Guiding Harbor previews Harboritaville fundraiser to support Michigan foster youth

All right, November is National Adoption Month. For more than six decades, Belleville non-profit Guiding Harbor has worked to find children permanent homes. And this Saturday, holding their 41st annual fundraiser, gotta love the theme, Harbourinaville. Joining us, Guiding Harbor CEO Jennifer Trotter and Ben Luddy, bartender at Diamondback Music Hall. Thank you guys so much for being here. Thank you for having us. First of all, tell us about Guiding Harbor. Guiding Harbor provides services to kids in foster care, and we've been doing that in Belleville for over 65 years now. How many years? Oh, I'm sorry, right. But just give us, and I know it's hard to sum up in this quick segment, but talk about the challenges that these kids face and how you work to connect them with families, because it is such important work. Absolutely. The kids in foster care are just like any other kids. They just want to belong to a family and have a safe place where they can grow and play and experience the world. So we're always looking for families who are willing to open their homes. The services that we provide, are to support those families and the kids so that they can have what they need to be able to Can you give just a little bit about the process because so people are surprised at it, it's a very strict, a very stringent process. Even if you are a loving family and you're looking for a little baby or a young child to bring home, it's not overnight. It's not overnight. The process takes a while because we want to make sure that the kids are being placed with families who are safe and able to meet their needs. So we work with the families to check out their backgrounds, look at their homes and make sure that everything is safe for the children that will be placed with them. And events like the ones that are going to happen on Saturday help. You continue that work. Ben, what are we making here today for us? All right, so today we've got a take on a margarita. It's called the Harborita, and it's a mocktail, so it's a virgin margarita. A lot of people are drinking the mocktails these days, aren't they? They are. They're very popular, even at Diamondback. And so it's basically just a lime, agave, soda water on top, and then we shake some juice in there, some orange juice and some pineapple juice. stuff. Ooh, it's very good. Let's see it get made. Oh my, that mocktail is so, it's so popular, but it's, you know, and this isn't a you guys thing. When you go to the bar, mocktails and the cocktails. Costs about the same. Same price. I know. It's really. Costs about the same. It's really trended that way. Yeah. Well, it's about the labor, Al. True. Clearly. I mean, look at all these drinks that are going in there. Yeah. Because you still use the shaker. I mean, you got to pay for the shaking. Shake, shake, shake. The salt or the sugar. Now, what will the party involve that you're inviting everybody to? Because we see some great auction items. I got a nice basket right here. And if the mocktail is not your. Flavor. Mm-hmm. Don't worry about it. That's right. We have a silent auction. These are some of the prizes that you can win at the auction. This is a holiday-themed basket. We have a raffle for a two-night stay. That is featured here. We have other prizes like Blackstone Grill. We have Lion's Tickets. We have signed merchandise. Atchison Ford is our presenting sponsor and they also have some prizes for us at the auction. So there's a lot of great prizes that you can win, things you can bid on, some AirPods. Yeah, a lot of great stuff. I don't know if this is for stress or we're fascinated by this, a fidget, always love a fidget. Okay. The latest version of the little fidget spinner, it's very fun. Very fun. All right, let's put that back in the gift bag. Jennifer, how do people get involved if they want to be a part of the event or if they want to help the organization just- Is Robin Murdock going to be there? Robin Murdoch is emceeing the event. That's right. What would you say to that if somebody wants to help? Yeah, we do have tickets still available for our event on Saturday, but you can purchase tickets and get involved if you visit our website at guidingharbor.org. There's lots of great ways you can volunteer, donate, buy tickets, learn more about foster care. Love it. Thank you guys so much for being here and sharing in such a special night. Guidingharbor.org is the website if you want to learn more information. Yeah. Harbor in a ville, we love that. Play Edwards. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you. We are going to be right back. We'll check in with you. Dial in Detroit. Tagboard next.