Hi Friends!

Snow has started flying Up North…the geese are long gone, and the juncos have found their way down from the U.P.. We’re headed into the Christian season of Advent, when we prepare for Jesus’s birth at Christmas by taking some time for contemplation. A whole lot of folks observe this season by engaging in more acts of charity, whether that’s donating to community service organizations, doing some extra volunteer work, or sponsoring a family off an angel tree. When I was a kid, even when times were tough, my mom and I would always grab a tag or two off an angel tree and buy gifts for families that were struggling. It was just what we did. It was a small way to help out our neighbors, even though we would never know who we helped.

Taking care of our neighbors is central to the work we do—whether we’re offering safe places to gather, a free evening out with friends, equipping folks with the tools to understand better and be kind to their neighbors, or making sure they’ve got the personal and household hygiene products they need to move through the world with dignity. Our Hygiene Closet has really taken off this year. It delights me to know how much of an impact we’re making… every month we’ve been serving around 50 or more households, helping them stretch their budgets while still being able to move through the world with the dignity of a clean body and then come home to a clean house.

When in-kind donations are insufficient to fully stock our closet, we “fill the gaps” using our program fund. It costs around $500 to fill a cart with supplies. On good months, we only need to buy one cartload, but there are certainly months where we have needed to buy more than one cartload to fill the gaps and meet the needs of our neighbors. If twenty people committed to becoming monthly donors at $21/month, we would have a full cartload of hygiene closet supplies covered every month. If you want to be one of those twenty people, click HERE.

Wherever you are, and however you celebrate the deep winter holidays, I hope you find joy and peace. Thank you for your continued care and support for the work we’re doing.

Cheers,
Deacon Beck Leclaire (he/him)
Ministry Developer
AuSable Inclusion Center

AuSable Inclusion Center December Schedule

That’s all for now!