Community Action’s Gathering Place Seeks Help Keeping Residents Warm this Winter

Community Action’s Gathering Place Seeks Help Keeping Residents Warm this Winter

With frigid temperatures and snow impacting some Lincoln residents far more than others, Community Action’s Gathering Place (communityactionatwork.org) is seeking help from the community to supply warm clothing items, specifically new, unused hats, gloves, and socks, to guests who come to the Gathering Place for a hot meal.

“The need for new, unused, warm clothing items is always high this time of year,” said Community Action Gathering Place Program Administrator Lisa Janssen. “We get many questions from guests about whether we have warm clothing items available to take home. It’s wonderful to be able to have things like new gloves and socks on hand to distribute to those who need them in addition to a hot meal.”

In 2020 Community Action’s Gathering Place served more than 34,900 meals to those experiencing hunger in Lincoln. Janssen said that many people who visited were doing so for the first time in their lives, as they were experiencing economic uncertainty in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of those individuals have continued to return.

For more than 38 years, Community Action’s Gathering Place has provided Lincoln-area residents with hot, nutritious meals in a welcoming environment. Recognizing donors’ desire to physically distance, they have created a warm-clothing-items wish list from which donors can purchase and ship directly to Community Action. The list, along with more information about how to support the organization’s mission, is available at communityactionatwork.org or by calling Jessie Hedrick at (402) 875-9338 or Heather Loughman at (402) 875-9339.