The Greater Lafayette organization made their Christmas wish list

2021-12-06 20:06:05 By : Ms. Cinzia K

Lafayette, Indiana-If you could put a gift under the tree this year, what would it be?

Journal & Courier posed this question to some regional non-profit organizations and organizations, and their answers were as diverse as the mission they advocated. 

Most Christmas wishes are not suitable for being placed under the tree. 

A president of a non-profit organization hopes to provide a sweet home for everyone who needs it. The other hopes that there will be enough volunteers to complete the mission of the organization. 

Some people need gloves, coats, and toys to shelter their pets. Everyone will be very grateful for donations to make 2022 easier.

Journal & Courier emphasized these desires, letting non-profit organizations tell you what they want this holiday-most importantly, what they need. 

This story will be updated online throughout the holiday, because we give more non-profit organizations the opportunity to contact us and tell us: What do you want during the holiday?

"We are always happy to accept any donation to our shelter animals," said Brittany, the association's shelter manager. "Fortunately, we received a large number of authoritative donations, and our shelter no longer needs that food brand animal. Any donated food that our animals cannot use will be put in our pantry for Tippecanu County Use by any residents who need it."

The "Almost Home Humane Society" located at S. 2nd St. 1705 in Lafayette also sent a list of the most needed items to Journal & Courier, including Kong toys; tennis balls; baby shampoo; scissors/nail trimmers; Oxbow essential adult guinea pig and rabbit food; clay cat litter; cat toys; hand sanitizer; Lysur spray; electronic collars, etc. Interested donors can check the Amazon wish list of the shelter and select the items they want to donate.

COVER Lafayette is a "grassroots" project founded by Julia Pope, a native of Lafayette. COVER is committed to "covering" every citizen of Lafayette with any available and donated blankets, winter hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, boots, etc., to protect everyone from the cold winter weather.

"We hear a lot of saying that everyone is bad, it's not true," Pope said. "People really care about each other."

Cover Lafayette accepts any donations of winter clothing and blankets in the trash can behind Butter Shelf Eatery at Lafayette Main St. 927. Citizens are welcome to put down their spare protective blankets and winter clothing, and bring what they need to keep warm this winter.

"(I hope) COVER Lafayette does not exist," Pope said when asked what she wanted for the vacation of this project, "because it means no one has a cold. Everyone has a place, everyone has Warmth. This is my wish, "We don’t have to have (COVER Lafayette). But we have, and until we don't, we will continue to do so. "

According to its website, Food Finders Food Bank collaborates with other local organizations to help provide food to those in need, and educate and advocate for addressing food insecurity in north-central Indiana.

Katy O'Malley Bunder, President and CEO of Food Finders Food Bank, said: “Food Finders wants to have money during Christmas. We need to find a way to keep what we call fresh The opening of a large food pantry in the market." "Since we were able to rent this space, the community has gained better nutrition and a better experience. We hope to buy the space at the end of the lease, but it costs money.

“Our second wish is volunteers. We only need one-third of volunteers. The number of volunteers has not rebounded from the decline that occurred when COVID hits the community.”

YWCA Greater Lafayette is an organization dedicated to empowering women and their families to meet their important needs and achieve success in life. The organization helps minority women receive health screenings and preventive care through our Women’s Cancer Program, and builds confidence among school-age girls through entertainment programs. YWCA Greater Lafayette empowers women and girls in Tippecanu County and Indiana.

"YWCA's Domestic Violence Intervention and Prevention Program organizes our holiday event "Kris Kringle" every year to provide toys and gifts to the families we serve," said Chief Program Officer Leah Giorgini. "We ask businesses, student groups, churches and similar groups to collect items from the list we provide and deliver them to us before important dates. If you are interested in participating, please contact elee@ywcalafayette before December 10, 2021 .org. " 

"We also maintain an updated wish list on our website www.ywcalafayette.org to meet our ongoing organizational needs. Items we often need include bedding, kitchen supplies, cleaning supplies and hygiene products. We also specialize Seek donations of security cameras to provide help to maximize the safety of newly resettled survivors. We are grateful for the community’s support for us. We cannot complete this work without you."

Bauer Inc. helps fund programs and services that help the community and focuses on helping children and families succeed. One way Bauer, which operates multiple Subway franchises, tries to give back to the community is to hold the annual Subway Snowflake Christmas Party. Children from the community may be financially troubled this year. They will receive gifts and a A grand Christmas party.

"Anytime someone passes by the Subway Sandwich Shop, they can see that we are raising funds for the Subway Snowflake Christmas party. They can donate to a donation pot in our shop. By doing this, they can also write theirs on the Snowflake Name, it helps us decorate the store," said Mike Ball, the owner of Ball Company.

"We will host an event on December 5th at 1413 Teal Road, where we will pack all the Christmas gifts we purchased on Black Friday. The event itself will be held on December 9th at the Great United Skate on Earls Avenue For this event, we need to help people put children on roller skates, help them understand how to skate, get gifts from Santa Claus and more."

If anyone is interested in donating to Subway Snow Party or want to participate in any event, they can contact Mike Bauer at mike@bauersubway.com or call (765) 337-2941. 

Harvest Chapel is a non-denominational church located at 2028 22nd Street, Lafayette. It is accepting donations of warm winter clothing.

"We are collecting collections for the Lafayette City Department (LUM)," said April O'Brien, a member of Harvest Chapel. "We have been collecting socks, hats and hand warmers for LUM for the homeless."

Harvest Chapel also advocates donations to other local non-profit organizations, such as Matrix LifeCare Center.

LifeCenter provides services for expectant mothers and fathers, including pregnancy and STD testing, ultrasound, pregnancy choice education, mental health resources, etc. 

April O'Brien urged the importance of donating diapers and milk formula to Matrix. All services provided through Matrix are free and confidential.

Grand Lafayette Municipal Theater

According to its website, the Civic Theater is the oldest and most active theater organization in Indiana. Civic Theatre was founded in 1931 and celebrates its 90th anniversary this year.

"Civic Theatre is the Greater Lafayette Community Theatre in its purest sense," the Civic Theatre website states. "A theater that entertains the community, serves the community, reflects the community, and involves the community." 

Although the theater is always grateful and needs money donations, there are two specific devices on the Civic’s holiday wish list this year.

"We thought of a few things," said Raquel Lopez, the artistic director of the Civic Theater. "One is to fund the update of our hearing loop system in the theater. The system we have now is completely outdated and incompatible with the newer audio equipment we have acquired in the past few years. We tried to get funding from CFGL donors but It failed.

"Another item (which may be a need rather than a need) is a'follow point' for the purpose of improving lighting," Raquel clarified. "It is also very expensive, although it is a bit less than the hearing loop equipment. But I will give priority to the hearing loop on the follow point, because our hearing impaired audiences really need to loop."

Group Homes for Children has a history of nearly 50 years, and they are committed to providing a home for children in crisis as an alternative to institutions or detention. The organization currently runs a family of young girls, ranging in age from 10 to 18 years old. Many girls are placed under the care of the organization by the Ministry of Children’s Services and Probation.

"I think the greatest help to us is monetary donations. With Christmas coming, monetary donations will help us celebrate a wonderful Christmas for every child in our plan," Jessica, head of Group Homes for Children Smith (Jessica Smith) said.

"Christmas is a big event now, but we have been working hard to update our space. We just received a grant for new floors and paint. We have a small list of what we are currently saving to replace in the house. Something. It’s like we want to remodel our small bathroom or something. The donation of money will really help us solve this problem and spend Christmas for the girls we take care of."

Pawswap in Greater Lafayette is an animal rescue organization run by volunteers that started in 2015. Almost all the dogs they took care of were placed with volunteers. They were willing to raise this dog until they found a new family member.

"Monetary donations will help us immensely when it comes to censorship for dogs. Almost 100% of our money is spent on censorship and supplies," said Jessica Smith, Pawswap director at Greater Lafayette.

"Foster care volunteers will also be great, because the more people on our foster roster, the more dogs we can help. It would be great to be able to help more dogs."

What Jennifer Layton wants at Christmas is to see that everyone who needs a place to call home gets one. The president and CEO of LTHC admitted that this is a difficult task, but when Journal & Courier asked her if she had a wish for Christmas, this was the first question that came to mind. 

"If LTHC can ask for one thing for the holidays," Layton said, "we would ask for housing. No one in our community should experience homelessness. We can only do this by providing people with affordable housing, And to keep them at home for support needs.

"If any landlord is interested in working with LTHC to provide someone an opportunity, we will welcome this opportunity."

Such a requirement may not be suitable under the tree, but Layton does have a second wish for non-profit organizations in downtown Lafayette, which is financial support.

"For the past year and a half, LTHC has been open to provide services and housing for the homeless," Leiden said. "We need additional financial resources to continue this work. Due to the pandemic, all our fundraising activities have changed, and our financial support is much less than ever."

Margaret Christopherson is a reporter for Journal & Courier. Email her mtroup@jconline.com and follow her on Twitter @MargaretJC2.

Noe Padilla is a reporter for Journal & Courier. Email him Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter 1NoePadilla.

Deanna Watson is the managing editor of Journal & Courier. Contact her at dwatson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @deannawatson66.