Saint Marks Community Center Helping People During the Holidays.

We’d like to take a moment to recognize a couple of the local charity organizations like Saint Marks Community Center and the Multicultural Center in Dubuque that are both staying active around the holidays.  We had the opportunity to get a hold of some local organizations to see what programs they have in place for the Holidays to help serve the community. We will be spotlighting new organizations throughout the week!  Last year the Runde Auto Group blog published an overview of various local charitable organizations that were helping the holiday’s be more cheery for people who need it.

Multicultural Center Dubuque–
Director of the Multicultural Family Center – Tara Velez:

“During the holiday season, the MFC provides holiday gifts to youth in our mentoring and tutoring programs.  Additionally all the teens from teen night receive a hygiene pack which includes shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, soap, face wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste and other necessary hygiene products.

We also host two holiday celebrations for families in December.  The Multicultural Holiday Celebration, which recognized the various religious and cultural traditions celebrated in the Tri-State area.  La Posada, a Mexican holiday which remembers the journey of Mary and Joseph.

At both of these event, each youth receives gloves, a hat or mittens.  And the adults enter a raffle to receive a necessity basket (toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, conditioner, soap, dish soap, lotion, toothpaste, tooth brushes, cleaning supplies and more) or food basket (turkey, rice, beans, potatoes, fruit, veggies, etc).

During the winter months, we see families struggling to have enough food and necessities to take care of their family.  We also realize that parents don’t always have the money to buy their children gifts, which is why we do the sponsorship program.”

Saint Marks Community Center –
St. Marks Interim Director, Michelle Covey:

“For the past 9 years St. Mark Community Center has offered to its families the Sponsoring Angels Program.  This program offers citizens the opportunity to provide warm clothing to children who attend our programs and their siblings.  Often we have more children than sponsors, so the generous donations of businesses and individuals are used to purchase clothing for these children so they have warm clothes under the tree.  We greatly appreciate the generosity of our community in helping us make Christmas a reality for these families!  St. Marks Community Center is blessed.”

Check back next week for Camp Courageous and the Dubuque Food Pantry Updates!