By Drew Johnson
As the holidays wind down at South County Community Services, I am left with an amazing feeling of gratitude — for the volunteers and donors who helped us make Thanksgiving and Christmas special for SCCS families, for the gratitude and grace shown by our clients, and especially this time of year, for the blessing of having my own home and the ability to be with my family. I am also grateful for my job, which allows me to spend the holidays helping people and working together with a lot of amazing community members, without whom we would never be able to do so much.
Over the last month or so, we’ve been:
- Organizing and distributing holiday food so that all our neighbors can have a traditional holiday meal in their home.
- Working with Generous Hands and local churches to arrange gifting sponsors for the families that we have helped in the past year.
- Serving a “formal but fun” holiday meal for area seniors.
- Working with Generous Hands to throw a holiday party for our families with gingerbread house decorating, gifts and books for each child, pancakes, and (of course!), Santa.
- Collecting donations that honored friends and family while giving back to the community.
- Doing all the normal SCCS things — helping people with food in the pantry, making sure that everyone has access to utility and rent assistance, and delivering food to seniors.
It’s been a busy end to the year, but an exciting one too. Next month, I’ll write about what we’re planning for next year, but for now I’m going to go take a long nap. See you in 2023!
Drew Johnson lives in Kalamazoo and is the Director at South County Community Services. He has a small quarter acre homestead with chickens, bees, and hops (and more!), a wonderful wife, and three energetic children. He can be reached at 649-2901 or ajohnson@southcountycs.com
For more information on South County Community Services, please check out our Facebook page at facebook.com/southcountycs or our website: southcountycs.com.