Discover positive change and success

We empower people and strengthen community to inspire hope and build a brighter future. That's the mission for TrueNorth Community Services. In this first —and future — issues of TrueNorth's monthly newsletter, discover the positive changes and successes achieved as we work together to build brighter futures.

Finding stability for families in poverty

Circles Newaygo County's second cohort completes 12 weeks of intensive training

Devon and Krista Sellers want improved situations and better lives.

“Stability. It’s huge,” Devon says. “I’ve never been stable my entire life.”

For Krista, stability means finishing college, going back to work and finding their own home. For Devon, that means earning his GED, getting back his driver’s license and “not living from paycheck to paycheck.”

That is why the rural Fremont couple signed up last fall with Circles Newaygo County, a self-sufficiency program for families in poverty. On December 21 at TrueNorth Community Services, they graduated along with eight others in their cohort after 12 weeks of rigorous training.

Volunteer- and community-driven, Circles focuses on relationships and celebrates personal journeys and milestones. Circles takes courage by its participants, who commit to weekly meetings, face-to-face mentorings and must be open to constructive feedback.

Circles Newaygo County is funded through a Fremont Area Community Foundation grant.

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Children’s Christmas Program Provides for More Than 2,100 Newaygo County Kids

Volunteers power Children's Christmas

Denise and John Dill believe in service to others. Hundreds like them donated 994 volunteer hours (nearly 24 weeks) of selfless labor so 2,123 Newaygo County children could experience a brighter Christmas.

For financially struggling households, the Children’s Christmas Program (CCP) ensures Christmas joy for those who might otherwise go without. Volunteers like the Dills make it work.

“We just decided we wanted to do something,” said John, a Verizon retiree. He and Denise, a Fremont Area District Library retiree, have volunteered at TrueNorth Community Services more than seven years. They also contribute their time weekly in the food pantry and have worked on Coats for Kids (& Adults) and the Senior Thanksgiving luncheon in the past.

TrueNorth's 66th annual CCP provided for 775 Newaygo County families. Each child in the program received a toy; socks; hand-knit hats, mittens and scarves; book; board game; art supplies; and stocking stuffer.

Generous donations from local citizens and organizations in addition to grants from Fremont Area Community Foundation, Gerber Foundation and the Keith Johnston Memorial Fund at the Fremont Area Community Foundation help fund CCP.

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S.T.E.A.M. Challenge yields hands-on lessons for students

Building wind-powered vehicles. Launching handmade rockets. Competing in an Iron Chef-style competition. Designing future cities. Creating Great Lakes-themed arts.

For more than 200 students from Baldwin, Hart, Hesperia, Muskegon Heights, Walkerville and White Cloud, the results were all part of the lesson plans. The foundation for the hands-on learning was Project FOCUS’ fifth annual S.T.E.A.M. Challenge at Hesperia Middle School in Hesperia on January 20.

S.T.E.A.M. stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and math. The challenge was the end product of more than five months of preparation in the varied disciplines by elementary and middle schoolers enrolled in Project FOCUS’ afterschool programs.

Project FOCUS embraces academic enrichment and remediation, homework completion, literacy, mentoring, civic engagement, career and college preparation and social and emotional learning activities.

In Hesperia and White Cloud, Project FOCUS is funded through a Fremont Community Foundation grant. In Hart, Walkerville, and Muskegon Heights, Project FOCUS is funded through through a federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant

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TrueNorth Community Events Calendar

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