This agency will pursue a practice where the education, health and human service needs of residents within our service area are addressed without regard to age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, or any other classification or category.

The Director's Note

Helping Households to Restore, Renew, and Rebuild

In a mission-centered ministry like Christian Neighbors, renewal means restored stability, replenished hope, a fresh start, rebuilding after hardship, and the strength to move forward.

Our Food Pantry provides more than groceries. When families no longer have to worry about their next meal, they gain the space to rebuild, refocus, and refresh. Nutritious food fuels both the body and the mind and that foundation matters.

Our Emergency Financial Assistance program prevents eviction, keeps families housed, and ensures heat, lights, and water continue to flow. In moments of crisis, preserving stability is renewal. With ongoing care and support, we walk alongside families as they move toward lasting stability.

At our Education Resource Center, renewal shows up as confidence and community. From cooking classes and mentoring to programs that engage preschoolers through seniors, new skills and meaningful connection build dignity and independence.

And let’s not forget our volunteers and donors who renew their own sense of purpose through serving and giving, making renewal possible for hundreds of families across our community.

Together, we are not just meeting needs. We are helping renew lives.

With Gratitude,

Jennifer Collins

Executive Director

In our recent February print newsletter, a memorial for Dan Kik, was inadvertently left off of the Memorial & Honor Tributes list. We are sorry that this had occurred.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

A new beginning can feel impossible when the initial cost of moving can put stable housing out of reach for many people in our community. This is where Christian Neighbors can step in to change their story. We can help alleviate the overwhelming cost of moving by assisting with the security deposit or first month’s rent. 

The impact goes far beyond the signed lease. It provides stability and can remove the final barrier between uncertainty and a place to call home. We have a strong partnership with local landlords and when a new tenant is struggling to come up with a large lump sum to move in, they encourage them to visit us for financial assistance. From there, we sit and do a monthly budget with expected expenses to offer advice on what categories they could cut back on and ways to reduce fixed expenses. 

By providing a security deposit or first month’s rent, we are providing a small investment in their future. 

Sometimes a new beginning starts with a key.

Shannon Zabaldo

Financial Case Manager

Educational Resource Center

The Education Resource Center at Christian Neighbors has went through remarkable growth in the few years since its opening. In 2025, we saw 185% growth in participation across all programs and events. Spring will soon be upon us and with this season always brings a sense of new beginnings. At the resource center we are cultivating old partnerships and forming new ones as well. 

On the first Wednesday of the month, Meals on Wheels holds a pop-up luncheon for seniors. We have begun a monthly BINGO session on the 4^th Tuesday of the month. We will be hosting presentations and classes by specialists at Bronson Healthcare and Mary Free Bed on various topics including living with chronic pain. MSU Extension continues to partner with us on food preservation skills, and the Food Service Director for Plainwell Schools teaches all age groups how to work safely with knives and carve your own foods and more. 

Interested in learning healthy habits? Sign up for the three-class “Seasoned & Strong” series to help adults ages 55+ develop strength, heart health and overall well-being through conversations and recipe sampling. Or join the next Matter of Balance series that helps older adults reduce the risk of falling and increase activity levels.

Come learn “Pro Tips to Downsize, Declutter & Organize” during a Talk About program in March or ways to secure your email, adjust social media settings and screen unwanted phone calls during a Scam & Fraud program in April.

We hold events and classes for all age groups – from preschool through seniors. Please check out our calendar for all upcoming events, including our third annual "High Tea" for seniors on March 25.

Demonstration Kitchen

Great grandmothers often have simple – but wise – sayings that remind us what is important.

Sayings like “a penny saved is a penny earned” or “if in doubt, leave it out” and “ya gotta eat a peck of dirt before you die.”

But there is one wise saying that definitely describes life in the Education Resource Center – “if you learn something today then you may live to see tomorrow.”

Helping people learn things – new skills, new ways of seeing the world, new ways of connecting with others -- is at the heart of what Christian Neighbors staff and a slew of community presenters do in the demonstration kitchen, classroom, computer lab and event space.

Interested in learning new cooking skills? Come learn how slow cookers can help us make tasty, inexpensive recipes or how to make salsa during a knife skills class. Learn the difference between curds and custards or explore creative chickpea recipes during a Link with Lunch class. Bring a young friend to our Preschool Food Stories or Story Hour Cook classes.

Find information about all these programs and more in the calendar section at christianneighbors.org. Register to attend the programs – free to anyone who can get to the ERC – using a link in each calendar entry, dropping a message to scarper@christianneighbors.org or calling (269) 685-4166 ext. 107. 

Food Pantry

From Empty Cupboards to Renewed Hope

Access to nutritious food allows families to focus on work, school, and healing. At Christian Neighbors, that access is made possible because of an incredibly generous community.

In 2025 alone, we provided 2,877 pantry visits to neighbors in need in the Plainwell, Otsego, and Martin school districts. Each visit represents a family choosing groceries with dignity, relief replacing anxiety, and hope beginning to grow again.

Faithful individual donors, local businesses, and countless community members regularly donate shelf-stable food. Initiatives like Stuff the Bus, Stamp Out Hunger, ACFPC Peanut Butter Drive, and other food drives keep our pantry stocked throughout the year. Recently, we were blessed with generous donations of ham and ground beef that helped fill our freezers. Protein is one of the most needed and most costly items we distribute, so these gifts have had a significant impact for the families we serve. We were also gifted with a chest freezer to stock all the protein.

Our local schools also play a beautiful role. Through their “Share Table” programs, fresh fruit like apples, oranges, and bananas are collected weekly and donated to our pantry. It is a simple act that makes a meaningful difference.

It truly takes our whole community. From families of ten or more to single senior citizens living on a fixed income, we serve neighbors of all ages and stages of life. Every person who walks through our doors is welcome and we are happy to help.

Because of you, empty cupboards are filled and hope is renewed.

Click on the staff name above to send an email to them.

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