Jeffrey Michael Dehlin Memorial Foundation

06/14/2024

Dear JMDMF public,

I know that JMDMF has not been active for a very long time. I apologize to every donor, every sponsor, every participant in our fundraisers, and every person who has read and followed our Facebook and/or Instagram pages. Unfortunately, JMDMF is closing its doors. It is too much for me/us to keep doing, and doing well. I have had multiple challenges over the last couple of years, and it looks like it will be some time before I will be back to my active self.

The corporation and the 501c3 charity have officially been dissolved. All of our inventory and the leftover monies in the JMDMF account will be donated to Rosecrance. I have spoken to Abby, the Rosecrance Recreation Specialoist and Director for the midwest, and she is thrilled for Rosecrance to receive such a large donation..

It has been the pleasure of our dedicated Board of Directors: Debbie Collins, Niki Dehlin Frey, Jessi Dehlin, Victor Imhoff and myself, Cheryl Dehlin, to do this work. They have given countless hours of their time and effort to fulfill our mission.

When we began our charity, no one was talking about using both music and art during the clients' free time to lower clients' anxiety, and also as an alternate form of expression. Rosecrance is a leader in its field, and at that time they had a few art supplies but no specific goals. In the last several years, since JMDMF opened in 2018, there have been several studies done to prove our hypothesis, and Rosecrance, among other inpatient drug rehab facilities, are now doing this. We are very proud that Jeff taught our family these things, which directed our mission.

Although I am sad to let the foundation go, I feel that we have also educated our small community in overturning some negative stereotypes about addicts, especially our teens and young adults. Even at their worst, people with addiction need our help, whether monetary or simply our prayers, never our disdain. We hope those who understand this will continue our mission in some small way by educating those around them when they might hear a negative comment regarding a person with addiction.

We have been blessed to be able to donate so many musical instruments, some of which are guitars (acoustic and electric), an electric amplifier, a cello, violins, a rain stick, several different drum sets, electric keyboards and drum sets, and ANY requested musical instrument or art supply to five different Rosecrance facilities. We also have donated trunk loads of art supplies, including canvases, easels, paints and brushes of all types, water color paper, drawing paper, materials for scrapbooking, bracelet making, wood objects to paint, and so, so much more.

We saw the faces of delight when we came with a car full of new items every few months for the young people. They couldn't wait to open them up! Abby and the counselors told us repeatedly what a difference your donations made for the youths in their recovery. Jeff did that. He learned the guitar while in rehab and that gave him hope that he could find pleasure in his life after coming home. He could be happy again.

Thank You to everyone!! We feel our mission has been a success. Once again, we COULD NOT have done any of this WITHOUT YOU!!

05/17/2023

Help support Jessi in her fierce support to end HIV!!! She is relentless!

Hey all! Looking forward to my 8th AIDS Run Walk this year! Thanks for helping me fundraise! 

03/22/2023

Thank You so very much to Kathy Riva, who consistently donates multiple times a year!! Donors like Kathy are very special people, and deserve to be recognized!!

Also, our yearly donors of $100 or more, for whom we are so grateful:
Steve & Mimi Schorsch
Susan Salata
Rita Schluter
If I have missed anyone, I apologize. Often I can't see who donated in some circumstances, so I am unable to acknowledge.

We also want to thank all of the donors who give every year, or when they can, and all of those who have sponsored fundraisers for JMDMF on their own FB pages!!

Every donor is important to us, because every donation brings us closer to our mission. The people that I have mentioned do deserve extra Thank You's for going above and beyond

New Gallery

01/13/2023

All of us at JMDMF hope that everyone had a beautiful Holiday Season! We also would like to wish YOU a Happy New Year for 2023!!

Last year JMDMF made four large donations of musical instruments and art supplies with the help of YOUR donations! We are working on some exciting new things for this year, so please like/join our page.

Lastly, we want you to know how much we appreciate those who did generously donate in 2022, even though we had no fundraisers. If your name is not on the list, then I was not able to retrieve it from Facebook, so PLEASE comment below or message Cheryl Dehlin from my page (we would love to have your address/email so we can thank you properly!). EVERY donor is important to us, and we want to know the names of every single one!!

The names are listed in order of amount given:

Steve & Mimi Schorsch
Kathy Riva
Susan Salata
Rita Schluter
Debbie Collins
Mirjana Antonic
Bonnie Mitchell
Sandy Eby Warner
Peggy Hall

THANK YOU to the above donors, most of whom are regulars, and thank you to everyone who friends our page, likes our page, and supports us in any way.

Please remember, folks, Addiction is a disease. It cannot be cured, only managed. It has been shown in studies that the use of music and/or art is helpful in reducing anxiety in clients going through recovery. The experiences gained by using music and/or art can be brought home after discharge, to use when triggers arise, which they will, to again reduce anxiety, and to hopefully help reduce relapsing. This is our mission. We do this because of Jeff's wisdom and experience during his own recovery. Jeff will always be our HERO.

12/13/2022

We want to give a great big SHOUT OUT to Steve & Mimi Schorsch for their 3rd year of making a very large donation to JMDMF!! We also would like to give a very big THANK YOU to Kathy Riva for her consistent support every time we have a fundraiser or ask for a donation!

When we have people like these in our lives, we can't help but be grateful

11/01/2022

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween! It is time for another update on our recent donations. Since our last listed donation in July to Rosecrance Lakeview, we have made a large donation to both RGW and Marlowe, both at the Rockford campus.

Our donation to RGW (youth short-term) included a xylophone, a set of maracas, a cedar Cajon snare drum, a Meinl bamboo 60" rain stick, sketch pad, mixed media paper, 12 pack asst. paint brushes, colored pencils, waterbrush pens, dual tip markers, 6-10 packs of dual brush pens, wax pencil paints, set of 10 palettes, 24 pack of oil spatulas, black fine line markers, and 100 sheets sulphite white drawing paper.

Our donation to Marlowe (youth long-term) included fine line erasable pens, 2 sketch books, 12 pack asst. paint brushes, metallic glitter gel pens, oil pastel crayons, watercolor brush pens, dual tip markers, wax pencil paints, 9' x 12' watercolor paper, set of 10 palettes, 64 crayons, 50 crayon twistables, and a 24 pack of oil spatulas.

Yesterday, on October 31st, 2022. we donated an acoustic guitar, with 2 learn to play books, an electric 80 key piano with a learn to play book, and an electric drum set to the Greendale Recovery Home in Rockford, also part of the Rosecrance family, a long term recovery living facility for clients 18 and older.

We were so grateful to be able to fill all three of these locations Wish Lists!! We couldn't do what we do without YOU!!

08/30/2022

Hello all,

After struggling with this decision for months, we are saddened to announce that I am taking a pause in running the Jeffrey Michael Dehlin Memorial Foundation, as President. This also includes the cancellation of the 2022 JMDMF run/ walk. After careful consideration with all of the Board Members, we have decided to take a step back from the foundation in order to place more attention onto our own health and wellbeing.

We greatly appreciate all of the time, effort, and support everyone has provided over the years- we cannot thank you enough. We especially thank our donors, sponsors and participants and volunteers. We appreciate your understanding and ongoing support.

Warmly,

JMDMF Founder & President, Cheryl Dehlin

08/23/2022

Debbie Collins and I (Cheryl) were so pleased and grateful to make a donation to Rosecrance Lakeview on July 21st. The items donated included a keyboard stand, a Meinl full size mahogany djembe drum with 2 yr warranty, a Sawtooth large cedar string-snare cajon with soft case, a mini tunable wood conga drum, an Everjoys mahogany concert Ukulele, strap, digital tuner with soft case, Bellofly proseries mixed media paper-100 sheets, 24 pack 8" x 10" panel board cotton canvases, 12 pack 11" x 14" panel board cotton canvases, 24 set acrylic paint tubes, 36 set dual tip brush pens, 2 12 pc. sets of 12 pc. synthetic flat & round paint brushes, 5 white plastic paint palettes, 100 sheet binder drawing paper, 18 set oil paint tubes, 36 set oil pastel square crayons in carry case.
This donation was received joyfully by Danielle Murphy & Paul Gilmet, both Directors at Rosecrance Lakeview.

We have another donation planned very soon for Rosecrance RGW (short term) and Marlowe House (long term). We have their Wish Lists, and everything has been delivered here. We have yet- to set a delivery time for this donation!

We are so THANKFUL to our DONORS, SPONSORS, and PARTICIPANTS for everything that you have done to make it possible for us to make these donations.