Outreach in Action: Outreach celebrates local bounty and Christmas in July
by Jo Mayer and Paul Crandall
It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around Stockbridge Community Outreach, and not just because we’re running our annual Christmas in July fundraiser. Lately, some major donations have come our way, and we are so grateful!
Chelsea Hospital has again agreed to cover our operating costs through their Community Benefit Grant Program—this includes our rent, staff, utilities and all that background stuff we need to keep the office running. This means any money we raise can go directly to our clients in the form of food or help with rent, utilities or transportation. Without the hospital’s support, we would have to spend much of our donation income on just keeping our doors open, so this is a huge relief!
Chelsea Hospital became a major donor just before the pandemic, and their steadfast support has kept us going through the most trying of times.
We watch with concern as the budget bill proposed at the federal level threatens to strip away Medicaid funding, which would not only put our clients back on their heels, but hospitals as well. We could see a return to the times when emergency rooms were flooded with people without insurance, and the hospitals on the hook for the costs of their care.
Another substantial gift: fantastically fresh produce from a local organic farm. Thanks to a GoFundMe account set up by Lake Divide Farm owner Helen Chandler, Outreach has been able to add fresh, locally grown produce to grocery bags we distribute each week. The GoFundMe account is specifically dedicated to buying food from Lake Divide for Outreach. Check it out at gofundme.com/f/help-lake-divide-farm-feed-stockbridge-families
Thanks to this Lake Divide Farm partnership, Outreach handed out 120 pounds of sweet daikon radishes April 23 and beautiful just-picked, just-washed heads of lettuce at the May 28 distribution to 140 area households—plus a distribution of luscious fresh spinach on May 21!
Another creative and much appreciated gift—this one from Greater Lansing Food Bank’s Garden Project—included more than 1,500 starter plants. The plant giveaway offered three varieties of peppers, four types of tomatoes, eggplant starts, and basil plants for clients to choose from. The plants went out to about 45 households as part of our June 3 “pop-up” food distribution. The rest of the plants were distributed to Outreach visitors over the following week. Read more about this Garden Project at greaterlansingfoodbank.org/.
But wait, didn’t someone mention Christmas in July earlier?! It’s that time for our Christmas in July matching fundraiser, where we are hoping for some more “green” to come in.
Choice One Bank has agreed to again sponsor this annual Outreach fundraiser, helping us by matching each donated dollar with another dollar, effectively doubling the donations! All donations received in July will go toward this matching grant program. Donations can be mailed to Outreach at P.O. Box 682, Stockbridge, MI 49285 or you can drop off donations at the Outreach office in the old middle school (door #20), or make them online through the Outreach Facebook page at facebook.com/StockbridgeCommunityOutreach/
We are so grateful for the myriad and abundant support of this community!
