About LAUREN, LAUREN’S NEST EGG
& its PURPOSE
Thank you for taking time to learn more about Lauren, our mission, and “The Flock”.
Lauren’s Nest Egg
Lauren’s Nest Egg is a charitable foundation started by Susan and Jay Colvin. It is in memory of Lauren Leigh Colvin, their daughter, who unexpectedly, and gently, passed away in her sleep May 7, 2007. Our goal is to make donations to qualified non-profit organizations that help their clients successfully overcome homelessness in the most efficient manner possible. Susan Colvin is Chairman of the Board; Jay is the fund’s Executive Director. We are blessed with a wonderful Board of Directors, who help guide us. The vast majority of our funding comes from our annual major fund raiser, Nest Fest. One very special group made up of our family, the Board of Directors, and our supporters and followers of the foundation are known as “The Flock”. We invite you to be a part of The Flock, have a load of fun, and help others escape homelessness.
Lauren
We love to talk about our namesake Lauren! Describing Lauren is wonderful, but difficult. If you did not get the chance to meet her, describing Lauren to you would be like trying to describe the color and beauty of the color blue. The best, and simplest, way to describe her would be like this, take a big blender and put in it 1 portion of each of the following: Gandhi, the joy of Christmas morning for a 5 year old, the heart of Mother Teresa for others, the quietness of a midnight snowfall in the deepest of woods, the steadfast loyalty of the world’s best friend, extra large portions of love, and mix them all together. Then, you would have a good start.
Her beauty on the outside is easy to see as it is readily apparent in her picture on the home page. It is awesome to us, that the number of our supporters has now grown so large that it is now necessary to introduce Lauren to some of you and say a few words about her. We truly wish all of you could have known her.
She was the kind of friend everyone should have at least once in their life.
She is Katie’s sister, and our daughter.
Every family should get to share in the love of an angel among them like her. Our family has beeb blessed with several!
Her antics were as epic, and imaginative, as her imagination would allow them to be. It is funny to think about, but she literally left her mark on every day that she lived, even through now! She literally left a trail of love across the globe.
She pushed the envelope as a toddler, begging her dad to cut her waist length hair above her shoulders, and even more unimaginable.. to square her bangs (he did, Susan still has not forgiven him). In her few short years she trekked the globe and made her annual pilgrimages with friends to Jazz Fest in New Orleans. There, she achieved her lifelong dream of seeing James Taylor live in concert. Want to know more… just ask anyone who knew her, it is worth a listen!
Lauren was a graduate of LSU, Tiger Stadium, Chi-O, and achieved that which we all pray for, that moment God calls us home to heaven. As her dad likes to say, "I love to think about her life and all it represents, and then think on that very amazing passage from Psalm 73 that sums her life up perfectly…'You take me by my right hand, You guide me with your counsel and later You take me into Glory',...”. it is that simple, that fitting, and that glorious.
Her core value and daily routine… love others. Just ask anyone who knew her, or knew of her.
Why we are here
For the first few years after Lauren died, we were very honored to have been approached by a variety of organizations wanting to memorialize her with a fund raiser for their various wonderful projects. All of these were so very worthy, but we were not prepared for these times, requests, or events. We had not had an “AHA” moment, or heard that certain still quiet voice directing us in what to do. Likewise, there are no guide books available for this journey and new “normal”. This was a path on which we needed His high direction and knew it would come.
In January of 2010, things were about to change! We began doing volunteer work with a friend of ours, Noel Haacker, on a project she was led to start. She and an incredible group of volunteers started The Renesting Project.
There is a link above that goes into detail about The Renesting Project. Here, in short, I will describe it as this... It is an all volunteer group, that has no outside funding beyond unsolicited donations, and what Lauren's Nest Egg raises for them. It is all made possible through YOUR generosity and attendance at Nest Fest each year!
This group does something no other agency does formally. They take in donated new and used furniture, home furnishings, and home supplies. Miraculously, with thousands of volunteer hours, and the generous donations of the goods they receive,it all ends up in the homes and apartments of re-established people who have escaped being homeless. Renesting gives it all to people brought to them by other qualified agencies who help the homeless. Last year the clients of over 20 social service agencies and non-profits benefitted from their efforts. The numbers can be seen on our home page.
Incredibly, this committed group of volunteers began by meeting and working outdoors in a parking lot, in all forms of weather, using their own tools and vehicles. It is amazing to consider all they do when they take in the donated items, and how far they have come in such a short period of time. The items are received, inventoried, warehoused, prepped, matched up aesthetically, and distributed by The Renesting Project to the home or apartment of the clients that come from any qualified agency in our area who help the homeless.
To date, no one provides this service, or these goods, in a single, coordinated, centralized manner to the social service agency sector. The truth of the matter is that the resources required to formally do this mission are HUGE. The agencies The Renesting Project help are already stretched as far as possible. They are working diligently to meet the goals they already have established of helping the homeless get out of those situations, gain shelter, get trained and educated in starting over, locate jobs, help re-establish families, and hopefully successfully establish a new home. Doing the additional work The Renesting Project has taken on would require resources far greater than they are currently available.
The Renesting Project has filled this giant void! Thus, everybody serving the homeless is helped.
This was something Lauren would have jumped into with both feet. Thus we now have Lauren's Nest Egg and celebrate each year with our fund raiser Nest Fest!
Lauren’s Nest Egg became a 501c3 non-profit tax exempt charitable organization, and we are growing our mission. Not only are we now able to significantly assist The Renesting Project, we are expanding our charitable contributions to include more organizations and areas. Donors may now make directed gifts as long as they are for the good of fighting homelessness. We give back to Baton Rouge agencies that help to overcome homelessness as we have a VERY dedicated, wonderful, and large Baton Rouge Flock. They attend Nest Fest in significant numbers each year. Several Baton Rouge companies and individuals have become sponsors, and many donate auction items to Nest Fest. We, along with our Board, feel like these are simply the right things to do as we grow.
We take no claim for success, we have an amazing CEO, and His plans are always perfect. We are humbled to get to be the instruments in all of this. Along with it comes the added major blessing of doing it with all of our friends whom we love so very deeply, The Flock.
YOU
Here is where you come into the picture! Buy tickets and attend Nest Fest 2012, donate items for the auction, buy auction items, or simply donate online. Then clear your calendar and come to Nest Fest on August 4th, 2012. It is casual, easy going, and everyone has a great time.