HILL HOUSE
Every year, we provide a fried chicken dinner for the homeless population served by Hill House in Ann Arbor. They are always excited to see us and it’s a great opportunity to get to know our neighbors!
HOLIDAYS
During the Thanksgiving season, Peoples collects Thanksgiving Feast baskets to distribute through Aid in Milan. These baskets are filled with everything a family might need to celebrate the holiday with a bountiful meal. In 2019, we gave 10 turkey dinners.
Before Christmas, we partner with Aid in Milan to provide for both the needs and wants of local families, giving gifts of grocery store and gas cards, toys, clothes, food, and other holiday surprises. In 2019, we collected gifts for a family of four kids and two adults.
HOSPITALITY
We want our community to feel welcome in our space, even if they do not worship with us. When school is meeting in-person, parents and guardians use our parking lot to safely park as they drop off and pick up students at Paddock Elementary School across the street. On Thursday nights during non-plague times, the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) meets to fence, craft, dance, and more in our Fellowship Hall and lounge. Before the pandemic began, we hosted the Bookworms book club on the first Wednesday night of most months. In 2019, we hosted 40 students and chaperones overnight as they travelled from New York state to the Triennium youth conference in Indiana.
PEER MEDIATION
Peoples supports an anti-bullying group at Milan High School. Students receive training on conflict resolution and actually meet with peer students when there is a problem. Our donations have funded speakers and workshops for the students in the program.
PEOPLES HELPING PEOPLE
As the days grew cold at the end of 2019, many of us collaborated in making warm and beautiful mittens out of recycled sweaters. It was a complicated process of selecting colors, cutting out and pinning each of four pieces needed for each mitten, stitching, and finishing, but in the end, we had thirty-one pairs to give to the families of homeless students at Paddock Elementary School, with gift cards tucked inside. We also made 25 fleece blankets for the school’s social worker to give to students during difficult conversations so that they can have something soft to hug. We’re already looking forward to our next project!