Warm the Children

This past year, the members of the PMC staff decided to forego any presents for one another, to take the money normally spent on birthdays and holidays and donate it to a new charity. The charity chosen was "Warm The Children". Established through the Ann Arbor News, it was a program that ran in cooperation with Meijers and Sears.

The program provided winter coats for 1,500 children. The stores provided the vouchers for the coats to be purchased at a greatly reduced rate. Then children were selected through various methods and the money donated went for their purchase.

Movie Tickets for Families

Along with helping Santa for the children, we sponsored evenings out for foster families and families with children who would receive little during the holiday season.

Those participating were given gift certificates for passes to the local theatre and for treats when they got there. It gave the families the opportunity to go out together and enjoy a special time as one.

Bed Drive

One of the ongoing programs that we help with each year is the "Friends In Deed" Bed Drive that is held annually around Christmas time. The drive provides new beds for family members. Friends In Deed is a program we first became involved in through Mary Jean Zill, wife of Board Chairman Lloyd Zill, who was a long-time volunteer at the organization.

Make A Wish Foundation

This was our first year working with the Make A Wish Foundation, and it began by chance. The PMC sponsors a day at the Air Show at Willow Run Airport. While at the practice session, preparing the tents for the next day's activities, we saw a number of children with the Make A Wish Foundation in the next booth. The children were having a great time, and were quite taken with a number of the decorations that we had for our area. To give the children a souvenir of the day's activities, we sent along 65 Blue Angel models and Space Shuttle models.

We are also becoming involved in working with the foundation to help make the wishes of local children possible. It is a wonderful experience to help a sick child have a happy day.