Author: Joel Selby, webmaster

Each year, Mission for Area People partners with area churches, businesses, and other service organizations to provide Thanksgiving meals to families in need. Each family receives a basket with everything they need for a great home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner!

If you would like to donate items we will need the following: veggies, stuffing, cornmeal, canned fruit, jello, muffin mix, boxed dessert mixes, frosting, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, margarine, and turkeys! Volunteers who would like to pack the baskets please call the MAP office at 231-733-9672 to sign up to volunteer.

Volunteers pack baskets early in the week of Thanksgiving, starting after Food Pantry hours. Basket Giveaway is the week of Thanksgiving. We take calls to register for the Thanksgiving Baskets preceding Thanksgiving each year.

Help Mission for Area People provide gifts to teens 15 to 18 years of age.  Help us make a teenager’s Christmas a little brighter for 2019.  Your support is very much needed and appreciated. Please have your donations to Mission for Area People by December 12, 2019

Suggested items for boys & girls include:

• Hoodies
• PJ lounger pants
• Wallets or purses
• Colognes
• Gift cards for eating, movies, bowling, iTunes, shopping, Old Navy, Kohl’s, JC Penney, or Ulta
• Watches & jewelry
• Makeup, perfume

“My name is Chris Eisted. I suffer from a very rare and debilitating disease called “stiff person syndrome” that effects all of the muscles and nerves in my body. My medical insurance paid for a power wheel chair for me but wouldn't cover the cost of a lift to get my chair into the back of my truck. So I was pretty much stuck at home with no way to take my power wheel chair anywhere. I missed out on a lot functions with family and friends."

“I was told to contact Mission for Area People to see if they could help me with the cost of the lift. I made the call to Diana at Mission for Area People and she jumped right on it and put me in touch with Phil at Amigo Mobility. Diana helped me by donating money towards the lift and Phil at Amigo Mobility, who is also on the Board of Mission for Area People, discounted the cost of the lift made it possible for me to get the lift I needed."

“Some people may think Mission for Area People only help people with the cost of medicine or food and clothing not that those things aren't important but in my case they gave me a chance to have a life and do things I haven't been able to do in years. Its hard to put into words how much I appreciate the help I received from Mission for Area People and their partnership with Amigo Mobility. But also I have to thank those of you that donate money to the fundraiser for Mission for Area People because without your donations it wouldn't be possible for them to do the things they do to help people each and every day. So we all need to get the word out to make sure they can continue to change lives for the better. They put the smile back on my face and gave me a life again and for that I will be eternally grateful.”