On December 18th, Job Corps students, Shakala West and Shaielle Durfee and Recreations Supervisor Danielle Merril, volunteered at the 2015 Family Celebration for Families in Transition, a non-profit organization supporting homeless and nearly homeless families in Manchester. Our culinary students also baked delicious brownies from scratch for the more than 100 families present at the event. Being part of this event was a reminder for our students and staff that everything we do can have a positive and lasting impact in our community. We were grateful for the opportunity to give back.
Here is Families in Transition’s list of some of the community members and organizations that made this wonderful event possible:

Staff from Autodesk, McLane Middleton, and SNHU collectively donated hundreds of gifts for our FIT children
Joe and Sheila Dewitt and friends prepared meats and coordinated serving dinner and dessert, which was supplemented by a donation of 4 turkeys from staff at New England College
Our friend Rod played the role of Santa to help make the night special for our youngest participants (special thanks to Alex Anagnost for filling the role of Santa’s helper elf!)
Students from the Derryfield School made gingerbread houses as table centerpieces
The National Honor Society at Pinkerton Academy brought beautiful decorations to make Santa’s village feel festive
Nicole Faxon and her family and staff at Lindner Dental coordinated the donation of hats and mittens for our families
Our friends at FoodState donated hundreds of teddy bears to give away to each child in our program
Brookside Church generously donated the use of their facilities once again this year
A local Girl Scout troop helped to create decorations for the event
Staff from Fidelity Investments and Santander Bank helped to organize gifts and pajama donations to be given away the night of the event
Members of our Board of Directors and our partners at WellSense Health Plan helped to sponsor the event by purchasing paper goods, and other dinner supplies
Our friends at Goodwill, RR Keller & Associates, Bartley Financial Advisors, NH Job Corps Center, and Data Ed donated amazing raffle baskets for the event and sent teams to the event that evening to help man our craft tables, lend a hand for clean-up, provided homemade dessert, and much more