Xenia Gifted Gives
Our students will be voting on one of these local charities to support this year. Ten percent of our showcase sales will be donated to the chosen charity. Many organizations listed below have provided much needed assistance to so many people in Xenia and our surrounding communities and we are proud to have supported all of them in the past. If you wish to support any of these organizations in honor of your XTAR student participating in the showcase this year, you can make a cash or check donation to one of the cashiers at the event on May 2nd or you can send in a donation with an XTAR student prior to that date. Checks must be made payable to XCS (Xenia Community Schools) with "Gifted" in the memo; please indicate the organization you would like to support as well. If you prefer to mail your donation directly to the gifted program (checks only), send to XCS- Gifted Department 425 Edison Blvd. Xenia, Oh 45385.
As part of our shelter program we provide both dinner and breakfast to our guests while they are with us. They also have the option to do chores around the shelter to earn Shelter Bucks to spend on resources such as extra clothing, toiletries and other sundries they might want. Several evenings each week people or ministries from the community come and provide Life Classes that teach basic life skills, recovery support, Bible studies, etc. We also help those of our guests who need to get their Birth Certificates, Social Security or ID Cards, walk through the process required by various agencies. We have been pleased to help many of our former guests walk through getting housing in the area as well!
We are also excited about how we have been able to use the abundance of land on our property. This past summer we had a successful garden program and were able to provide food for our kitchen, for many of our guests to grow their own food, as well as sharing the excess with fellow ministries and individuals in the community. Thanks to a grant and generous donations the garden team planted a plethora of fruit and nut trees on the property that will ensure fresh fruit and nuts for Bridges for years to come!
To prevent animal suffering from overpopulation by way of a spay/neuter subsidy programs. To eliminate neglect and abusive treatment of livestock by enforcing the statutes according to the Ohio Revised Code and additionally to promote education in the humane care and maintenance of all animals.
Children need more than paper, pencils, and books to learn. If children are hungry, it hampers their ability to learn. Research indicates that even mildly malnourished children can experience negative impacts in growth, behavior, school performance, and cognitive development. Some children in our community are starving.
Every school day, 60 percent of Xenia’s elementary school students receive free or reduced price meals. However, some of those students will have very little—some even nothing—to eat on the weekends. Successful weekend food programs in other communities have reported that children are less anxious to go home on Fridays and more focused and ready to learn on Mondays. Xenia students and their sibling(s) who are identified by school personnel for being at risk will be eligible for the weekend X-Out Hunger program. Each week, qualified students will receive a bag of food to meet their needs during the weekend.
The IHN started hosting the homeless families in The Schneider House of Hope at 124 S Detroit St. starting June 27, 2010. The National Interfaith Hospitality Network is a national, non-profit organization that assists religious and community organizations in developing and operating Network programs. The Greene County IHN has been open since 1995. Our goal is to alleviate homelessness by fostering the development of Networks that provide shelter, meals, and assistance for homeless persons, and that increases community involvement in direct service and advocacy.
A faith-based non-profit Biznistry® established for the betterment of our community. At our core is a place from which we strive to serve a healthy, affordable meal to our neighbors—those who have the ability to pay and those who under normal circumstances would not be able to eat out. As a Social Entrepreneurship, we exist to worship God and share His love. To help the hungry find a meal. To help the lost find hope. To help the addicted find support. To help the homeless find a sense of home. To help the mentally and physically impaired find acceptance as a valued volunteer. To help all find love and purpose. An investment in One Bistro is an investment in people.
The Xenia FISH Pantry is an all volunteer, non-profit organization supported by the community, serving the emergency food needs of Greene County. FISH is an acronym for “Friends In Service of Humanity.”
The pantry was started in 1976 in an Episcopal Church after the 1974 F5 tornado that hit the Xenia area. The families who were still trying to rebuild their lives needed food assistance to ease some of their burdens. The pantry remained in the church until 1993, when it moved to the current location in the County Services building on Ledbetter Road. The pantry has stayed at the current address for the past 16 years and was fostered by the county for that time.
A driving force for the pantry was Peg Cannon, who never gave up trying to help those in need of food. After she retired in 2013, Bob Bosl took over as President with Dan Frevert as Operations manager and kept the pantry going until February 2017. During his time, the use of computers for registering the clients who came in became the way to gather statistics for the pantry. You could see how many people the pantry was able to serve, the number of adults, children, and seniors, those disabled, employed, or even if they were homeless. That, in turn, allowed for a more strategic plan for how to move the pantry forward.
In 2017, Gail Matson took over as president, and by the fall of 2018, the pantry had become a full choice pantry with the assistance of the Dayton Foodbank. The pantry purchased much-needed freezers and coolers to offer more choices of fresh produce, dairy products, and meat. The pantry is now open two days a week and takes care of about 200 families a week or 800 per month. The client’s numbers coincide with local school schedules, holidays, and summer vacations.
In March of 2019, the county informed the pantry that our space was needed for the Bureau of Elections and we would need to move to another location. The truth was, the pantry had outgrown the area as well. The County offered an alternate space, which boasted three times the space the pantry had now. It was a challenge. The building needed alot of work to make it food safe. We received a Community Block Grant to help with the project, this covered cleaning the building and all new doors and windows. We received lots of support from the community through donations of a walk-in refrigerator/freeze, air conditioning units and the parking lot paved. We moved into the new building at 774 Cincinnati Ave. in May. We are working on a handicap bathroom currently.
We have new expenses at this building, utilities and ground maintenance. We are in the process of applying for other grants, doing fundraisers, and asking for donations from the community to cover our increased operating expenses. We continue to be run by all volunteers.
We have started a new chapter for the pantry!