When times are tough, it affects us all and many people are not able to give back. Community Link wants to share a story about a group of individuals who, when Christmas time rolls around, asks — “Do we get a family?” Donna Gruenenfelder (Production Coordinator and coordinator of this giving back effort) cannot remember how many years the vocational consumers have been sponsoring a family from Community Link’s First Step Program at Christmas. It has become a tradition that keeps the “spirit” of giving alive and fulfilling some of the dreams of a family.

Before the Thanksgiving holiday, Donna already had consumers in the Vocational Department reminding her to select a family so they can shop. There are some consumers who love “Black Friday” shopping and this gives them an extra reason to go hit the crowds with friends and family. They have a list of the family dynamics — parents, kids, gender, ages and some of their wants and needs. This year the family consisted of a mother and four children. What impressed Donna the most was a “need” for blankets. The consumers took it upon themselves to buy material to make a blanket for each child.

A total of $178 was collected and four blankets were made. Donna was able to buy all of the needs on the list with the money collected. The group knows how special it is for children to have a Christmas, and that is what the group strives for – to put big smiles on some faces. Donna cannot stress enough how big a heart this group of individuals have – they really do think about others. Thanks to all of them for being the caring people that they are.

Tags: community link, First Step

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Community, Feature Stories.