Photography Provided by American Red Cross

Danielle Dickson and Patricia Squires, Branch Managers of Foster Closet of Michigan – Genesee County Branch, have had a lot of experience with foster children. “We both grew up with foster parents and were both foster moms,” Dickson says.” That is why the work they do now at Foster Closet is so important to them. A branch of the statewide organization, Foster Closet of Michigan, it is an all-volunteer, tax-exempt nonprofit organization providing aid to the Foster Care Community.

Mr. B and the Joybox Express went on the road to Mackinaw City taking with them a piano on a tricycle built for three! On Friday, Aug. 25, a kick off celebration was held where Mr. B gave a musical performance, and there was a bike parade to send them off. This unusual journey, which is called Sprint4Flint, is a creative way to raise funding for and spread awareness about Youth Quest’s afterschool program. Proceeds of Sprint 4Flint will support art programming provided through YouthQuest during the 2017-18 school year. Mark Braun (Mr. B), a Flint native and the founder of Joybox Express, is a 1975 graduate of Southwestern Academy in Flint and an internationally renowned musician.

In June, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation reached a major milestone, when it surpassed the $1 billion mark in grantmaking for the Flint area since 1926. According to Kimberly S. Roberson, the Foundation’s Flint Area Program Director, the funding that put them over the mark was a $3.2 million grant to The Crim Fitness Foundation for ongoing support of a local community education initiative. “It is very fitting that the Crim Fitness Foundation grant is what put us at that milestone,” Roberson says, adding that the Foundation has always had a strong commitment to education in Flint.

For Doris Sain, 82, every decade of her life could be the subject of its own novel. Those decades are filled with adventure, learning, networking, building relationships, and mostly opportunities she discovered – or created for herself.

Every morning and afternoon, Mary Ann Halboth, 63, known endearingly as International Academy of Flint’s favorite grandmother-figure, stands at the entrance near her “Word Wall” and greets hundreds of students as they file into their classrooms, and then later as they leave for the day.

Kaitlin Johnson is a vivacious 10-year-old who loves things that are pink and sparkly. She is home-schooled and her mother is her teacher. She loves Mexican food, especially shrimp tacos. But most of all: Kaitlin loves helping others and volunteering at Communities First, Inc.

The Ruth Mott Foundation has made a significant commitment: to redirect their focus to north Flint neighborhoods. With the Community Engagement Office’s new location at the Christ Enrichment Center in north Flint, they are on the front lines of economic and social change. Through a centralized, place-based approach, their philanthropy – as always – is geared toward community support; their strategic plan will span from 2016 to 2020, and is based on research and reflection from the community, in an effort to create safe, healthy and financially secure neighborhoods.

Santa was really good to one Genesee County family this year. Thanks to the Genesee County Habitat for Humanity, single mother, Whitney, and her five-year-old daughter, Olivia, will move into a new home – just in time for Christmas.

The Genesee County Habitat for Humanity is hosting Giving Tuesday at the Genesee County Habitat ReStore, 101 Burton Street in Flint.