Welcome to the season for giving. Here’s how you can help our neighbors in need
Good morning and happy Thanksgiving!
For many of us, today is about gathering with family and friends, enjoying lots of good food and giving thanks for all of our blessings.
It’s also Day 1 of the season for giving, when the holiday spirit moves us to think even more about people in our community who may be in need; a time to reflect on what each of us can do to help as individuals and through the dozens of charities in southwestern Illinois.
How can you find the right place to share your support?
Once again this year, the BND has compiled information that can serve as one of your resource guides to finding a way for you to help.
Since 2004, the Belleville News-Democrat has published a list and brief profiles of local nonprofits that can use your support. Some need volunteers. Some need donations of goods and services. Some need cash contributions. And some need a combination of those things.
To start this year’s season of giving, we’ve listed 64 nonprofits in our guide.
Community Interfaith Food Pantry in Belleville is one of them. It’s featured in the accompanying photograph that shows volunteers organizing goods donated to the food pantry.
Community Interfaith Food Pantry serves dozens of local families by providing essential foods throughout the year. It counts on donations during this busy season of need to help make it happen.
Wes Frick, secretary of Community Interfaith Food Pantry in Belleville, explained the importance of donations to BND photojournalist Derik Holtmann:
“Normally we will get maybe 20 families a day. This time of year, we’re getting 40, 45 families a day. I shopped for a family of eight and gave them 20 bags of groceries,” Frick said. “If you’ve been to the grocery store lately, that’s a non-trivial event. I mean, that was probably $400 worth of groceries that we’re giving them.”
Another way to put it: There are people in our communities who need our help.
“This time of year, people are hurting, you know, the economy’s hurting, and we just get more clients and we don’t get any more money,” Frick said. “So the only way that people can help is to donate food… we have a list on our website of things that we need on a consistent basis.”
There are many other local help agencies that can use your support too.
We suggest visiting the BND guide as a starting point. You can find it by typing bit.ly/BNDhelplist into the address bar of your web browser.
Each profile, provided by the charity, includes information on specific needs and how you can help.
Please remember that this is simply a starting point as we begin this season of giving. Columnist Jennifer Green, who compiles the guide, will be adding to it as additional charities participate.
If you would like your tax-exempt, nonprofit organization included in the list and are willing to answer our q-and-a, please contact Jennifer at jgreen@bnd.com. We will update the list until Christmas.
If you have any feedback or questions, please send them our way.
In the meantime, we thank you for supporting community help organizations.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
This story was originally published November 24, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
