Donations to our Neighbors In Need campaign during the month of December will appear in a public thank you published in the Courier Herald in the January 28th edition of the Courier Herald (names only, not amounts).

We are so grateful for your donations throughout this campaign.
Thank you so very much.

With Gratitude for a Community That Cares

As the year comes to a close, we pause to reflect on the many moments when our community stepped forward to care for neighbors during their most difficult times. Plateau Outreach Ministries (POM) exists because compassion lives here. And this year, that compassion was shown again and again.

We are deeply thankful to our donors, whose financial contributions and food donations made it possible to respond when help was urgently needed. Your generosity provided warmth in winter, stability during times of crisis, and nourishment for families and individuals throughout the year. Every gift, large or small, played a role in changing lives.

We are also grateful for our community partners, who work alongside us throughout the year. By working together, sharing resources, and coordinating care, we are able to offer more comprehensive support to those we serve. This collaboration strengthens our ability to meet complex needs, and we are thankful for the trust and teamwork we share.

To our volunteers: thank you for the time, energy, and compassion you give so freely. Your willingness to serve, whether behind the scenes or face-to-face with neighbors, makes a meaningful difference every day.

We extend heartfelt thanks to our thrift store shoppers, whose purchases help sustain vital programs and services. Every donation, visit, and purchase directly supports Plateau Outreach Ministries and helps ensure assistance is available year-round.

We are especially thankful for our Board Members, whose dedication, guidance, and active involvement help lead our mission forward. Their commitment to service and stewardship strengthens our organization and our ability to serve the community.

We are also deeply grateful for our staff, whose professionalism, compassion, and tireless dedication guide our work each day. Their commitment to walking alongside clients, helping them navigate resources, and responding with dignity and respect is the foundation of everything we do.

Most importantly, we thank our clients. Thank you for trusting us, for sharing your stories, and for allowing our staff to walk with you through some of life’s toughest moments. Your strength and resilience inspire our work and remind us why this mission matters.

As we enter a new year, we do so with gratitude. Gratitude for a community that continues to show up, work together, and care deeply for one another. Together, Plateau Outreach Ministries remains committed to serving neighbors in need today and in the year ahead.

With Gratitude,
Elisha Smith-Marshall
Executive Director

Keeping a Senior Neighbor Warm This Winter

This winter, Plateau Outreach Ministries (POM) assisted a senior resident living on a fixed income who was facing a difficult choice many older adults encounter during the colder months: pay for heat or fall behind on other essential bills.

Rising heating costs, prescription expenses, and limited income had made it increasingly difficult to keep up. As winter temperatures dropped, the risk of losing heat became a serious concern.

Through POM’s Samaritan Services we were able to provide a combination of coordinated resources to help stabilize the situation. Emergency heating assistance helped cover a portion of the winter fuel bill, ensuring the home remained warm and safe. Additional financial support assisted with overdue utility costs, preventing service disruption during the coldest part of the season.

Beyond direct assistance, staff worked closely with the senior to navigate and apply for food benefits, helping them access programs they were eligible for but had not yet enrolled in. With food benefits in place, grocery costs were reduced, allowing limited income to be redirected toward housing, utilities, and medical needs.

We also connected this neighbor with ongoing community resources to provide continued support beyond the immediate crisis. Together, these efforts eased financial pressure, reduced stress, and helped restore stability during a critical time of year.

Stories like this are only possible because of generous community support. Donations to POM allow us to respond quickly and flexibly, providing the right mix of assistance for each situation.

When winter is hardest, community matters most. Through POM, neighbors continue to look out for one another, ensuring warmth, dignity, and hope when it is needed most.

Blessings,

Elisha Smith-Marshall
Executive Director

A Quiet Place to Begin Again

I have been thinking a lot about a woman named Marian lately. She visited POM for the first time this fall, and her story has stayed with me in a way I did not expect.

She had recently lost her husband of over 40 years. When she walked in, she looked like someone carrying more weight than one person should have to hold. She stood near the doorway for a moment, not quite sure whether to come in or turn around. And honestly, who could blame her. Asking for help is hard, especially when life has changed faster than you can keep up.

She sat down and began talking in that quiet, careful way people do when they have been holding everything in. Our case manager gently told her, “You’re okay, just take your time.” It was such a simple thing to say, but I watched it open something in her. Maybe it was a small bit of space to breathe again.

She told us about learning to live on one income, about stretching groceries farther than she ever had before, and about the ache of eating dinner alone after sharing a table for so many years.

Over the next few weeks, she came back again to the food bank and again for a follow up appointment with case management. POM was able to help her get back on track with her bills and make a realistic plan moving forward.

She always said thank you, even when all she took home was a couple of simple meals. But what struck me most was not what she received. It was the way she slowly began to stand a little straighter, like she was no longer navigating everything completely on her own.

One day she said, “My husband would be grateful for this place. He always believed people should look out for each other.” I have carried that sentence with me. It feels like the heart of what this season is about.

As we move through this year’s Neighbors in Need campaign, I keep thinking about how many people in our community are carrying quiet burdens just like Marian’s. And how often a gift made in honor or in memory of someone becomes the very thing that helps another person take their next step.

Hope does not always arrive with celebration and noise. Sometimes it begins with a gentle welcome, a small conversation, or simply a place where someone can feel seen.

With Hope and Gratitude,

Angie Adam
Director of Community Engagement

 As we begin this year’s Neighbors in Need campaign, I keep thinking about a phone call I made earlier this year. A generous gift had been made to POM in honor of a woman who had spent years caring for the donor’s mother. It was meant as a quiet thank you for the kind of steady, everyday love that rarely asks for recognition. The donor described her as “the friend my mother needed,” and that line has stayed with me.

When I called to share that a donation had been made in her honor, she went silent. Then she cried. She told me she had always wished she could give large financial gifts, but life simply didn’t allow for that. She gives in other ways, she said, but sometimes it never feels like enough.

In that moment, it was as if someone finally saw her. Really saw her. The donation felt like gentle validation for all the years she spent showing up, doing what she could, giving care that doesn’t make headlines but holds people together just the same. She couldn’t believe it.

That is why this story feels like the right place to begin this campaign. Neighbors in Need has always been carried by people like her. People who give what they can, in whatever form they can. People who show up because they love their community, even when they’re not sure it matters, or if anyone notices.

When you donate in memory or in honor of a life well lived, we carry that love forward. We honor the stories behind those gifts, and we make sure they become part of the quiet, steady work that lifts our neighbors up. I hope this season reminds all of us that generosity has many ways of finding a home. And that every single one of them makes a difference.  

Warm Wishes and Blessings,

Angie Adam
Director of Community Engagement