Big Give Wrap-up | Community Impact
The COVID-19 pandemic presented some real challenges—as well as some unique opportunities—for us on how we were going to support foster families, teens in group homes, and agency staff during the holidays this year. It had never occurred to us that everyone bringing in gift cards totaled an amount of $55,000! That seemed like a huge goal in a tough year, but we knew that the foster families, children in care, and agency workers needed it this year more than ever.
In faith, our leadership decided to go for what we appropriately called THE BIG GIVE! What happened in only one week was amazing. Through the giving on the app, $51,265 plus a few big donations trickled in, helping us achieve our goal. The fantastic part was that people weren’t limited by what they had to offer like in years past. We needed gifts to always be equal at $25 each, but that was cost prohibitive for someone who wanted to give $10 or $15. Doing it this way allowed EVERYONE to be a part of something special. We are so thankful that we are able to continue what we do for our community even during a pandemic!
As word got around as to what we were doing, we had several people and businesses go above and beyond! Lansing Correctional Facility reached out with brand new bikes for families to give their kids for Christmas. They have a program where they refurbish and assemble bikes to provide them to various charities. This Christmas forty-five kids will be delighted to find a brand new bicycle under the tree!
The company that services the WFC elevator, Minnesota Elevator Inc., decided they wanted to be a part of THE BIG GIVE too! Rob Gress and his son Trevor Gress attend WFC and work for MEI. Each year MEI draws the name of an employee and that employee gets to select a non-profit organization that they will support that year. This year they drew Trevor's name and he decided the BIG GIVE is where it should go! Additionally, the Gress family generously matched the the company's contribution!
We also had to get creative with our Christmas parties. On Thursday, December 3, a small army of Network 1.27 Foster Adoption Ministry volunteers delivered a full Christmas party (complete with dinner, decorations, and a family activity) to forty of our Westside Foster & Adoptive Families. Our families completed in a Gingerbread House contest and the families loved the event!
THANK YOU SO MUCH for our Christmas party!! The meal was perfect and yummy and we had fun decorating the gingerbread house together last night! Appreciate all you do to support our families and social workers across the city! Love your creativity and hearts!
Blessings over you and your families!
-The Simbequeva Family
You are amazing! You did it once again…putting a fun, cook-free evening for our families even in the midst of a STUPID PANDEMIC! You didn’t just cancel…you stepped outside the box and made it happen!!! Of course you did!!!”
–Susi Duncan
Each year we also host a Christmas Breakfast for one of our area foster agencies, DCCCA, but due to current restrictions we were unable to do that. We opted instead to provide for them a drive-through Christmas party! We provided each family with a breakfast of a dozen donuts, juice water, and a Christmas Gift from Westside Family church. It meant so much to each family and to the social workers who were part of the fun!
THANK YOU, Westside, for making this possible even in the midst of a global pandemic! Your generosity helped support foster families, teens in group homes, and agency staff around the Kansas City area and made sure they knew that there is a church community that sees them and appreciates them.