Greetings!
Hi, everyone! This newsletter is the first one being created by me, Andrew, the new Outreach Director. If you have any suggestions, recommendations, or ideas for future newsletters, please feel free to reach out to me here.
We are in full swing for the Holiday season here at MCUM! Last weekend we successfully finished our second annual Merry Market! This year, the Merry Market was able to help our community in the following ways:
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$26,212 in gifts were given out
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643 individuals (158 households) received gifts
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100% of recipients Monroe County residents, with 83% being City of Bloomington residents
We still have one more day of the Merry Market on Tuesday, December 20th, from 5-7pm. This night will be for anyone who wants to attend, no signup required!
We are so grateful for all of our supporters and volunteers! During the Merry Market weekend, MCUM had 44 volunteers with a total of 299 volunteer hours! We are still in need of donations for the last day of the Merry Market on December 20th. Items for kids 9-16 years old are the most needed! CLICK HERE for our Amazon List.
A huge thank you to everyone, and all the local businesses, who played a part in making the Merry Market-and the whole holiday season-a success for the community!
Here are a few things this year's Merry Market shoppers are saying...
"I think the girls will love everything they received this year. Every volunteer made us feel welcome and without having us feel bad for needing the help. I got laid off my job just a few weeks ago, which we was already struggling. But the kind hearts of the people who donated and all the volunteers, this will still be a good Christmas for the kids. Thank you all so much!"
"absolutely love picking the gifts for my children! I think they are going to be most excited about the fuzzy socks, blanket, and Nintendo games. This year has been really hard with the price of groceries and gas and other expenses so it helped tremendously to have a few gifts to give them!"
"This helped my family tremendously! My kiddos will have such big smiles on their faces when they open gifts christmas morning! The volunteers were amazing, and lets not even talk about the starbucks coffee!!"
It's because of your support we are able to make this happen for these families!
Happy Holidays to you and yours!!
All the best,
Andrew R.
Outreach Director
P.S. If you are planning to donate any items to the pantry, Compass, Merry Market or closet items listed to the right, please do so from 8a-4p Monday-Friday. Thank you!