With Thanksgiving and the holidays right around the corner, that means it is once again all hands on deck at Valley Churches United Missions’ Ben Lomond headquarters, as volunteers work to acquire, sort, and distribute food, supplies, and other assistance to local residents in need.
With new Executive Director David Mills settling into the driver’s seat, the community is being asked to help contribute toward organization’s 33rd annual Valley Christmas Project in the form of cash donations, food supplies, cookie boxes, items to sell in the Holiday Boutique, and children’s toys — all of which will be used to help neighbors in crisis.
“We’re driving hard for Thanksgiving stuff and we’re ramping up to Christmas,” Mills said. “It’s an important time to give, and if you can give extra, we will definitely put it to good use.”
VCUM’s food drive barrels and donation bags can already be found at businesses throughout the San Lorenzo Valley and Scotts Valley communities, and the organization’s biggest event — the annual Holiday Gala — is set for Thursday, Dec. 4 at Scopazzi’s in Boulder Creek.
Those wishing to do so can even “adopt” a senior or family in need — and provide such things as food, gifts, and Christmas trees to families or individuals who might otherwise have gone without.
One such family is the Cummins family of Scotts Valley, which has been a client of VCUM since 2013.
For Jim and Irene Cummins, VCUM’s help has meant that their grandchildren have had food, clothing, school supplies, and Christmas presents while their mother, Teresa Cummins, recovers from a harrowing double-lung transplant operation.
As their daughter’s health steadily worsened over the past three years, Jim and Irene Cummins, both retirees, have stepped in to take increasing amounts of the responsibility of caring for their grandchildren.
“We take the kids to the doctor, we take them to school,” Irene said. “Their mom has been sick for a long time.”
Now, after Teresa’s recovery has taken longer than expected, three of Jim and Irene’s four grandchildren live with them more or less full-time.
“She’s been in and out of the hospital,” Irene said. “She’s had a lot of problems — every kind you could expect.”
Caring for their grandchildren — on top of regular trips to Stanford Hospital to quarterback Teresa’s mounting medical care costs and insurance paperwork — left the couple in dire need of a helping hand.
The medical-related expenses in particular were troublesome, Irene said, as bills, co-payments, and rent on an apartment nearby Stanford all had to come out-of-pocket.
“It was more than I could handle,” Irene said. “Everything was coming out of our pockets — we needed help; emotionally, financially, foodwise.”
It was Christmastime last year, when Teresa — whose hypersensitivity pneumonitis and pulmonary hypertension had her on round-the-clock oxygen and unable to work — first approached VCUM.
“She had no money for Christmas gifts,” Irene said. “She had a really hard time coming down here.”
Since then, VCUM has become a key part of the Cummins family, Irene said, not only providing food and supplies, but also a place where she and Jim felt like they were welcomed — even when they felt at their lowest.
“It’s a safe place and you can let yourself relax,” she said. “You get treated like a whole person when you might not feel like a whole person.”
Mills said that the Cummins’ story is just one of the examples of the clients that VCUM serves, adding that it was his mission to make members of the community feel comfortable asking for help if they needed it — regardless of their situation.
“This is a good example of what happens in this building,” he said. “You’re living amongst a community that cares.”
For more information about Valley Churches United Missions, call 336-8258 or visit www.vcum.org.
To contribute to Teresa Cummins’ medical expenses, visit the website of HelpHOPE Live, an organization that helps patients raise funds without compromising disability status, at http://helphopelive.org and search for “Teresa Cummins.”
