Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


An upcoming community fundraiser will help support a local non-profit that works to improve the lives of hospitalized children.

Bennett’s Beavers is a non-profit that operates out of an old fire hall in Hamburg Township and was started in 1995 by Jim Bennett, whose sister was a volunteer at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. Its mission is "Improving the Lives of Hospitalized Children".

President and Volunteer Steve Lindimore told WHMI Bennett began making the wooden cutouts for children who were in the hospital for weeks and months on end to offer them some arts and crafts to paint and play with. He said the idea took off and other hospitals heard about it and began contacting Bennett.

Lindimore says they now have around 50 facilities located around the country and last year, they shipped over 40,000 handcrafted pieces to hospitals, camps, and other facilities.

Lindimore says they are 100% volunteer-run and every penny received goes back into supplies and shipping costs. There are currently around 38 local volunteers and in 2023, he says they added their first women’s group that comes in to cut weekly.

A Dine to Donate event is set for next Wednesday, January 17th at Texas Roadhouse in Green Oak Township. From 3-10pm, 10% of all food purchased will be donated to Bennett's Beavers.

Those planning on attending should bring a copy of the attached flyer and present it to their waitstaff so the non-profit receives credit for the purchase. Copies can be in paper form or photos on a phone. Lindimore advises that lines sometimes can be long and suggests people use call-ahead seating or the restaurant’s online app to avoid long waits.

An informational brochure about the non-profit is attached. Lindimore was also a recent guest on WHMI’s Viewpoint program, which can be accessed in the podcast section of our website.