Buchanan Church helps community prepare for winter months by taking in to give back

BUCHANAN, Mich. - With December comes cold weather and giving spirits. Both were on display at the Buchanan Seventh Day Adventist Church on Sunday with its new clothing drive. The church was looking for a way to reach out to its community and find a way to give back. The result was a partnership with a local nonprofit, Neighbor to Neighbor, that culminated in a clothing drive that served more than 30 families this weekend.

"The young people that will be clothed," said Suzi Woods, a home care nurse who was at the clothing drive to get things for her clients. "I got a hat yesterday that I took, and his grandma was so happy. She just smiled and said 'Oh he'll love that hat.' It will jeep him warm, and he'll be able to have a lot of time outside because of it."

Woods said the clothing drive gave her an opportunity to go above and beyond for her clients.

"I'm volunteering, but I'm grateful to places like this that help me to help them even more than just my changing and cleaning," Woods said.

The clothing drive gave Woods a chance to help her clients with needs beyond clothing as well.

"I also help some of the terminally ill patients with cancer by making them smoothies," Woods said. "My blender was breaking, and I found a blender here yesterday."

Drive Organizers like Buchanan Seventh Day Adventist Church Personal Ministries Director John Nichols said they were looking for a way for the Church to reach out to the community more.

"So, we said we wanted to do a clothing drive," Nichols said. "So, we went to Neighbor to Neighbor to ask them to help us set up as soon as we knew what we were doing. They said 'Oh! Great! We're more than happy to help you. In fact, we'll give you the clothes to do it.'"

With COVID-19 cases spiking and Michigan renewing restrictions to stop the spread, organizers said the pandemic was actually helping draw more people to the clothing drive.

"I really think that there's such a need right now of people that are displaced because of COVID-19 that they're looking for avenues to get things for their kids," Nichols said. "The clothing here, 90% of it is like new."

The church said it requires facemasks inside and that people have been naturally social distancing at the drive with families staying closely grouped together. Nichols said the plan is to hold clothing drives like the one this weekend once every three months.