For those of you who live in southeastern Michigan (and, really, anywhere in the northern part of the United States), it's been a brutally cold December and is set to be just as cold in December. Temperatures have been in the teens (or below) for more than a week now and these temperatures are set to dip once again over New Year's weekend.
My guess is that many of you expect to celebrate the new year over the weekend and will also be enduring some of this cold. Maybe it's walking out to your car, scrambling from an Uber into a nearby bar, or shoveling some snow on your driveway. We all know that feeling of cold moving through our fingers and hands and what a brisk wind in frigid temperatures feels like on our faces.
Well, for many in our communities, that cold doesn't dissipate in a minute or two. They don't have a warm and comfortable bed to sleep in or a bundle of blankets to hide under. And many don't have a warm cup of coffee or soup to look forward to as the temperatures reach their coldest this weekend.
Given these circumstances, I wanted to start a fundraiser to recognize what many are going through this weekend. Early weather reports indicate that it's going to be six degrees on New Year's Day. That's a 6.0. Most medical experts indicate that frostbite can begin to set in as few as five minutes in those kind of temperatures.
Simply put, lives are on the line. As such, let's try to raise some money for a local homeless shelter in this time of trouble. I have set our goal for $600, in light of the fact that it's going to be six degrees over this weekend.
All proceeds will go to the Macomb County Warming Center. It's a non-profit located in southeastern Michigan that works directly with its partner churches to provide a safe, warm place to spend the night and simple, nourishing morning and evening meals for those who would otherwise have no shelter.
Thank you to everyone who contributes! God bless!
UPDATE:
We hit our original goal of $600 on Thursday morning. Thank you to everyone who contributed. It's amazing how many people are willing to help those in need.
But, this isn't the end of the story. We're raising our goal to $700, in light of the fact that the brutally cold conditions have continued it's January. It's going to be seven degrees on Friday, so let's bump it to $700.
I am also going to add an additional incentive. If we hit $1,000, I will do the winter version of the Ice Bucket Challenge next week. So, let's do this!
