VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION

Jay Height:
Hi, welcome to 2021. I’m Jay Height here at Shepherd Community. And I wanted to take a few moments this first week of the new year to look back at the last several weeks, last couple months through the holidays and all the amazing things that’s happened because of friends like you who made it possible.

Jay Height:
We go all the way back to the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we delivered over 300, totaling out to almost 400 Thanksgiving baskets to the families in this community that are served through the programs of Shepherd Community, so that they could have Thanksgiving with their own family. And we appreciate the partners who made that possible. And then on Thanksgiving Day, another 250 to 300 meals were delivered through a partnership with Mozel Sanders.

Jay Height:
And then that takes us into December and all of the fun that we have. Every student in a program at Shepherd Community was able to shop and get gifts for their parents. It’s a special program that goes back some years ago to where some of the kids said, “I want to do something to be able to help my own parents.” And so we make sure that they get gifts, and it’s fun to see the kids as they select. And we have volunteers who wrap the gifts for the kids for them to be able to take home, so we were able to help every one of our kids provide Christmas for their parents.

Jay Height:
Over 330 students received new winter coats, thanks to a gift that was made possible to us. We appreciated that gift and the help that many went into shopping and getting all of the coats for the kids. We also were able to help 350 students get new shoes through Samaritan’s Feet. We appreciate that partnership and making sure that our students have new shoes to wear during the holiday season, but into their school year, into this new year.

Jay Height:
We also were able to help, for Christmas, 350 families get a Christmas meal. We also were able to distribute [inaudible 00:02:14]. We had so many folks step up and help us do this.

Jay Height:
We provided to students, all the students in our programs and some other partners, 600 Christmas food totes for them to eat on during the break. They had things like granola bars and peanut butter crackers and Pop-Tarts. I think Pop-Tarts are healthy. If you get one that’s cherry, that’s fruit, and if it’s the crust is green and the frosting on top is dairy, it’s like the whole food pyramid in that little silver pack. Probably why my doctor says that I’m not the healthiest is because I think Pop-Tarts are healthy. But we want to make sure kids have something to eat for the two weeks they’re out of school.

Jay Height:
Unfortunately, 8 out of 10 kids in this neighborhood don’t get two meals when they’re in school. They don’t get them two meals a day. And so we wanted to meet that need. Hunger is an unfortunate reality and through 2020, we saw hunger increase, and we stepped up our game and tried to help so many.

Jay Height:
And this is one that goes back many years ago, when a student named James said to me, “Don’t close for Christmas.” And I said, “Don’t you want to have time off?” And he said, “No, because I won’t have anything to eat.” And over 20 years ago, we started this program where on breaks, whether it’s spring break, fall break, Christmas break, we’re making sure that we get food totes to students, so they have something to eat. They’re able to take those boxes of food home and keep them in their room or wherever their parents want them to keep them and make sure that they have something to eat.

Jay Height:
And then one of the glorious times we have every Christmas is our Christmas store where we help parents be able to access new toys, hats, gloves, socks, underwear, clothing for their students, and they pay $5 for every student that they shop for and get somewhere, I think this year, probably 140, $150 worth of new gifts for their own children.

Jay Height:
We take that $5, and we were able to send over $4,000 to the Navajo Reservation to help them provide Christmas on the reservation. They were greatly, negatively impacted by COVID. They’re in the Four Corners Reservation of the Navajo. And so we were able to bless them. So our families gave a little bit so that they could bless their own kids, and they were able to bless lots of kids out in the Southwest part of our country. And we’re appreciative of that partnership.

Jay Height:
But the parents were able to shop, and we didn’t know how this was going to be. We couldn’t do business collections or church collections because most folks aren’t in person. But many folks, many of you went online and purchased items and had them shipped here. And we were able to help over 1,100 children, ages birth to 18, be able to receive Christmas from their parents. The kids never know we’re part of it. That’s the way we want it. This is really about blessing parents.

Jay Height:
And those parents came and normally they would have come and shopped through the building, but instead they pulled up, received a sterilized iPad. Our team did a great job getting this all ready, and then volunteers would go through the building, and they would be able to pick what they wanted for their kids, and then other volunteers, who were set up in safe areas distanced from each other where they would wrap the gifts, and then one of our staff members who would take the gifts out to the family and provide Christmas.

Jay Height:
We did that the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Christmas. 1,100 kids got Christmas because of you, and we appreciate it.

Jay Height:
Well, Wednesday afternoon, we were done, and all of our families had shopped, and we had helped so many when we had other organizations show up and take whatever was left. And we were able to help down in rural Kentucky. We were able to help in North Vernon. We were able to help in Anderson. We were able to help other ministries and organizations here in central Indiana be able to provide Christmas to their folks.

Jay Height:
We provided it to CPS so that they could have gifts for kids who, unfortunately, may end up having to go into CPS’s care. And we wanted make sure that they’re blessed. And so all of the gifts were we were able to use, and so thank you very much.

Jay Height:
2021, it’s a new year, but it’s a year where we’ll continue on our five focuses, but we’re working hard to make a difference to break the cycle of poverty. Thank you. As we are helping our families on the road to recovery, you’re a part of that. Happy new year.