Nov. 12—MANKATO — Three area nonprofits serving the homeless are banding together to host a new fundraiser during the holiday season.
CADA, Partners for Housing and Connections Shelter, all of Mankato, are behind the new Home for the Holidays movement, and are collecting both monetary and in-kind donations at area businesses.
"It's our first year doing this," said Liz Paul, director of development for Connections Shelter. "We're taking a very local approach. We'll just see where we land. We don't have an explicit fundraising goal but are trying out something new."
The three organizations will set up five large playhouse-size gingerbread houses for in-kind donations at big-box stores. Some locations are still being finalized but confirmed sites are Fleet Farm, Scheels and the Blue Earth County Library.
Small gingerbread houses will be stationed at 20 smaller stores and will store monetary donations. There also will be a QR code on the smaller gingerbread houses, which will provide more information about the fundraiser. The houses will be set up from Nov. 15 through Jan. 2.
Needed in-kind items that would serve the homeless well are hand warmers, coats, boots, gloves, diapers, pre-packaged snacks and coffee, among other items, Paul said.
Ideally, donors can buy items at the store where the big gingerbread houses are displayed and put the donations in the house for later collection, she said. All of the donations, both monetary and in-kind, will be split between the three nonprofits.
Paul said the organizations frequently partner by referring clients to one another, but this is their first time collaborating on a fundraising effort outside of the United Way model.
"I'm really curious to see what comes of it," she said. "The work we do is so vital and the need is increasing in our communities. We really thought this was a great way to reach the broader community and say there is an opportunity to help in one easy way and reach a lot of people."
As for the need Paul references, there's a waiting list of 40 people waiting for beds at Connections Shelter. "Our shelter is full, and we've been full since the first week we opened in October."
While the participating nonprofits are in Mankato, they serve the entire region. "All of us have a shelter capacity and crisis stabilization," Paul said. "We all help people move toward housing and greater stability in their lives."
Paul and a Connections colleague came up with the idea for Home for the Holidays and were thrilled when CADA and Partners for Housing signed on to join them in the endeavor.