Carroll and friends
• Christ Church
• CME Church – NE District Missionary
• Circle of Faith
• Colonial Cumberland Presbyterian Church
• Covenant United Methodist Church
• Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Germantown
• Christ The King Lutheran Church
• Emmanuel United Methodist Church
• Farmington Presbyterian Church
• Freedom’s Chapel Christian Church
• Germantown United Methodist Church
• Heartsong United Methodist Church
• Iona Burrito Ministry
• Karen Ott
• Kathy Yoakum
• New Covenant Seventh-Day Adventist Church
• Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church
• St. Ann Catholic Church – Bartlett
• St. Louis Catholic Church
• St. Patrick Catholic Church

YOUTH GROUPS

• Webster Grove Presbyterian Church
• Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
• First Presbyterian Church of Mexico Missouri
• First Presbyterian Church of Franklin
• Harvey Brown Presbyterian
• Catholic Heart Work Camp
• Germantown United Methodist Church
• Mah Ani JCC
• Custer Road United Methodist Church
• Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Germantown

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

In case you haven’t noticed, volunteers are the fuel of Room in the Inn. We could not do this without YOU! Here’s how one of our regular volunteers is using her gifts to make a difference.

KATHLEEN MEIER

Kathleen volunteers regularly at the RITI Front Desk. She is often the first voice someone hears or the first smiling face they see when they walk through our doors. When it’s quiet, you’ll find her crocheting while waiting for the phone to ring.

Kathleen says,

“It is a privilege to volunteer at the Room In The Inn facility on Ayers. RITI offers me the opportunity to help the staff as they create an oasis of safety for women and children.”

Thank you, Kathleen!