South County Community Services and Generous Hands continue to partner to improve the lives of families in south county. Over the past year and a half, GH and SCCS have continued commitments to Building Strong Families events, partnered to create new programming, and shared knowledge and resources. We look forward to another year, and to many more!

A special salute is in order for our team of dedicated and caring Metro Share Van drivers. In the back row, left to right, are Wes Bittenbender, Dale Holder, Ted Vliek and Dave Carvell. In front are Larry Forsyth and Bill Hunt. This amazing group has provided an average of 2000 rides for the last two years to seniors and persons with disabilities. This helps our residents get safely to a wide range of destinations for necessary professional services. Not pictured are Dave Aubry, Ed Glessner, and Dan Walters.

It takes a whole community to keep the South County Community Services Food Pantry operational. Representing 20 volunteers and 100+ hours of hard work for the 2019 Postal Food Drive in the back row are Diann Stender, Michael and David Sirotti and Larry Forsyth. In the middle are Briane Klimek and Donna Simonton (granddaughter and grandmother) and Jackie Sirotti, all standing behind Jasna Appell and Danna Downing.

In 2018, the SCCS Food Pantry served 4370 individuals and received 17,322 pounds of donated food for distribution. In addition, 3,260 pounds of household supplies (items not covered by food cards) were donated to the pantry. Special thanks go to Meijer, Family Fare, and Loaves & Fishes for their amazing support as well.

South County Community Services is fortunate to have Robert Barton as our loyal South County volunteer Veteran Navigator. He is supported by a team of other veteran service professionals. Recently Robert set up shop at the Vicksburg Farmers Market. Pictured here is Juan Gonzalez, Veteran Navigator (left), Robert, and Lauren King (right), a Certified Veteran Service Officer from Kalamazoo County. Regular Veteran Service hours take place at SCCS each Thursday from 9am until noon. They also work closely with the SCCS Emergency Assistance Director to be sure veterans have all the help they need to meet basic needs.

Thanks to the successful passage of the Kalamazoo County Senior Millage in 2018, SCCS has already received funding for a part-time Transportation Coordinator and continued funding for the Kinship Caregiver program that provides seniors who are raising relative children with support and financial assistance. The South County millage team leaders are pictured here, from left to right, are Bill Oswalt, Virginia Shaw, and Jim Shaw. They led a larger group of volunteers who completed over 400 outreach calls to community members to help them understand the issues. They also raised funding and visibility in the community for this important opportunity to support seniors to the level done in other neighboring counties.