Our Generous Community

Decorating the Community Room Wednesday afternoon, I started thinking about all of the wonderful things about working at LPCS during the holidays. As the official Volunteer Coordinator, and the unofficial “Donation Coordinator,” I am in the unique position of being on the receiving end of a lot of giving. While LPCS is fortunate enough to receive many volunteer and donation inquiries year-round, the holidays seem to bring out more generosity than I thought possible! Everyone is ready to bring over their old coats, drop off extra food, and spend every spare moment making sure that our volunteer calendar is full. I could not feel part of a more thoughtful community.

The constant inflow of donations, food, and time are incredibly magnificent.  Because our guests are staying at LPCS for longer periods of time, we have less turnover and are serving fewer people overall, which means there are only so many coats, scarves, boots, etc. that we can use at any given time. We want to make sure that your generous donations are getting to the people who need them the most, so we sometimes “re-donate” extra items to another worthy charity, to ensure that we are “spreading the wealth” and making sure that everyone can have a warm and bright holiday season! 

Want to help LPCS in an easy way?  Remind your friends and family to spread holiday cheer year-round.  One of our goals is to make sure that we can spread “holiday cheer” with every guest, whether they stay here from September to January, or March to October.  Everyone deserves a CTA pass, a variety of food to eat, and good shoes to walk in.  Encourage everyone to designate a random month in the year in which they donate and volunteer with the same fervor that they expel during the winter holiday season.   Better yet, encourage them, if able, to give continuously throughout the year, even if that means smaller amounts of time and items.  We understand that not everyone is able to volunteer on a regular basis, so don’t think your efforts are unappreciated by any means!

I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has, and will, donate and volunteer this year at LPCS. We would not be able to do what we do without all of you! The holidays can be an especially hard time for our guests, and they notice and appreciate the extra effort by volunteers and donors during this time, as they will throughout the year.

 --Elli Krandel, Volunteer Coordinator