2020 has given us many challenges. Our big-hearted donors and volunteers have given us more, so we may help more! Please accept our gratitude and appreciation. We wish you happiness, peace and safety this Thanksgiving and during the entire holiday season. We look forward to showing our community that #CreeksideCares.
What an awe inspiring sight! Seeing the gifts all together is truly magical. We made our first delivery yesterday to the Durham Children's Initiative on Angier Avenue. As always, Creekside residents are generous beyond imagination.
It has been fun to watch the friendly neighborhood street challenges. The big winners will be the kids and families served by the Durham Children's Initiative. Keep the toys coming, we hope to surpass our real competition, Toys for Tots. Come on Creekside, we can do it. The holidays are a time for the miracles of giving. We will collect until December 3 and make our final delivery on December 4. Collection boxes are located throughout the neighborhood and Hemingway Hall. It feels really great to enter Thanksgiving week with gratitude in our hearts for the amazing community that is Creekside. With all the bad news we have had in 2020, it's nice to remember there are still good people around. Creekside is a community of caring people, and we would like to shine some light on those who are helping others. This month, we are shining a spotlight on Creekside Cares volunteers Scarlett and Larry Wilson. Their dedication, hard work, and volunteerism make our community a better place! Scarlett and Larry Wilson have been collecting for and serving the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle for years. They have a drop box on their front porch to help our community provide donations. Each week, they deliver collected monetary donations, nonperishable items, and masks. Through their efforts, they are showing the world that Creekside Cares.
Larry retired after 34 years in the military and federal civil service, with a little private sector work thrown in at the end. Scarlett is a retired registered nurse (from the old school where nurses actually did patient care , not computers). They have one son, Patrick, and a daughter-in-law, Jennifer, who are posted in Nairobi, Kenya, where Patrick is a foreign service officer for USAID. You might surmise that they are a family of public service. Larry says, "We try to live by Luke 12:48: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Adds Scarlett, "We are fortunate to live in a lovely community with all we need. Though we have no family nearby, we have many friends in this area and two near-perfect dogs. In addition to our outreach with Creekside Cares and the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, we also serve through our church, Church of the Nativity. We enjoy serving the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle by packing and delivering food to Windsor Springs, a senior housing facility." Scarlett and Larry just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Please consider donating to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle by leaving nonperishable items on their porch (1016 Cadence Lane) or by making a monetary gift (checks payable to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle). There is currently a matching program for monetary donations through the remainder of 2020. Food insecurity is a serious concern during the pandemic. All donations are appreciated and needed. Creekside is very lucky to have Scarlett and Larry in our neighborhood. They are serving our community with heart. Creekside Cares has been partnering with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle since the Fall of 2018. They have provided our Creekside Cares Cupboard with Backpack Buddies bags for our students at W.G. Pearson Elementary. Our board Vice President, Paul Leifer helped us create an onsite partnership for Creekside Cares volunteers. Prior to the pandemic, we met at the Child Food Hub on Miami Boulevard each month to stuff Backpack Buddy Bags. We had to take a brief hiatus after the pandemic struck. Paul maintained communications on our behalf and we are now regularly stuffing and packing boxes as a team.
Paul's leadership and enthusiasm are a shining example of mission. Watch our SignUp Genius for opportunities with our group. Inter-Faith Food Shuttle also has lots of opportunities on their own site for individuals to become involved. Food insecurity has gotten worse for many since the pandemic began. Your help can make a difference! We are counting on the generosity of Creekside residents to bring the joy of the Holidays to the children and families served by the Durham Children's Initiative. Our drop off sites will be announced on November 9, but there is absolutely no reason you can't start shopping now. Many retailers are having early Black Friday sales.
Creekside Cares has a new partnership with the Durham Children's Initiative (DCI). We are excited by their mission of providing quality, comprehensive assistance to 1,000 Durham children and their families in low-wealth communities.
We will be conducting a toy drive to bring a bit of holiday cheer to these families as they face enormous economic challenges. Our first SignUp Genius is to identify members of our Creekside Community who would be interested in helping with the toy drive in either or both of these two ways: 1) as block captains/drop-off locations once collection begins; and/or 2) as phase coordinators working with Lori College via Zoom to plan and conduct the overall effort. Our first Zoom call involving the phase coordinators will be scheduled for early November; wrapped toys will need to be delivered to DCI by December 7. Feel free to partner with a neighbor or friend on any of these positions; just enter that information in the comments. Once we develop our plan, we will solicit toy donations from our entire community. There will be an opportunity for everyone to participate in toy donations. Creekside's generosity is legendary. We can't wait to spread some holiday cheer! Click below if you are interested in volunteering as a block captain, phase coordinator or member of our delivery team. We have received our determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service and we have been informed. that we are now a federally recognized tax exempt organization. Our donors can deduct contributions they make to us under IRC Section 170. We are qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers, or gifts under Section 2055, 2106, or 2522. We have been approved as a public charity. This new status confers the ability on our organization to apply for grants, provide scholarships and augment the services were are providing to our community.
Post from guest contributor: Fred Grossfeld, President of Creekside Motor Club A BIG THANK YOU for all those who participated in today's Oktoberfest Parade, Car/Motorcycle Show and Raffle! On the behalf of the Creekside Motor Club, I would like to start by expressing my sincere gratitude to Lori College, who contributed in so many different ways to make this day a huge success for our community. We managed to raise $1,680 for Creekside Cares today!!
Secondly, I would like to thank the members of the Creekside Motor Club who generously donated to filling all six of the gift baskets with all those great German goodies. Way to go guys!! Those members include Jeff and Leighann Zeller, Peter and Cindy Sweere, Ravi and Jenny Srivastava, and Joe and Doreen Hafeman. I would also like to thank my wife Katherine who put up with me the past couple of months while planning this event and for arranging, wrapping and decorating all of those gift baskets. I would also like to thank Stephanie Snyder from our HOA for allowing this event to take place during these very trying times in our lives. Hopefully, today's event lifted many people's spirits. The great weather certainly helped as well! Finally, I would like to thank all those who participated in today's event, especially all those kind and generous people that bought raffle tickets - nearly 400 of them to raise money for Creekside Cares. Because of that, children from the school that we sponsor will reap the benefits of your generosity!! That is just AWESOME! I look forward to putting on this event next year and promise to make it a bigger and better event with a bier garden and music. So guys, dust off your lederhosen!! Once again, thanks everyone for a great day and have a great rest of your weekend!! We have been in contact with the Interfaith Food Shuttle and have been offered an opportunity to provide Creekside Cares volunteers once a month to the Child Food Hub at 2436 S Miami Blvd Durham, NC 27703. We will be limited to 7 volunteers at a time in the open warehouse. Please be reminded to wear a mask, comfortable closed-toe shoes, and comfortable clothing. You will be on your feet for two hours. We will be providing box/bag stuffing as directed by onsite staff members.
If you are interested in registering as a volunteer, please visit our SignUp Genius by clicking here: |
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