Last year, the Marshall County's Community Christmas Coalition impacted over 500 local families by providing them with gifts and meals that were hand delivered. 

Want to know how YOU can help "Bring Christmas Home" to the local families in need this year? Here are four ways you can make a difference during this holiday season: 

1. Directly Sponsor a Family (recommended)
Select a family, get their wish list by contacting the MCNC, shop, wrap and deliver gifts in time for Christmas morning. 

2. Anonymously Sponsor a Family 
See #1 and deliver the wrapped gifts for your family directly to the Center.

3. Donate Dollars
Contribute any amount. Consider donating at least $150, the recommended costs of providing a Christmas basket for a family of four. 

4. Team Up, Serve and Give Together
Share the service opportunity and team up with others from your church, community organization or workplace to help rally support. This makes a rewarding community service project. Pledge to sponsor __# of families and divvy up the shopping, wrapping and delivering together! 


About Community Christmas Coalition

The Community Christmas Coalition (CCC) is made possible by the collaborative efforts of The Marshall County Neighborhood Center, Plymouth Community School Corporation, Leadership Marshall County, Shop With A Cop, Boys & Girls Club, TritCommunity Christmas Coalition. The CCC's mission to Bring Christmas Home to all Marshall County families. 
Last year CCC impacted over 500 local families, by providing them with gifts and meals from their fellow neighbors. This year will be the third year that the CCC helps the local community during the Christmas season and appreciates all of the local support, donations and service of the community members and volunteers. 

Contact: Marshall County Neighborhood Center  
www.marshallcountyneighborhoodcenter.com
402 W. Garro St. Plymouth / 574-936-3388    


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Last week, the Center hit a new record of 44 households, representing over 100 individuals served in a single evening. The need is great and does not appear to be tapering off anytime soon. 

We want to thank a number of community- and business-sponsored food drives in process. 

There is a special drive called "Stuff a Bus" happening on November 12th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Martin's Supermarkets throughout Michiana. Shoppers will have a chance to purchase items and donate them right at the store. We hope you will take advantage of this and consider donating for the growing needs in our local community. 

As we prepare for the holidays, we are continuing to offer Thanksgiving Baskets as well as working with the Christmas Coalition. Last year, with the community support, we were able to serve 300 families. However, due to budget constrictions as well as the spike in families in need, we are running a waiting list to accommodate as many families as we can. In only two days time, over 200 families requested a Thanksgiving Basket. Unless we receive more support from generous donations, it is likely that some families will not be served. 

We will be providing additional information on the specific ways you can support and serve the Neighborhood Center. Until then, please see if you can support us in any of these ways listed >

We want to send a big THANK YOU to the Bremen Community and their annual 'Mom-to-Mom' sale. All of the leftover children's apparel and items were made available as a donation to the Neighborhood Center and helped provide needed kids' clothing for our clothing pantry.

Our Clothing Pantry hosted a "Shop 'Til You Drop" Event recently, as a way to clear out our seasonal inventory. Volunteers Marcia Pownell and Sharron Yambrick worked tirelessly to see that clients found just the right items to take home. We distributed over 2200 items of clothing, shoes, and household linens and now have room for all of our fall and winter items.

1. Contact Sarah Hendrix.
Get a hold of Sarah by calling the Marshall County Neighborhood Center at (574) 936 - 3388 in order to plan your food drive.  Sarah can give you details about what kind of foods are needed at the time of your call as well as give you a way to motivate your food drive group.

2. Pick a group.
Youth groups, companies, service organizations, and more can host their own food drive to help the MCNC food pantry.  Themed food drives are also an option as the local Plymouth Wythogan Toastmasters group did.  To learn about this great idea, read about the Toastmaster's food drive.

3.  Pick your dates and start up!
A food drive can last one week or last months.  Pick the dates that are best for your food drive and make sure to tell Sarah when your food will be dropped off.  This effort will mean so much to many Marshall County families in need for food.

Due to the decrease in funding in the recent months, the MCNC is in a current deficit and is seeking large quantities of items for the food pantry. Just to fill the shelves through the summer months, the cost is nearly $10,000. With the loss of over $30,000 in funding, your contributions are in urgent need! 

Pictured below is a photo of items donated by the Plymouth Public Library and 3M just ONE WEEK AGO! Items were overflowing at that time and, seven days later, are now depleted. Serving over 1200 families in our county, there is an urgent need for more items to be replenished. Will you and your large group lead a food drive to help? 

MCNC is seeking companies, service organizations, youth groups, students and ministries to lead up efforts for a food drive. You may contact Sarah Hendrix for details on the types of food items they are needing at the time of your drive. She also has some great ideas on how to motivate your team for a successful drive. Call Sarah today to discuss the details of your large group's food drive at 936-3388.   

A great big thank you to Plymouth Public Library and 3M for contributing all of the goods to help fill our food pantry in honor of Hunger Awareness Month last March.