Before their board meeting last Tuesday, members of The Friends Foundation spent a few minutes visiting with employees at TEMCO, the sheltered workshop in Marthasville, talking with them about how their day was going and asking if there was anything they needed.If so, The Friends Foundation would take steps to see that they get it, just as they have done for the last 45 years.If you don’t recognize The Friends Foundation by its name, you’ll know it by its mission — supporting and advancing the general welfare of adults with developmental disabilities. Until earlier this year, the group was known as the Friends of Emmaus, Marthasville, but since plans are for the Emmaus Homes’ Marthasville campus to be closed and all of the residents placed in community homes, the name was no longer appropriate, said Mary Fischer, president of The Friends Foundation and a longtime member of the group. In January, members voted to rename the group The Friends Foundation and began the process of legally changing its name with the state and the IRS.A committee took on the task of rewriting the group’s bylaws, broadening its mission from helping only residents of the Emmaus Homes in Marthasville to helping adults with developmental disabilities in general.Members currently are putting together a funding request application form that people will use to request items for adults with disabilities. Members are expected to approve the form in April, said Fischer.Organizations and individuals will be able to apply for assistance.The Friends Foundation will continue to provide needed items for the adults with developmental disabilities living in Emmaus’ community homes. In the past, The Friends have helped by purchasing vans to provide transportation for residents to off-campus activities and to renovate the aging facilities on the Marthasville campus.But since the campus will be closing, those needs will be changing somewhat.“We’ll have to wait and see what the requests are. We work closely with the direct care staff to find out what the needs are,” said Fischer.“We are literally going into the houses and asking, ‘What do you need?’ and then buying it,” said Katherine “Kitty” Bauer, who serves as recording secretary.Usually the requests are for basic things — new towels, sheets, potholders, a coffeemaker or blender, said Fischer.Some of the needs that The Friends will continue to provide include paying for adults with disabilities to receive services at Exceptional Equestrians, to participate in the Special Olympics and to volunteer at the Heifer International Project in Arkansas. First Purchase Was a BusBillie (Erisman) Kramme, one of the founders of The Friends group back in 1971, smiles as she looks at an old photo of herself in front of the yellow bus that was the group’s first project.Kramme, who had graduated from nursing school in Ohio and came to Emmaus in 1970 as Marthasville’s first activity/program director, worked with Assistant Superintendent Jim Rinne to figure out a way to get the residents off campus and into the community more.In October 1971, they decided to enlist the help of churches in the United Church of Christ to purchase a bus, “and the response was amazing,” Kramme recalled.“The churches and other organizations too poured into this, and it changed the residents’ lives,” Kramme said.The yellow bus arrived at Emmaus in June 1972, opening the door for residents to make trips to go swimming, bowling and other activities, that previously required a team of six or more volunteer drivers to accomplish, said Kramme.In time, support for The Friends grew to include a number of religious denominations as well as other organizations, but the UCC churches have been a mainstay, Fischer noted.“They have been like the rock. They started it, and they have always been there,” Fischer remarked. Fall Bazaar ReturnsFor most of its history, The Friends held a Fall Bazaar as its primary fundraising event. About five years ago, the event was replaced with a Spring Festival, but along with the group’s new name and broader mission, they are returning their annual fundraiser to the fall.The Fall Bazaar and Quilt Auction will be held Sunday, Oct. 8, at Boone Monument Village.Planning already is underway. Activities will include the popular flea market, book fair and plant booth, as well as a booth with crafts made by individuals served by the organization.The quilt auction will include related items, such as quilt tops and other bed coverings. Churches or individual quilt groups that have quilts they would like to donate should call Fischer at 636-561-7747.There also will be a silent auction and possibly a booth of Christmas items.The first Emmaus Bazaar at Marthasville was held Oct. 8, 1972, and included sales of craft items and homegrown produce that members had donated. The quilt auction was added in the mid-1980s, and area churches supported the event by donating hand-made quilts. The first year there were maybe a dozen quilts in the auction, but over the years the number has grown to 50 or more, said Fischer.With the Fall Bazaar and Quilt Auction returning this year, there are no plans to hold a spring festival or Tannenbaum Auction this year, said Fischer. However, those events or similar events may be held in the future. The Friends are making plans for future fundraising events that will be held in the spring or early summer next year. Seek More Young VolunteersOver the course of the last 45 years, The Friends have donated more than $1 million to support adults with developmental disabilities, and that doesn’t even include the immeasurable number of volunteer hours that have been put in, said the Rev. Devin Jones, who has served as a longtime pastoral adviser to the group.The Friends Foundation includes around 100 members and more are always welcome. There are no dues. “We ask our members to volunteer and help us. That’s one of the criteria, which they always do,” said Fischer.Now that The Friends Foundation is broadening its scope, members would like to see more younger people, particularly students in middle and high school, getting involved as volunteers.They can help us by setting up and taking down for events like the bazaar. They can work at the events, doing such things as helping to carry items for older people or providing other sorts of physical labor.“It’s a good way to earn some Christian service hours, which so many students need today,” Fischer noted.For more information on how to volunteer or on joining The Friends Foundation, people can call Fischer at 636-561-7747.New name, broader mission