It is another beautiful sunny day in Seneca Falls. The temperatures are downright balmy for December. One could almost forget that we are only a couple weeks from Christmas.
Here at The House of Concern we are filled with the Christmas Spirit. It is a wonderful time of year for donations and that makes our job MUCH easier.
Back in August and September we, unfortunately, spent more money buying food for the pantry than we made in the store and took in with donations combined. Now even people who do not run a business know that you can’t continue that way for very long. The money just plain runs out. Part of the problem was that donations are always low that time of year but the other big factor was that we had so many more people who required services from the pantry. It looked like this:
June: 240 families
July: 242 families
August: 306 families…yes you read that right
September: 299 families
October: 290 families
November: 349 families
We were almost overwhelmed in the face of such need.
Almost.
The fact is that once the numbers starting climbing we started getting the word out and then several people in the community started to take action.
We were blessed to receive donations of food and money from area schools, businesses, and churches and individuals. That helped us a great deal.
An Ad Hoc group was formed in October to help us look to new ways to address the growing needs. Their interest and ideas have been appreciated more than I can say.
This past weekend was the “It’s a Wonderful Life” festival in Seneca Falls. It was by all accounts a wonderful event and successful beyond belief. For those of you who don’t know, the House of Concern is blessed to receive proceeds from several of the events.
I am frequently reminded of how very apropos the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” is. Seneca County takes care of its neighbors in need. It does it through its unwavering support of agencies like ours.
For that I am most grateful and feel truly blessed.
I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and much joy in the coming year.
Diane Draheim
Executive Director
Seneca County House of Concern