Spreading Christmas Cheer This Season

On December 20th, NorthShore Health Centers hosted a holiday themed charity event for families in need. Mothers, fathers and their children were able to come in, enjoy snacks, chat with other families, receive gifts and even meet with Santa.

The mothers were able to enter into gift raffles giving away massages, pedicures, manicures and even tickets to the Radisson Hotel in Merrillville. Along with the gift raffle, mothers were able to bring home a large bag of cappuccino mix, bubble bath soap, lotions, bread donations and toys for their children, all donations made to NorthShore. Before leaving all the families meet with the family care coordinator at NorthShore, Michelle Higel.

Today I am meeting with each family to see what kind of needs they have, anything from food, housing, clothing for their children, enrolling in early childhood programs, or maybe even going back to school and get their GED. I am helping them connect them with those resources. I want to make sure that every family here at NorthShore knows how to access services. I hope we are bring joy to their holiday season and letting them know that NorthShore is here, not just to meet their medical needs but also to help them raise their family,” said Higel.

Gervay Dickerson, head coordinator of the charity event is passionate about making sure the families had all of their needs meet. “We don’t want to take it for granted that families have someone to support them for the holidays. So we really just wanted to be able to provide a safe place, where they can bring their kids, see Santa, and just have fun! It means a lot to me and to NorthShore to be the medical home for our community and for our families. And this, what we are doing now, is a big part of it: making sure that on the holidays our families are taken care of.

Indeed all the families walked out, feeling taken care of with a smile on their face, a dose of holiday spirit, some nice gifts under their arm and the links to resources they were in need of. The employees of NorthShore could not be more humbled by the outcome of the event, for they did all they could to meet the needs of their community’s families and treat the children to a little bit of holiday festivities.