By Jessica Prescott, Volunteer Supervisor

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7

As we head into this season of Christmas, I want to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to each of our faithful volunteers. Whether you have been volunteering with us for years, or are just getting started, I want each of you to know that you are the heart of The WellHouse, and we are beyond thankful for your heart of service!

Christmas Trees were put up and decorated by WellHouse Volunteers!

During Thanksgiving, we welcomed a group from Kingwood Church in Alabaster. They served a delicious Thanksgiving meal to our residents in our Next Steps to Freedom house. We were also blessed by the members of Gardendale First Baptist Church, who brought a Thanksgiving meal to our residents in The Immediate Shelter and Next Steps to Independence! Between the generosity of the two groups, we had more than enough food to feed our residents for the week after, which saved us on our grocery spending! Many many thanks go out to those groups for their generous giving!

We have had many reasons to give thanks over the past few months - the youth group from First Baptist Cleveland; David and Shannon Brown, and the team from The Church at Brook Hills for coming to reorganize our storage spaces; Kathy Babbit for donating crucial items for our new rescues; Penny Billings for her help with our end of the year ShopWell and office activities; Kelly Kirkland and her friends for decorating our property for Christmas; Megan Neill, Stacy Miller, Lili Khodabandeh, Jessalyn Gilliland and Jayme Anderson for helping wrap up our end of the year office projects; Terri Tatton for her continued work with Elizabeth’s Closet!

WellHouse Volunteers decorated the residents’ homes for Christmas!

And to our givers...we are blessed to have you as part of our volunteer team. You give your time, your talents, and your possessions to to serve the residents of The WellHouse. We are blessed to report that in a matter of two days, we had a sponsor for every resident for Christmas! This means that every woman at The WellHouse will receive items from their Christmas Wish List, and wake on Christmas morning with gifts, just for them! Some have never experienced a happy Christmas morning, and thanks to you, that will be possible this year.

If you are still looking for ways to give, in addition to our regular giving options, we would like to introduce you to our Non-Cash Donation option on our website. We are now able to accept items that you may be looking to donate before the end of the year, like old cars, stock, jewelry, unused gift cards, Apple and Android phones, Assets, and so much more! Just complete the form on our website, and you will be contacted to provide more information and arrange for pickup or delivery of your items. And as always, your gifts are tax deductible!

We are also beginning to schedule meals, events, and groups for the upcoming year. If you or your group are interested in serving in the upcoming year, please reach out to me via email at jessica@the-wellhouse.org.

Difference Makers - Winter 2020