Gifts, cans, cash still needed in Mission for holiday drive

Mission’s Cash and Cans for the Holidays food drive is going to make Christmas Day more filling and fulfilling for 47 families in northeast Johnson County. Donations to the food drive can be made at Sylvester Powell, Jr. Community Center.

Of those families who will be fed this year, 27 need gifts to make the holiday brighter under the tree. Tags with first names and gift requests are on a tree just inside the south entrance at Sylvester Powell, next to the food collection bin. The holiday collections are sponsored by the Mission Convention and Visitors Bureau. Suzie Gibbs, a Mission City Councilor, is chairperson and is the founder of the holiday drive.

Now in its sixth year, the family holiday adoption started with just five families. The recipients are all within the Santa Fe, SM North and Rushton school communities where the connections are made with families that could use a boost at Christmas.

“I will not turn anybody away,” Gibbs says, confident the giving in the community will expand to meet the need even as more families are added to the list. The community so far has come through in a big way. The city council members themselves have donated $1,000 and the cash donations expand with a discount from Hy-Vee. Gibbs even managed to snag a used piano – with the help of Countryside Christian Church – for one family that had gone through some particularly difficult times.

Non-perishable food and cash can be dropped off until Dec. 19. Gifts, wrapped or unwrapped, to meet the requests on the tree will be accepted until the same day. The gifts will be wrapped on Dec, 20 and delivered on the 21st.