Grace Brings Good Will Toward Men
The Grace Church Community Center works hard every holiday season to
fight poverty and bring joy to those in need.
White Plains Patch, December 22, 2010
By T.J. Raphael

With thousands of children, families and individuals struggling to make ends meet in Westchester—White Plains' Grace Church Community Center (GCCC) fights poverty all year round, and especially during the holidays.

GCCC houses and provides services to the city's homeless men and women and others every day. It also provides a plethora of events and services to ensure that all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

To reign in the holiday spirit and boost morale among those who stay at GCCC's Open Arms men's shelter and Samaritan House women's shelter—the organization is hosting a Dec. 23 holiday party for their clients.

"We have about 90 clients and staff members that attend that function," said GCCC Director of Development Chris Schwartz.? "This year an individual has given us a $1,000 donation to help us host that party. We are going to be able to have that catered through the Iron Tomato, which is a real treat for everyone involved."

The generous individual is Sue Weisfeld of Yonkers. "[She] Single handedly collects gifts and toiletry items and puts together gifts and gift bags for every one of the clients who are in attendance at that party," said Schwartz.

Weisfeld said the work is not only done by her hand. Friends from her Quaker meetings in Scarsdale, as well as friends and family all help make the day a reality by by contributing money through donations and fundraisers and giving and packing toiletres and clothes, among other things. Weisfeld and her gang take four to five months to ensure that GCCC's clients can have a true holiday experience.

"I never know how it's going to get done, and somehow it gets done," said Weisfeld.

Weisfeld isn't GCCC's only star volunteer during the holidays. GCCC said numerous members of the community donate a variety of different kinds of food for the special Christmas and New Year's Day meals, which they serve at the soup kitchen at ?Grace Episcopal Church?. An anonymous church member also comes each Christmas with a truckload of toys.

"It's almost sad this time of year. We get overwhelmed with people calling to try volunteer specifically right on Christmas, usually in our soup kitchen meal," said Anderson-Winchell.

People begin registering to help out for holiday programs in October, but for those who want to contribute to the GCCC are encouraged to give donations of toys or food, which is always needed this time of year due to an influx in service utilization.? GCCC says their services are needed more than ever.

"We're definitely seeing the impact of tough economic times," said Anderson-Winchell.?

Some other holiday initiatives by GCCC include:

* A Christmas Day lunch and gift distribution in Katonah for the men of the Open Arms shelter hosted by St. Mary's School.
* A "Giving Tree" at Grace Community Church that has ornaments indicating gift ideas for the women from the Samaritan House Shelter.
* A gift program for children and their siblings who participate in the after school-mentoring program.
* The Rainbow program, which gives about 100 gifts for the developmentally disabled and families with developmentally disabled children.
* Gift donations to assist children, families and individuals in the area who are living with HIV/AIDS.
* About 100 meals each day are served through the GCCC soup kitchen this time of year and hundreds of donated gifts are given out.

While these holiday services are vital for needy families GCCC, but are also needed year round to assist GCCC in combating poverty.

"We love the fact that from Thanksgiving through New Year's people are always so generous, but the need is year round," said Anderson-Winchell. "It's probably in March that soup kitchens and food banks are struggling, because all the stock piles from the holidays have started to run low and people are just hoping for spring and forget about volunteering."