Christmas Blessings – Tom
Humbly Putting Others First,
His Support Makes Dreams Come True
Acts of Kindness ~ Big and Small ~ Every Day ~ All Year Long
As Tom’s career was working in a warehouse, he knew all about general maintenance, receiving, handling, packing, lifting, storing, shipping out, etc. After retiring, he started working part time for the Antioch Community Church doing custodial work and he started sharing his skills and his big heart with several Northland non-profits.
About 26 years ago, a Church member asked Tom if he had access to empty boxes. That started a lasting and meaningful relationship between Tom and the Northland Christmas Store. Now, as a long term, committed volunteer for the store, he, and a team of other dedicated volunteers, finds the storage locations for donated items, picks up donations, sorts the donations, packs up the donations into boxes, and oversees the storage of the boxes. When it is time to set up the store, Tom and the others load the boxes of donations onto pallets and load the truck.
This year it took five trips to deliver the donated items to the store where 168 Northland Families shopped. He also participated in delivering food and toys to an additional 210 home-bound seniors!
About 19 years ago, the Northland Shepherd’s Center moved into the lower level of the Church. As he helped the NSC staff with their custodial needs and learned about the valuable services it provides to seniors, he became increasingly involved. Through the years, he has helped NSC deliver most if not all their services and will today fill-in whenever and wherever he is needed. He particularly enjoys driving the NSC transport bus transporting Breaktime attendees and handling the grocery runs.
In addition to providing essential support to both the Northland Christmas Store and the Northland Shepherd’s Center, Tom also works diligently at the Church to support its members whenever he can and to support its community outreach — collecting items for the Clay County Clothes Closet, Harvesters, and the Warm Your Feet drive that collects 1000+ pairs of socks!
In 2018, Tom was recognized in the KC Shepherd’s Center’s 70 Over 70 Celebration that honors those who have made significant contributions and achievements in their endeavors in the community…