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

We Make Every Donor Dollar Count



We are committed to being strong stewards of every donor dollar entrusted to us. Through strategic partnerships with regional food banks and large distributors, we purchase food in bulk including pallets of food at wholesale pricing which allows us to stretch donations further. We are blessed to be a recipient in the Meijer Simply Give program, which helps supplement our food supply through community-supported giving efforts.

Donor support also allows us to provide direct Emergency Financial Assistance to neighbors facing crisis situations. These funds help families remain stable by assisting with rent, security deposits, and essential utilities including electric, gas, propane, and water bills. By helping households address immediate financial emergencies, we work to prevent homelessness, utility shutoffs, and further instability.

In addition, donor dollars support long-term stability programming through our Education Resource Center (ERC). We offer classes and educational opportunities focused on cooking skills, meal preparation, food preservation, exercise, health, and wellness, empowering individuals and families with practical tools that promote self-sufficiency and healthier living. The ERC is open to all of our community members no matter their financial situation.

We take our responsibility to donors seriously. Currently, 89% of our total expenses go directly toward front-facing program services, with only 9% allocated to management and general expenses and 2% invested in fundraising. This efficient use of resources ensures donor gifts create meaningful and lasting impact in the lives of the neighbors we serve.

Every day I get to witness the giving spirit of this community, and I am honored to be a part of this great community and this great team at Christian Neighbors.

With Gratitude,

Jennifer Collins

Executive Director

Welcome Rachael Scheaffer

Upcoming Events

The 2^nd annual Veteran Appreciation Luncheon hosted by Christian Neighbors will be held on Tuesday, July 21^st at 12:00pm in the lower level event space at the Education Resource Center. All local veterans, spouses and surviving spouses are welcome to join us for a FREE luncheon. This is Christian Neighbors way of saying thank you to the veterans in our community. There will be a yummy lunch, dessert bar, door prizes, and time to socialize with other local veterans. Please sign up using the button below so we know how much food to prepare.

Education Resource Center

The Education Resource Center (ERC) was founded through planned giving donor dollars. An estate was left to Christian Neighbors, and those funds were used to build and furnish the ERC. 

It is with various grants, fundraisers, and individual donations that we are able to provide all the valuable programs and events at the ERC. We don’t want to waste our donors' dollars by duplicating services that are already being done well by another organization or entity; rather, we work to forge relationships with them to bring their programs and classes to the Education Resource Center. 

We offer many programs including monthly senior luncheons with Meal on Wheels, clinics with Bronson Nutritionists, Mary Free Bed Pain Management Courses, scam prevention with the Michigan State Police, and meal planning and budget grocery shopping classes in conjunction with Meijer. We have built many partnerships including food preservation classes with MSU Extension, knife safety and food prep courses with Michael Ritsema from Plainwell Community Schools, and an annual veteran appreciation luncheon with the VFW Auxiliary. We are a Mobile Secretary of State site, a VITA tax site through United Way, and we partner with the Allegan Public Defenders Office to host an annual expungement clinic where over the last 2 years we have helped 312 individuals get nonviolent offenses expunged from their record to help open doors for better jobs, housing, and education. 

Thank you to our donors who make all these programs and more possible at the ERC!

Demonstration Kitchen

News from the DK (Demonstration Kitchen) Christian Neighbors staff spent nearly $500 in early March buying supplies for our monthly Link with Lunch program. It’s a day-long event that provides cooking class participants and pantry clients hands-on experiences turning ingredients into tasty, healthy and budget-friendly meals.

The shopping carts were filled with canned chicken and tuna fish; frozen ground beef; cream of mushroom soup and bottled soy sauce; canned corn, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and diced green chilies; penne pasta and white rice; an assortment of spices divided into small portion cups; fresh onions, celery, carrots, and bell pepper; and frozen vegetables.

This particular program featured a mix-and-match stovetop skillet where basic, available ingredients are combined into a complete meal. “We” learned to make Mexican-style beef rice, tuna-and-cheese macaroni, and ginger-soy chicken and broccoli rice. … but the combination possibilities are endless.

The “we” included:



• (10) people who made small batches of all three recipes in the demo kitchen then ate lunch together.
• More than (30) people who sampled the recipes during client pantry time and got cooking tips.
• (20) clients who took home Link Bags filled with ingredients to make all three recipes at home for four people …. plus some extra ingredients for their pantry.

Not every cooking class or program in the Education Resource Center has such a large supply list but ingredients and equipment are needed for every event. (We budget $150 to purchase ingredients for each hands-on cooking class.)

Thankfully, generous donors provide funds and in-kind donations that enable us to connect community members through shared learning and life experiences at no cost to the participants.

Want to join a class and learn new skills? Find details about – and registration links for – upcoming programs in the calendar section at christianneighbors.org.

Want to help provide ingredients and supplies for programs? Check out our Amazon wish list on our Facebook page or drop a message to scarper@christianneighbors.org or kshafer@christianneighbors.org to learn what is needed.

Food Assistance & Finance

This past winter, one of our veteran clients came in for food service. Our case manager that was helping that day with food noticed he was really struggling and he shared with her that he is having a difficult time moving around and is mobility impaired. She began connecting with him weekly over the phone and unsurfaced many issues that he needed help with. One of his major concerns was being able to afford propane to keep his home warm. 

Propane is one of the vital utilities that we assist with and the most expensive one. We are now helping him with resources to keep his tank filled. He called the office one day to say the propane company was unable to deliver said propane because it had snowed so much that week that his driveway was impassable. A case manager immediately went online, found some local plowing companies and called them up to see if they would volunteer their service to plow a veteran’s driveway so he could get the propane delivered. 

The crisis was handled within 2 hours due to the case manager’s quick thinking and the generosity of the local plow person. Now that his mobility issues are worse, we deliver food to him every month, along with biweekly phone calls to check in and of course now annual propane assistance. 

Monetary donations are not only utilized to heat homes but also allows our staff to allot time to check in with our clients and identify other needs and connect them with additional resources.

Food Pantry

Stretching Donor Dollars to Buy More

In the food pantry we maximize donor dollars by partnering with regional food banks and large distributors to purchase food in bulk, including pallets of food at wholesale pricing. This allows us to significantly stretch every dollar donated and provide more food to families in need.

We also participate in the Meijer Simply Give program, which helps supplement our food supply through community-supported giving. We do accept and appreciate food donations that extend our food pantry budget, which includes any donor dollars.

By leveraging multiple purchasing and donation channels, we maintain a consistent food inventory. We always strive to be strong stewards of donor funds and resources. We honor the donor’s intent for the funds to be used to supply food, and other great resources Christian Neighbors extends out into our community.

Every donor dollar that we receive impacts our community in a positive way. We are thankful for every dollar that is donated to Christian Neighbors.

Auction Round-Up & Thank You

It was a success! With approximately 200 people in attendance, Christian Neighbors hosted our 17th Annual Reflection of Hope Dinner & Auction event at the Silo (Allegan) on May 14th, 2026. With plenty of new and exciting changes, participants enjoyed passed and buffet appetizers, a meat carving station, new auctioneer, dessert cupcakes from Four Roses, and a new layout for the main event and check-out.

"Everything felt very relaxed this year, with participants, volunteers, and staff enjoying themselves with all of the new changes. We appreciate all of our item donors, generous sponsors, and participants who came out to help us raise over $102,000 that goes directly to providing the core services we offer at Christian Neighbors. These dollars equate to 1/8 of our budget at Christian Neighbors, and is our largest fundraiser," commented Eric Hoffman Fund Development & Volunteer Manager.

We appreciate everyone's support as we continue to assist neighbors in need by providing a safe place for people in our community who need food, rent and utility assistance, education, or other resources to help create stability in their lives.

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

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