HEROES Our Hometown

In our November and December issues, we ran a listing of ways (Helping Hands) our readers could help local nonprofits and government agencies that work to enrich the lives of those less fortunate in our community. You — our hometown heroes — responded in a powerful way. Read on to see the good news about how you and your neighbors made a difference during the holiday season, as well as ways you can help throughout the year.

Acworth Police Department Christmas Shoppe

www.acworthpolice.org

From Cpl. Eric Mistretta

Each year, we have multiple volunteers assist us from the Acworth Public Safety Cadet Program, the local community and police department family members.

The number of gifts is hard to gauge, but we did receive more donations than in the previous year. We were able to partner with businesses throughout the city and neighboring counties to assist with collecting toys. With our toy drive, we were able to serve many local families who would not have been able to provide Christmas gifts for their children without our Toy Shoppe. We also were able to provide each family with a $100 gift card to help them purchase their holiday meal.

Without the support from our community, we wouldn’t be as successful as we’ve been at providing resources to families around the holidays. If anyone is interested in making a donation to the Acworth Police Community Foundation, they can contact the police department for more information. The funds donated to the foundation support many outreach programs, including our toy drive, Police Ambassador Camp and the Acworth Public Safety Cadets, just to name a few. The foundation would like to raise at least $50,000 this year to help community outreach programs.

We also have a tax credit donation option with our foundation, which helps supplement the police department with resources and equipment. We have set a goal to raise at least $250,000 this year from these donations. For more information, please contact the Acworth Police Department.

The Center for Family Resources

https://thecfr.org/thanks-for-giving

From Melanie Kagan, CEO

We can’t do what we do without the community support we receive, not just during Thanksgiving, but all year long. This is just one example of how incredibly generous people are, and we want them to know their donations are incredibly impactful and critical to supporting the needs of the clients and families we serve.

We had 263 volunteers show up the week of Thanksgiving to help on-site with packing, sorting and distributing. Our volunteers logged more than 800 hours that week.

We had an excellent donation result, with 10,000 pounds of food being brought back to our pantry to help with requests the rest of the year. Our totals were:

• 793 boxes of food distributed (valued at $55,510)

• 12 boxes of peanut butter

• 660 loaves of bread

• 1,000 packs (28 boxes) of macaroni and cheese

• 200 boxes of miscellaneous food taken to the food pantry (valued at $17,000)

• $76,441 worth of food donated to Thanks for Giving

• 816 gift cards worth $10,870

• 345 boxes picked up by registered families

• 25 boxes given to LiveSafe Resources

• 25 boxes given to Highland Rivers

• 150 boxes given to Cobb Senior Services

• 40 boxes given to Center for Children and Young Adults

• Eight boxes given to a senior-living community

• 140 boxes plus three cases of macaroni and cheese given to Helping Hands Paulding

• 28 boxes given to Cole Street Baptist Church

• Three boxes given to Simple Needs GA

• 14 boxes of miscellaneous food given to The Porch Marietta

• Nine boxes of miscellaneous kid-friendly items sent to Kennesaw State University food pantry

For 2023, we are excited to announce our short-term housing program has expanded from five apartments to 12 apartments that will house more than 60 families this year. The CFR has a strong commitment to families with children to try to avoid placing them in congregate shelters when possible. Our families enter short-term housing with very little, so when a family moves in, we provide many basic items, such as new sheets, towels and kitchen items. We are seeking donations for our housing closet. Our Amazon wish list can be found at https://amzn.to/3FcKRpz.

The Hope Box

www.thehopebox.org/donate

From Sarah Koeppen, CEO and founder

During the holidays, we held a Mommy Mart and a baby shower for mothers and infants in need. We had such a need for gift cards, baby diapers, formula, cars seats, clothing and more. We are so grateful for all of the volunteers and staff that helped meet the needs of so many. In 2023, continued financial partners, gift cards, baby items and volunteers are needed.

Cobb Senior Services

www.cobbcounty.org

From Kathy Lathem, strategic partnerships manager

We provided Christmas gifts to 150 of our clients. We continue to accept financial donations for Meals on Wheels.

Cobb Christmas Stuff-a-Bus

www.cobbchristmas.net/stuff-a-bus

From Mark Riggans, chairman

We didn’t have a shortage of volunteers this past year. Our Christmas giveaway always has been well-supported by the community.

We served 406 families — 1,200 children.

Our biggest need is funding. We gave away every toy we had this past year, so we will need to purchase toys in bulk to supplement our toy drive.

Goshen Valley Foundation

www.goshenvalley.org

From Caitlin Brunson, marketing and community engagement coordinator

We had incredible support from the community during the holidays. Woodstock City Church sent more than 600 volunteers to help with landscaping, decorating for Christmas and wrapping hundreds of gifts for the boys at Goshen Valley Boys Ranch.

We saw huge support from the community at large, helping us to purchase gifts off our Amazon wish lists for the 117 foster kids at Goshen during the holidays. The community rallies around our kids at Christmas, and we truly couldn’t do it without its support. We are so grateful to everyone who touched our kids’ lives!

Our 2023 needs are focused around a big need for foster parents in Cherokee and Cobb counties. At Goshen Homes, we license, train and recruit foster parents to work with sibling groups in foster care. That’s because more than 75% of siblings in foster care are separated, and we believe siblings are better together. If you or someone you know might be interested in becoming a foster parent or getting involved at Goshen Homes, visit fosterwithgoshen.org to download the fostering guide.