For New Day Church, the DNR, and more than 500 homes surrounding the church’s untamed 18 acres off Nichols Road, a unique partnership represents a new way of collaborating on restoring and sharing a scarce resource of undeveloped land in Kalamazoo.
Volunteer Jan van Schaik says apart from the obvious need for shelter, Kalamazoo's homeless need to be seen as fellow humans. His work with the unhoused, handing out food, hot chocolate, coffee, and providing mentorship as needed, and as importantly showing them he recognizes them by name.
It is reported that one in five low-income women and girls struggled to access feminine hygiene products. “We have girls in our community who are dealing with this every day,” says Teresa Allen, Executive Director of Charitable Union. And they are working to ease that struggle.
Ministry With Community helps lots of people who are unhoused. And Executive Director Kelly Henderson says the nonprofit is seeing more working people who are struggling to put food on the table. The number of people of all kinds who need help is rising.
The needs of people living outside are many. The volunteer group United for the Unsheltered works to get them food and they give out hygiene kits, clothes, supplies for pets, and more. Often they are traveling to hidden encampments where the need is greatest.
In the 10 years since BCreative was first established, more than $1 million has been awarded by the the Miller Foundation to Battle Creek area individual students and schools.
Connect Battle Creek is a centralized workforce hub for Battle Creek where job seekers can find the resources they need to get or keep a good job. Employers can find ways to address workforce challenges so that their workers can have a positive work experience. And community organizations can list their services so that people who need them can find them.
A former Kalamazoo College English major has given a $500,000 gift in support of women’s athletics, prompted by his granddaughter’s recent experience as an aspiring college softball player.
For the Guys Who Give in Kalamazoo County, the goal is to try to get 100 local guys, for one hour, once a quarter, to give $100, in an effort to give a $10,000 or more gift each quarter to the local community. Over the past two years, quarterly awards that have ranged from more than $13,000 to more than $16,000.
Overall, the WKKF, with a combined $8.8 billion in its endowment and trust, set a new benchmark in its 92-year history by awarding more than $483 million in grant commitments during the 2021 fiscal year. In Battle Creek, during the fiscal year from September 2020 to August 2021, more than $48 million was committed to 27 of the 29 nonprofits that applied.
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