Gifts of Love

The Gifts of Love back to school program is collecting school supplies thru August 17th to distribute to local children. Drop off donations at 223 Canal Street in New Smyrna Beach. Call 423-5257 for more information.

Back to school information:

NSB Middle School Summer Newsletter - open house dates etc.

Go to the Schools page on the Volusia County Schools website - find your school, they have all been updated with information on orientation, open houses, meet the teacher etc.

Angel Food Ministries

With a heart to help others and a generous spirit, Joe and Linda Wingo founded Angel Food Ministries in 1994 to provide food for friends and neighbors who were struggling financially. Today, they are still doing the same thing. The Angel Food program now is helping provide food relief to more than 500,000 families each month.

There are 14 distribution sites within a 30 mile radius of New Smyrna Beach. The closest being Edgewater, Port Orange and Deland. Click here for all 14 locations.

Angel Food is not a Food Bank, they purchase high quality food at discount prices and sell it less expensively than grocery stores. In general you can get around $65.00 worth of food for $30.00. Each month therre is a different variety of food as well as specialty boxes. You can read more about how it works here.

This service was designed for people who may be having a hard time, laid off or temporarily in a tough economic situation. I know there are plenty of people like that in our area. Please check out their website and take advantage of the generosity of others.

Good News

It seems all we hear is bad news in this world we are living in today. NBC Nightly News has been focusing on good news the past week or so. They have been highlighting positive things and random acts of kindness, all nominated by viewers. Check it out here, it is very positive and uplifting to watch.

In these days of corporate greed it was nice to read this article about the CEO of Beth Israel Hospital in New England.

Here are some sites that feature only Good News all the time:

Good News Daily Happy News Good News Network

Have you seen anyone locally doing something nice for someone else? If so please email me or leave a comment. We would love to get them recognized.....

Soles 4 Souls

Soles4Souls has a simple mission:

To impact as many lives as possible with the gift of shoes.

Soles4Souls facilitates the donations of shoes, which are used to aid the hurting worldwide. Shoe companies, retailers, and individuals can donate footwear (both new and used). Soles4Souls is a 501(c)(3) recognized by the IRS, and donating parties are eligible for tax advantages.The idea behind gifts of shoes is nothing new to the Soles4Souls team, as they coordinated relief efforts for the Asian Tsunami and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, netting over 1 Million pairs donated for these disasters. The team originally operated as www.katrinashoes.org with several churches partnering in the collection and distribution of footwear. If you take a look around their website you will see they not only work internationally but here at home in the US as well. This is a great cause to support and only $5.00 will buy two pairs of shoes!

Spread Some Cheer

Toys for Tots continues to collect toys in various locations. You can bring your toys to the locations below:

Fantastic Signs - 111. N. Ridgewood Ave, Edgewater

Pioneer Trail Self Storage - 1375 Pioneer Trail, New Smyrna Beach

Lott Financial - 316 Flagler Ave, New Smyrna Beach

South Daytona Fire House - 1672 S Ridgewood Ave, Daytona

UPS Store - 1648 Taylor Rd, Port Orange

Do you throw your change in the kettle?

The Salvation Army kettle that is. I wandered around the Salvation Army's website today, they have some wonderful programs. If you are interested in how the Red Kettle got started in 1891 you can read about it here. If you frequent the Beachside Publix you have seen the bell ringer there, she is a volunteer like all the bell ringers. Her name is Trish and she has given countless hours to ring that bell. She is the only one I have seen there and she has been ringing that bell day and night. When you walk by throw in your change and say hi, even if you don't throw in your change, say hi..... she is a real nice gal.

Gifts of Love

Most of us have had economic issues at one time or another. I myself have had a rough two years. I and my family have made alot of sacrifices for the good of my children. I can tell you about my brother meeting me at a gas station with his credit card to fill my gas tank so my son can get to baseball practice, or showing up at my house with bags of groceries and dog food, or my other brother in another state sending me cash to pay bills....We won't even talk about the money my parents have spent in order to keep my children safe and happy. Things are now looking up for us, but that is not the case for many other people in our community. There are too many people right here in New Smyrna and Edgewater that are not lucky enough to have a good support system and are one step away from not being able to feed their family.

That is where Gifts of Love comes in, they are a non-profit organization headquartered in Edgewater, primarily known as a Food Pantry, they also donate school supplies and shoes to local children. They are located at 820 W. Park Ave., directly east of the Elks Lodge. The organization receives no federal, state or local funding and is dependent on the generosity of private enterprise, churches and individuals for all the food and supplies they distribute.

Donations 0f food, personal items, paper products etc. can be taken to the office, 820 W. Park Ave., Tues. and Thurs., 9:30 am-2:30 pm. They are also open during those hours for those that need help to get it. No questions asked.

So...while you are shopping this week, fill an extra bag with paper products or canned goods and drop it off, they will appreciate it and you will be helping someone right here in your community.

Gifts of Love can be contacted at (386) 423-5257.