Friendship House News.

Good things are happening here.

Special December Issue

Pantry Serves Up Thanksgiving

Families in our communities continue to turn to the Friendship House Food Pantry for help and holiday time is no exception. On Saturday, November 23rd, the Food Pantry provided 150 families with Thanksgiving Meal Boxes including a turkey and all the ingredients to put a Thanksgiving meal on the table.

“What a day. Every thing went like clockwork.” Commented Craig Carr, Pantry Manager. “ I would really like to thank all my volunteers again for their dedication and hard work. Just imagine almost 150 families served in 2 hours.

Besides planning and executing a Thanksgiving distribution, the Food Pantry had 670 visits in the month of October and welcomed 49 new families. This represents the busiest month of 2024.

Santa Sunday is December 1st

It’s just a week until Santa Sunday and we can’t wait to see all the kids! The Thrift Shop will become a Christmas Bazaar for the kids to shop for gifts for their two most important adults. We will have volunteers help with the shopping and wrapping. Santa will be on hand (of course!) And we have a couple special surprises, too! If you’ve signed up for Santa Sunday, make sure you don’t miss it. If your plans change, please let us know so that we have spaces for everyone.

Important Dates

November and December are very busy months for our team. There are several events and closure dates to keep in mind.

11/27 & 11/29: Thrift Shop and Food Pantry Closed

11/27: Last Day for Santa Sunday Registration

11/30: The last day the Thrift Shop is open until 2025

12/1: Santa Sunday is here!

12/1 - 12/21: Coat Drive

12/7: Quilt Sale 10 - 2pm, Rushville United Methodist Church

12/9: Christmas Program Registration Closes

12/18: Christmas Program Distribution (Food Pantry Closed)

Bread Shed will be stocked and open when Pantry is closed.

Coat Drive

Our friends at Sloth Electric, Inc. in Stanley are once again sponsoring a Coat Drive for Friendship House. They're looking for adult and children's gently used or new coats. The collection boxes will be up from December 1st to December 21st. On top of managing the coat drive, Sloth Electric has pledged a donation to Friendship House of $5 for every coat collected!
The coats then are available at Friendship House Thrift Shop free for anyone in need.
Locations are:
Marcus Whitman Schools (Valley, Gorham, High School, District Office), Gorham Town Hall, Gorham Free Library and the Sloth Electric office.
Caution

Getting ready to bring a donation to the Friendship House? Please wait until the New Year when all the Christmas preparations are over.
Thinking about shopping or visiting the Food Pantry on December 18th? Caution: Christmas Giving will be in progress to 150 families. The building will be closed so we can give our all to the task at hand. (The Bread Shed will re-open after 4pm).
We're here to help

We’re Here to Help
Keep us in mind if you know of someone needing Emergency Help. Our staff and volunteers can pull together everything from food to clothing and housewares in an emergency and everything is given free. Keep our number handy just in case:
585-554-6056

Important Thrift Shop News!

The last day to shop for the holidays is Saturday, November 30th. After that, the Thrift Shop is transformed into a Christmas Workshop as volunteers organize, plan, sort and pack the stockings and gifts to be given to families registered for the Christmas Program. The shop will be closed for the month of December.

Please note! Unfortunately we cannot take donations during the month of December. We simply don’t have the hands to sort and store the items, nor the space to store them while we prepare for the Christmas Program. We love your donations but please, hold off until the New Year.

Christmas Program

Wait, it’s not even Thanksgiving yet! This year, with Thanksgiving being the latest it can be, the Christmas Holidays will be upon us very quickly.

The Friendship House Christmas Program Registration has been open for two weeks and will close on December 9th.

The Christmas Program provides a holiday meal and gifts for children (up through 13 years of age) for families in need residing in the Marcus Whitman School District. Registration is available on our website on the “Events” page. If you know of someone “computer - free”, registration can be done in person at the Thrift Shop.

What is a Giving Tree?

What’s a Giving Tree and how does it work? At the beginning of the holiday season, the Friendship House volunteers get together and decorate small Christmas trees with very special tags as ornaments. Each tag notes a boy or girl’s age. The trees are then given to groups, churches or businesses that partner with us on this project who then put them on display. People can then take a tag, choose a suitable gift and return the gift to the Giving Tree.

The gifts are collected by Friendship House to be given through the Christmas Program. Interested in helping? Here’s where the Giving Trees are located this year.

Many thanks to our partners for displaying the trees and to the folks who exchange a tag for a gift!

Rushville Congregational Church,
Rushville First United Church
Yatesville Methodist Church
Tops (Farmington)
Seneca Presbyterian Church #9,
Middlesex Baptist Church
St. John’s Lutheran Church (Potter)
Unique Toy (Canandaigua)
St George’s Store (Crystal Beach)
Middlesex and Stanley Post Offices
Gorham United Methodist Church

Donations can be made by mail, through our website, or on our Facebook page. We greatly appreciate your donation. None of our efforts would be possible without the help of generous donors, like you.