Best-selling Author Laura Schroff to Speak at Guiding Light Banquet

“Every Light Needs a Spark” Raises Funds for Addiction Recovery, Back to Work Programs

Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 10, 2018 – Guiding Light’s annual fundraising banquet, set for Wednesday, Oct. 3, will feature Laura Schroff, an international and No. 1 New York Times’ best-selling author and keynote speaker.

The banquet will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. During her speech, Schroff will discuss the importance of making human connections, and how small acts of kindness can change lives.

“Guiding Light is about sparking positive change in men’s lives and in our world,” said Executive Director Stuart Ray. “Laura’s message of how a simple gesture can make an enormous difference rings true with our mission to provide recovery and re-engagement for those living at society’s margins.”

Schroff has committed herself to advocating and inspiring others through her books, “An Invisible Thread,” “An Invisible Thread Christmas Story” and “Angels on Earth.” As a keynote speaker at more than 200 events, Schroff encourages her audience to look for their own invisible thread connections. Her presentations highlight the importance of opening up their eyes and hearts to the opportunities where they can make a difference in the lives of others.

Guiding Light’s annual fundraising banquet will feature current program participants as the event’s emcees. Each will share how programs such as Guiding Light Recovery and Back to Work have sparked a change in them.

“We’re humbled with the task of showing men in our programs how to release themselves from the bondage of homelessness and addiction,” Ray explained. “In doing so, we try to reunite them with the gift of family, sobriety, a place to call their own and a job.

“We welcome anyone who might be interested in hearing Laura or learning more about Guiding Light to join us for the evening.”

In the last six months, 73 percent of men who have entered Guiding Light’s Iron House (sober-living apartments reserved exclusively for the men who have gone through the nonprofit’s Recovery or Back to Work programs) have achieved one-year sobriety.

Of the 62 men accepted into the Back to Work program so far this year, 93 percent left with a job. For the year to date, Guiding Light’s programs have helped a total of 818 individuals gain full-time employment.

Banquet tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased at www.guidinglightworks.org/banquet or call 616.451.0236 ext. 20. Limited tickets are available, and interested attendees are asked to purchase tickets by Sept. 25.

The Guiding Light Annual Banquet 2018 is sponsored by AIS Construction Equipment Corp., Dean’s Landscaping and Excavating, ETNA, Betten Imports, Eastern Floral, Katerberg-Verhage, Inc., Rockford Construction, Spectrum Industries, Inc., Varnum LLP, Wolverine Worldwide and other generous community organizations and individuals. Those interested in becoming a sponsor are encouraged to contact Development Director Starla McDermott at starla@guidinglightworks.org.

About Guiding Light

Founded in 1929 as the West Fulton St. Mission, Guiding Light has grown into a robust recovery and re-engagement community designed to help those living at society’s margins fulfill their God-given potential. Through its Back to Work, Recovery and Iron House programs, Guiding Light works with men struggling with addiction and homelessness to return to society.

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