New program in Jackson County will help families stretch their food dollars
Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 4:21 PM
 By Monetta Harr | Jackson Citizen Patriot The Jackson Citizen Patriot
A new program designed to help families stretch their food dollars is slated to launch next month in Jackson.
People can pay $29 for 11 pounds of frozen meat and vegetables and order the food through participating area churches and nonprofits. Mid America Foods in Chicago will then deliver the food to Jackson.
This makes it a hand up, rather than a hand out, said Linda Page, a member with her husband, Cyril, of First Church of the Nazarene, 3905 Clinton Road.
The church was involved in a similar program, Angel Food Ministries, for about 10 years, and members were in “panic mode” when that ministry closed in August.
“Our numbers had actually gone down in recent months (before that ministry closed) because they told us they didn't have the money to wait until the next week to pick up their food,” she said. “We have a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck, wondering how they will exist. This is a means to keep them going.”
Page said she heard about Mid American Foods through a sister church to First Church of the Nazarene in Sturgis.
Angel Food Ministries fed more than 300 Jackson-area families. A group of about 25 people recently gathered to brainstorm ways to continue helping those families, said Wendy Wight of We Can Make a Difference,224 W. Wilkins St.
Wight’s group will host “tasting party” at noon Wednesday Feb. 1 for area churches and nonprofits interested in becoming involved and to sample the food from the Chicago company.
She said people work through a participating church or nonprofit and order the amount of food they want by mid-month. The food is delivered to Sercombe Trucking in Jackson and those agencies pick it up, take it to their buildings and people who have placed orders pick them up the last Saturday of the month. It will begin next month, so orders need to be placed by Feb. 18 and food will be picked up Feb. 25.
There is no minimal income required to participate in the program, food stamps are accepted and people can order any number of packages of food.
Anyone interested in getting involved should attend the tasting or call Page at 499-5574. People interested in ordering should contact a church or nonprofi.
© 2012 MLive.com. All rights reserved.
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Jackson woman hoping to establish a local ministry to feed 300 area families
Published: Friday, January 13, 2012, 4:30 PM
By Monetta Harr | Jackson Citizen Patriot The Jackson Citizen Patriot
Wendy Wight is hoping to start a local ministry to replace the now defunct Angel Food Ministries, which provided food to 300 families in Jackson County last year.
Wendy Wight, director of the nonprofit We Can Make A Difference in Jackson, is hoping to help get food to nearly 300 Jackson County families who were part of Angel Food Ministries.
That national ministry, Wight said, folded in September. A number of Jackson-area churches bought food through that organization and it was delivered to the churches and distributed to needy families for more than a decade.
Now Wight is planning a brainstorming meeting for anyone interested in creating a local ministry to take the place of Angel Food Ministries. It will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday at 224 W. Wilkins St., the site of her nonprofit.
Wight wants to supply people with more nutritious foods than the Angel Ministries did. They would be able to purchase it with their food stamps.
“I know there are people in the Jackson community who have a heart for such a ministry,” said Wight. “I need to establish a board of directors, someone to head it up, basically figure out how to get the dots connected.”
People can attend the meeting or call Wight at 517-740-8444 for more information.
© 2012 MLive.com. All rights reserved.
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Toy Store Provides Free Christmas Gifts for Jackson Families in Need
Published: Monday, December 06, 2010
By Tarryl Jackson | Jackson Citizen Patriot
Customers quickly filled the aisles in search of free gently used toys and games for their children Friday at Jackson’s Priceless Gift Toy Store.
Shelves were stocked high with toys for children of all ages, and parents moved quickly through the aisles, filling plastic grocery bags with gifts for their loved ones this holiday season.
This is the second year Jackson resident Brenda Beck has come to the store.
“This is really, really wonderful for the families that need it,” said Beck, who was shopping for four children.
The Priceless Gift Toy Store, which is in its sixth year, has served thousands of needy children in the Jackson area, making sure they have a gift for Christmas. It is located at 1211 Greenwood Ave.
The store is a partnership between Together We Can Make A Difference and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. It receives donations and volunteer help from churches, businesses, schools and nonprofits.
Wendy Wight, director of Together We Can Make A Difference, said the community support has been overwhelming.
“It’s been really fun to see new people come and be a part of the spirit of giving,” she said. “God is doing more than what we could have asked for.”
The store served about 6,000 children last year, and organizers expect between 6,000 and 7,500 children will receive a gift this Christmas. The store is open to anyone, who can fill a bag with toys for free.
In the first four days it was open this year, the store served almost 2,000 children.
Each family receives a gift basket filled with toiletries and other personal items.
“With the economy the way it is right now … there are going to be even more children that are going to be without this year,” said volunteer Elaine Rogers of Jackson. “It’s natural to give. It’s a beautiful thing to see.”
The store has a “good selection, nice people,” said Leslie resident Allison Jones, who was shopping for six children. “They have a lot of neat stuff.”
David Kemler, general manager of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, said the effort has attracted several hundred volunteers.
“There’s no way we could have done this on our own,” he said.
About the store
Priceless Gift Toy Store, 1211 Greenwood Ave., is open until Dec. 16. Hours are from 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and from 1 to 7 p.m. Thursday.
Donations can be dropped off from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at 1212 First St., the store’s back entrance. Toys also can be donated at the St. Vincent de Paul stores at 1509 E. Michigan Ave. and 1812 Spring Arbor Road.
For more information, call Wendy Wight at 740-8444 or David Kemler at 784-8377.
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Priceless Gift Toy Store in Jackson collecting toys and games for those in need
Thursday, October 07, 2010
About 7,500 Jackson-area children are expected to receive free, gently-used toys and games this holiday season, thanks to an annual community effort.
The Priceless Gift Toy Store — run by Jackson’s Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Together We Can Make a Difference — is now accepting donations from the community.
Each year, the store receives donations and volunteer help from local churches, nonprofits, businesses and schools.
Wendy Wight, director of Together We Can Make a Difference, said she hopes everyone in the community can lend a hand to the effort.
“The needs are not getting smaller,” she said. “I sure can’t do it by myself and there’s not one agency that can do it by themselves. There are so many different ways people can get plugged in.”
Priceless gifts
The Priceless Gift Toy Store is accepting the following donations: Gently-used toys and games; batteries (all sizes); Ziplock bags (all sizes); large, clear zipper bags; baby wipes; Mr. Clean Magic Erasers; and plastic grocery bags.
The store, located at 1211 Greenwood Ave., is accepting donations from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays. Toys can also be donated at the St. Vincent de Paul stores at 1509 E. Michigan Ave. and 1812 Spring Arbor Road. For more information, call Wendy Wight at 740-8444 or David Kemler at 784-8377.
Many area residents already have a tough time providing the basics for their families and the situation can worsen around the holidays, said David Kemler, general manager for St. Vincent de Paul Society.
The Priceless Gift Toy Store is meant to provide relief for those families, and the community support has been tremendous, he said.
“The people (in Jackson) have always been generous when they see a need,” he said.
More than 6,000 children were served by the store last year. Wight said she had a list of 975 people who volunteered there and many more did work outside the store, like washing stuffed animals and collecting toys.
Organizers are looking for people to be a part of the store’s set-up team, collect and prepare toys for gifts, dress dolls and do their hair and organize a team to staff the store for a day.
“It really takes an army of people,” Wight said. “I’ve never seen so many loving people who love to help (in Jackson).”
The Priceless Gift Toy Store will be open Nov. 26 through Dec. 16 at 1211 Greenwood Ave.
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MAY 2009
Garden Giveaway was a big success!
From our local St. Vincent de Paul website
Over 120 free container gardens offered by St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Stores were given away to the community at the Together We Can Make A Difference Ministry House. The gardens included compost, tomato or pepper plants and seeds.
Volunteers were on hand to greet and and register the recipients. Students from Jackson High School, under the guidance of teacher Emily Curry, a Master Gardener, earned community service credits by helping people with their garden selections. Gardening instructions were also given out by volunteers.
A big thank you to everyone who helped make this Garden Giveaway a success! Take a look at the photos from that event by clicking HERE.
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GOOD NEWS - results to your prayers:
Meijers helps our ministry with almost $2000 to feed the hungry
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Together We Can Make a Difference
and Meijer Feed the Hungry in Jackson
Jackson, Michigan- January 10, 2009 -- Supercenter chain Meijer has provided nearly $2,000 to Jackson’s Together We Can Make a Difference ministry as part of the company's "Simply Give" holiday donation program. The program launched in November at all 185 Meijer stores to provide much needed Meijer gift cards to 185 local food pantries in the communities where its stores are based.
"We were so blessed by Meijers helping us to help others," said Wendy Wight, director of the Together We Can Make a Difference ministry and food pantry. "The need is great and we were meeting it thanks to God, to Meijer, and to all the Meijer shoppers who cared. If you could have seen the faces of those that were being helped you’d see the genuine gratitude. All together we really are making a difference in the lives of those hurting here in Jackson."
The Meijer Simply Give program stated in November. Meijer customers purchased $10 Meijer Food Pantry Donation Cards at special displays throughout the store, as well as inside the Meijer gas stations. The $10 amount reflected a typical bag of groceries at Meijer. The donation cards purchased by Meijer customers were then converted into Meijer gift Cards and given to a local Food Pantry selected by each store.
In addition to the gift cards donated by Meijer customers, Meijers also donated and divided $100,000 in gift cards to the many participating food pantries to stock their shelves for this past holiday season.
Each food pantry card had a description of the program with a thank you message. In the event a Meijer customer wanted to make a donation on someone's behalf as a holiday gift, each food pantry card had a blank space to indicate that a donation was made in name of someone as a gift.
The Meijer Simply Give program ran through December 24 and the Jackson Airport Road Meijer store has donated the remaining amount raised by customers to the Together We Can Make a Difference ministry. “The total overall was $1,910 and that has helped us tremendously,” said Wendy Wight. More information about Wendy’s ministry and the many ways they are serving Jackson can be seen at their website: www.TogetherDifference.org
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WENDY WIGHT -
One of the Citizen Patriot's
Distinguished Citizens of the Year
Thursday, January 01, 2009
By Monetta L. Harr
mharr@citpat.com -- 768-4972
The number of people in Wendy Wight's cell phone is massive, and she only half jokes that she has them all on speed dial.
But when you coordinate so many community efforts, being able to reach volunteers is vital. The week before Christmas, for instance, she and a crew helped parents fill 4,000 stockings for their children and supplied 200 Christmas dinners to the hungry.
For this and many other endeavors, Wight of Summit Township has been named a Citizen Patriot Distinguished Citizen of the Year.
"She has a compassionate heart and loves unconditionally,'' said Regina Herrington of Michigan Center, who nominated Wight for the award.
Wight, 48, worked 22 years at Meijer, 17 at the Airport Road facility as a department manager. When downsizing hit the chain of stores, Wight lost her job, but not before she had a premonition for the next part of her life.
"I was angry at first, then my sister told me I could end up bitter. The next morning I woke up with a vision of a house and what to do with it,'' she said.
Her husband, Robert, owned a house at 224 W. Wilkins St. and Wight is renting it from him. She immediately began offering small group Bible studies.
She also wanted to fill in for people gaps that their parents never taught them -- life skills like cooking, gardening, sewing -- and a bigger thought, to get Christians moving in the same direction.
It will be four years in June that she started the "Together We Can Make A Difference'' house.
"Wendy can do 101 things, all at the same time,'' said Carole Campbell, who makes a pot of homemade soup four days a week at the house, serving a free lunch to anyone who stops by.
Through the Community Garden program, Wight taught neighbors how to can produce in August and September and sent the canned goods home with them. She has helped found New Jackson, a positive voice for Christians in this area, and gets area school children to make hundreds of Easter baskets for the elderly.
Janie Boyle of Summit Township is a neighbor of Wight's. They've been "walking buddies'' for eight years "and we pray on a daily basis for those in need.'' She said it was Wight's idea to start a 6:30 a.m. Thursday prayer group at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3637 Spring Arbor Road, to pray for the community.
Wight, who gets help for her ministry from her own church, Westwinds Community, 1000 Robinson Road, also meets weekly to pray with other churches and the Jackson Interfaith Shelter.
Throughout it all, cell phone in hand and a smile on her face, Wight is always on the go.
She credits God with "giving me instructions each day. There is no way I could do this without him sending me the resources."
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Other 2009 Distinguished Citizens
Robert "Bob" Inman
Brad's Lunch Bunch (Brad Flory)
Nora Thomas
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Other nominees
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Jackson Citizen Patriot
* Sharon Mills* Karen Lewthwaite
* Judge James M. Justin
* Kim Conant
* Daniel J. Phelan
* Dr. James A. O'Connor
* Lloyd and Judith
Ganton
* Colton Stepke (youth citizen)
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Previous Citizens of the Year
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Jackson Citizen Patriot
Previous winners of the Citizen Patriot Citizen of the Year award:
2008 -- Todd Zeller: An avid outdoorsman, Zeller was honored for his advocacy over 17 years on behalf of the 10.5-mile Falling Waters Trail and his ongoing commitment to serving and promoting the community.
2007 -- Neeta Delaney: Former director of Armory Arts Village, Delaney was recognized for her efforts in turning a much-doubted cultural development concept into a groundbreaking reality in just five years.
2006 -- John Campau: Campau is president and chief executive officer of Comtronics, but he was honored for his efforts to preserve the John George Home.
2005 -- Mike Brown: Jackson's ``go-to guy'' has played important roles for many groups, including the Hot Air Jubilee, the American Cancer Society, Toys for Tots and the Weekend in the Park.
2004 -- Maclay ``Mac'' Gwinn: Gwinn is dedicated to making life better for others through his work with many organizations, including Big Brothers Big Sisters.
2003 -- Robert L. Johnson: Volunteer extraordinaire whose credits include Special Olympics, the Greater Jackson Habitat for Humanity, Eve on the Ave and the American 1 Grand Prix.
2002 -- The Rev. James Hines: Pastor of Lily Missionary Baptist Church who spearheaded a drive to build the Lily Missions Center, a $4 million facility for youth.
2001 -- Lucille Jenkins Dodge: Retired teacher and benefactor for the Henrietta branch of the Jackson District Library.
2000 -- Kenneth Beardslee: Longtime member of the Western School Board and Jackson County Board of Commissioners, Beardslee was recognized for his integrity and leadership.
1998 -- Rick Johns: Johns helped turn downtown into a happening place. He was involved in organizing the first Eve on the Ave celebration and numerous other downtown activities.
1997 -- Charles and Pat Anderson: The Andersons were the first couple to receive the honor. Both have served on numerous boards and spent many years as volunteers.
1996 -- Frederick ``Rick'' Davies: The president of the Jackson region of Comerica Inc. helped relocate the Jackson Symphony Orchestra to the former J.C. Penney Co. building and was instrumental in fundraising for major renovations in the building.
1995 -- William S. Lambkin: Lambkin has been affiliated with the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce, the United Way of Jackson County, Ella Sharp Museum and the Jackson County branch of the NAACP.
1994 -- Ex Rhodes Barham: Barham started crusading for civil rights in the 1940s, when he joined the NAACP, and later became president of the Jackson NAACP. Barham was the second black person elected to the City Commission.
1993 -- Frank Myers: The owner of the Little Caesar's Pizza Carryouts was best known for taking money from his own pocket each year so Jackson would have fireworks on the Fourth of July, Memorial Day and Labor Day.
1992 -- Tony Consolino: Consolino may be best known for the Tony Open, a Jackson golf tournament that in 1992 had raised more than $600,000 for the American Cancer Society. Consolino also helped raise funds to build Foote Hospital.
1991 -- Gwen Stafford: Stafford was named for her many volunteer activities, including with her church, the Jackson County Meal Service, the Heart Association booth at Jackson Crossing and the board of the John George Home.
1990 -- Sara Cook: On Dec. 27, 1988, at age 10, Sara Cook was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia. Sara and her family educated a community about cancer and joined its people in a common cause of support for a young life.
1989 -- Robert L. Johnson: Johnson was the Jackson police chief. Under his leadership, the police department cracked down on juvenile crime and domestic violence and recorded the most drug-related arrests.
1988 -- Margaret ``Peg'' E. Eaton: Through her association with the Michigan Department of Social Services, Eaton looked for what she saw as the needs of the community. As the Y Center's director of women's programs, she had a firm grasp on the needs of women.
1987 -- Philip H. Conley: Conley worked on a fund drive to raise $2.65 million to finance an expansion at the Ella Sharp Museum and was president of the museum's board of trustees.
1986 -- Mary McInally Grover: Grover was a Jackson city commissioner and chairwoman of Jackson County 1990, a group committed to defining the area's goals. The group was successful in its attempt to get Jackson named an All-America City.
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