Gingerbread House with Christina McGinn & Limor Hendricks

Fuzz Martin: 00:00:08

Greetings, Washington County friends, and thank you for

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listening to Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.

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If you're a new listener, this is

a show about positive things going

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on right here in our community.

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If you've listened before, well

now you've heard me say that

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about 131 times since 2021.

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Pretty neat, eh?

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But that's what this show is all

about, shining a light on positive

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things that aren't politics or

shouting at each other on social media.

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Just peace and love, man.

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This week we're going to talk

about one of my favorite annual

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programs here in Washington County.

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Limor Hendricks and Christina McGinn

from the Youth and Family Project join

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me to talk about the Gingerbread House.

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It's a gift giving program where the

community pitches in to ensure that

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area families in need have great

Christmases and holiday celebrations.

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With that, here are 15 Minutes

on the Gingerbread House with

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Christina McGinn and Limor Hendricks.

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Right here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.

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Limor

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and Christina, thank you so

much for joining me today.

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Could you give us an overview first

of the Gingerbread House program

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and how it supports families?

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I guess I'd say in the

Washington County area, right?

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Limor Hendricks: So it is just

for Washington County families.

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But the, the pickup is

usually in the West Bend area.

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Last year we served over 550 families

and what the program does is provide

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holiday gifts, and household needs to,

families in need in Washington County.

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Christina McGinn: Our big thing is we, we

don't want the focus to be on gifts, so we

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really wanted to be about providing those

memories, Christmas morning, everyone

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in the family has something to open,

and you're getting to do that together

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and create those, those family memories.

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Fuzz Martin: The Gingerbread House program

has been going on for decades, right?

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How long has this been going on?

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Christina McGinn: Over 20 years.

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Yeah, over 20

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Fuzz Martin: years.

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And how, how did it get started and

how has it evolved over those years?

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Christina McGinn: Uh, so it's, uh,

Linda White, started the program.

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It was just a handful of families that

she was really passionate about that.

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having the family memories, and being

able to provide, especially for,

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you know, the kids that otherwise

wouldn't have gifts to open.

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And the program has just, every single

year we've found more families in need

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and kind of every year we've grown to

the point we are now where we're at over

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500 family, over 550 families every year.

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Fuzz Martin: Well, okay, that was

going to be my next question is

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how many families do you serve?

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So, that obviously takes

a lot to get going, right?

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So, 550 families is more

than 550, people, right?

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Yes.

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So, that's, that's a lot of, coordination,

um, outreach to those who are, you know,

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Not only buying gifts or supporting

these families, but also the families

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themselves and getting them coordinated.

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There's a lot that goes into it.

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When do you start, prepping

for this each year?

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How does , how long?

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Limor Hendricks: As soon

as gingerbread ends really.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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Pretty much as soon as one

year is, uh, is completed, we

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start working on the next year.

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Fuzz Martin: How does this

program meet the needs of all

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those, those families each year?

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What goes into that?

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Limor Hendricks: In terms of the

application process, we try to

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make it as simple as possible.

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We try to make it as

accessible as possible.

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And our application is done online.

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It's very streamlined.

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If people don't have, the referral sources

that, we're asking for, they can always

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get a referral from their child's school.

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If they have a case manager, if they're

working with a different agency on

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getting some services, and we've gotten

a lot of referrals this year, that way.

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And if they have trouble, filling

out the application, they can

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call and, walk them through that

and I can help them with that.

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And that's the application

process, basically.

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And we coordinate that.

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We plan out what that looks like,

months before the program starts.

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And then every year they're always a

little bit of, of a change depending

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on, capacity, and depending on, I mean,

mostly it's capacity, but also if we

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notice if there are any, Sort of rough

spots or difficult areas for people.

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We try to make it as easy

as possible to apply.

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Christina McGinn: I think we, we meet with

our volunteers, that support our program

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also after Gingerbread House and we take

feedback from them and really try to apply

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that, and make sure that the program is

successful on, on both ends as far as

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participants and sponsors and volunteers.

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Fuzz Martin: So, speaking of

volunteers, with, with 550 families,

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how many volunteers go into

making this successful each year?

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Roughly, I know you might

not have specific numbers.

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Dozens.

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Christina McGinn: Yeah.

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We have, we've been very fortunate

that we have, businesses that will come

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and do kind of a group outing and help.

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We've got a core group of volunteers

that have been with us for, for

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several years that kind of know the

ins and outs, that they are showing

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up, some of them every single day.

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And they're amazing.

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Yeah.

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That's, yeah, our program is not

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Limor Hendricks: successful

without our volunteers, for sure.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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The, the capacity is so large,

there's really no way we'd be

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able to do it without volunteers.

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Fuzz Martin: I assume you can

always use more though, right?

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Absolutely.

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Yes.

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So if, if local individuals, businesses,

other non profit organizations would

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like to get involved in supporting the

Youth and Family Project's Gingerbread

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House program, how could they?

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How could they do so?

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What would be the process

for getting started to help?

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Limor Hendricks: So on our Facebook

page, we will post volunteer information,

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but also in the interim, if there

are any people who want to volunteer,

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they can just reach out to us.

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They can message us on

Facebook through our page.

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Or they can call the office

directly and we will direct them

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to our volunteer coordinator.

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Fuzz Martin: And, does that also

go for if, if a business or family

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wants to, donate to the program or

either donate in terms of financially

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or if they want to, donate gifts?

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I know some, like our family each year,

we look forward to getting a family that

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we, you know, get the age and what the

child is looking for and then, we make it

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a point to show our kids that we're going

out and buying for another kid who needs

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something this year and, it's a kind of

a, a learning process for our kids, so for

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those who want to, to do that is that they

go through the kind of the same process.

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Christina McGinn: Yes.

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So we have a form you fill out.

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Um, you can tell us what size family

you want, if there's anything specific.

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If there's certain ages of, of kids,

that you want to shop for, we take

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all of that, try to match you as

closely as possible with the family.

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You get a wishlist for every

family member as well as, household

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items that they might need.

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And do all of the shopping and you can

drop that off, once we're in our location.

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We also have a wish list, that we do

with a wholesale company that you can

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purchase items in bulk for us that we use.

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You can also come and just drop

items off when, when we're there.

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and kind of see, what's, what's

going on and see what, what

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all of that looks like.

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We also have a lot of local businesses

that do collections for us, that

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you can drop off items there.

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Fuzz Martin: Excellent.

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So speaking of items, what would

you say are the most essential

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items that The community can donate

that would make the biggest impact.

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Christina McGinn: I would say

items for our adult family members.

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You know, we have Fleet Farm and

Menards that both do toy drives for us.

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We get tons of donations of toys.

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But again, because, you know,

we really want to have the, the

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family memories of opening gifts.

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We like the parents and, and adults

in the families to have gifts as well.

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So, yeah.

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Hairdryers, curling irons,

makeup, cologne, deodorant,

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tools, car kits, fishing stuff.

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Those, those items that are more geared

towards adults are definitely mostly.

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Limor Hendricks: Small

electronics, things like that.

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Christina McGinn: Yeah.

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Fuzz Martin: Okay, and

that, yeah, definitely.

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And, because everybody thinks about kids,

I think, when you're, donating, It's

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easy to, think about that, but think about

the families as well and, and bringing

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a smile to everybody's face, I think.

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How does Youth and Family Project work

to make this experience uplifting for

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families in need around the holidays?

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Limor Hendricks: So we really try

to make everybody feel welcomed.

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We try to make it as easy

and comfortable as possible.

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We don't ever want anyone to feel like,

like they should be embarrassed about

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this because, you know, everybody hits

a rough spot and that's why we do this.

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We want to make sure everybody's got

like a really great holiday experience.

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And when they come in, even though

it's a bit chaotic when they come

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in to pick up their gifts, they'll,

they'll meet smiling people.

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It'll be festive.

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And this year we do have

something extra fun planned.

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I can't really share the details yet.

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But it'll be, hopefully

we'll be able to pull it off.

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It'll be like a special, extra, very

family friendly, very holiday friendly

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kind of a, of a treat for everybody.

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Fuzz Martin: Excellent.

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Speaking of that, do you have any fun,

positive, uplifting stories from the

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past that kind of stand out to you,

from years past with Gingerbread House?

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Limor Hendricks: So, for me, there, there

are a lot of families who come in and

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they get very emotional when they see the

generosity of the sponsors and the donors.

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One in particular, was a woman who'd

never applied to the program before

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and was a little bit confused about,

how it was a run and wasn't sure if

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she missed, the deadline to pick up.

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And when she came to, pick up the

toys, and the other gifts, she

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was, she was very overwhelmed.

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She was very emotional and grateful

and couldn't stop thanking me.

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And I just reminded her.

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That it's not me she needs to thank.

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She doesn't need to thank anybody,

but that this is the community

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basically coming together.

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And it's just, it's a very feel good kind

of a moment to know that, that people

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are getting these special memories.

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That even though they're going

through difficulties, at least their

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holidays, are gonna be this, like,

beautiful, uplifting, enjoyable, memory.

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And we get emails.

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After the program closes, from families

who are just so grateful and tell

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us how their families never had such

an amazing, holiday season and that

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they're really moved and touched, and

that, that is a wonderful feeling.

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Christina McGinn: I do too.

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I love, we've have a handful of families

that have come full circle that started

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out as participants, have gotten into a

better place in life and become sponsors.

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And they are so thankful that they are

able to get back to the, the program

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that helped them when they, you know,

wouldn't have been able to provide

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Christmas for their family otherwise.

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Fuzz Martin: Excellent.

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Love that.

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Can you, going back to the volunteers

or community members, can you tell

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us about, you know, maybe a community

member or volunteer that has played

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a crucial, crucial role in Making the

Gingerbread House program, successful.

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Limor Hendricks: I would say our core

volunteers who show up almost every

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day, who show up year after year, who,

who really understand how the program

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works and are just, are just there

to do whatever needs to get done.

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And they're, they're just amazing.

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And we will thank them.

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We will have a post up and thank them

specifically, but they're, we have a core

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group of volunteers who is just amazing.

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Their dedication.

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And their, their passion

for this is, is incredible.

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And we, yeah, we absolutely could

not do this, without that help.

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We're a relatively small agency.

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We don't have that many staff members.

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And, yeah, they literally

make this program.

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Fuzz Martin: Um, was very good segue.

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So speaking of that, for those who are

new to the Youth and Family Project, what

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are some of the broader ways that your

organization helps the youth and families

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here in West Bend and Washington County?

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Christina McGinn: Yeah, so we've got

a couple of different programs outside

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of Gingerbread House that we run.

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We have Family Corner, where we provide

supervised visitation for non custodial

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parents and their kids in a, you

know, in our office, which is an all

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converted house, really comfortable

environment to just try to make everyone

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feel really safe and comfortable.

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We have our Crossroads program that

provides free counseling services, uh,

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within the schools in Washington County.

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Limor Hendricks: And, and we also

do outreach, so we're out in the

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community, our services with

people, giving them information

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about how to access mental health.

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And we also have the LGBTQ plus services.

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We have support groups for both youth

and caregivers, and try to connect them

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to resources and information, so that

they can navigate and parent effectively

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and, and have the support that they need.

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Fuzz Martin: What are some of the biggest

challenges that you face, running,

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we'll say running this program, in

general, the Gingerbread House program.

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We'll start with that.

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Limor Hendricks: The biggest

challenge is the location because

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we, we need a location every year.

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We don't have a permanent location.

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And we need a really big space.

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It's a lot of gifts.

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It's a lot of donations.

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And we have to be able to sort them,

to, to group them properly, to make

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sure that when people come and pick

them up, It's not complete chaos.

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Mm-Hmm.

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. And we still don't have

a location this year.

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Fuzz Martin: When you say really big,

what, what kind of space are you talking?

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Limor Hendricks: So

approximately 12,000 square feet.

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Fuzz Martin: Okay.

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Limor Hendricks: Preferably with

bathroom facilities, accessible parking.

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Hopefully with some heat

because it does get cold.

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Mm-Hmm.

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. Um, and really we need it for

the entire month of December.

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A little bit before and a little

bit after is very helpful.

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Um, and really the ideal space that we've

identified would be the closed UW campus.

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That would be a perfect location for us.

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It's empty, it's got all the facilities,

it's got the parking, um, yeah.

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And that would be an amazing spot for us.

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Fuzz Martin: Um, if somebody has

a space 12, 000 square feet or

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bigger with, parking and, restrooms.

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How can, should they get in touch

with you directly off the website?

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What's the best way to get in touch?

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Limor Hendricks: Yeah, absolutely.

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Um, if they could reach out to us,

they can speak specifically, to Emily

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Green, who's our executive director.

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That would be fantastic.

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If people have an interest in,

helping us secure the UW campus,

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they can, they certainly can email

the county, and encourage them.

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Because this is a really big

program, it, it helps thousands

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of people in Washington County.

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And we would like to make it as

smooth as possible for everybody.

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Fuzz Martin: Alright, very good.

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Looking ahead, how would you

like to see the Gingerbread House

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program grow or change to meet

future needs for our community?

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www.

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gingerbreadhouse.

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com

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Christina McGinn: I think, like Limor

said, space is always an issue, so

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having a donated space that we can

depend on would be super helpful,

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especially just in terms of figuring

out how to lay out, things every year

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to make it be as smooth as possible.

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You know, when you have 550 families

worth of gifts, that's a lot of

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packages, a lot of things to try

and keep track of, keep organized as

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people are dropping off and picking up.

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So the more space that we have to

be able to do that makes it easier.

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We are always looking for more sponsors

to provide those gifts for our families.

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You know, our participants

grow every year.

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Our sponsors don't grow

at quite the same rate.

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Um, so, or even businesses that are

willing to, you know, do gift collections

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for us is, is always super helpful.

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Limor Hendricks: Yeah.

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And we could always use, financial

donations as well to help, pay for

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the actual running of the program.

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As well as additional programming

that we want to roll into it, like I

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mentioned, the little surprise we're

hoping to pull off, that we will

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definitely be pulling off next year,

but that requires sponsorship as well.

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So if anybody has interest in

sponsoring the program itself

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as well, just reach out to us.

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Fuzz Martin: Very good.

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And then, one last time for listeners

interested in getting involved, if they

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have a potential space in mind or if

they want to make a donation, what's the

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best way for them to contribute or reach

out to the Gingerbread House program?

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Christina McGinn: So if they want to

sponsor a family, they can go on our

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website and there's a link to become

a sponsor and fill out that form.

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They can also email us at,

gingerbread at youthandfamilyproject.

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: 00:16:15

org.

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: 00:16:16

Or, uh, they can call the

office and we've got a menu they

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: 00:16:19

can get to us, 262 338 1661.

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: 00:16:23

Limor Hendricks: And that would apply for

anybody who has a space in mind, as well.

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: 00:16:28

If somebody wants to apply, applications

are still open until November 22nd.

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That information is available on both

our Facebook page and our website.

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: 00:16:37

Fuzz Martin: Alright.

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: 00:16:37

Very good.

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: 00:16:38

Well, Limor, Christina, thank

you so much for coming in.

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: 00:16:41

Thanks for all you do for people in our

community who, need a little joy this

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: 00:16:45

time of year and, really appreciate all

you do, for folks in Washington County.

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: 00:16:51

again to Christina McGinn and Limor

Hendricks from the Youth and Family

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: 00:16:55

Project for joining me on this week's

episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.

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: 00:16:59

Again, if you have a lead on a building

they can use to house their efforts

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: 00:17:04

this season, please reach out to them.

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: 00:17:06

And as always, if you ever have

an idea for a guest for this

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: 00:17:09

show, please reach out to me.

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: 00:17:11

You can email me fuzz at fuzzmartin.

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: 00:17:13

com, that is fuzz at fuzzmartin.

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: 00:17:15

com.

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: 00:17:16

You can text me 262 299

: 3899

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: 00:17:23

Or you can fill out the form fuzzmartin.

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: 00:17:25

com slash guest.

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: 00:17:27

So many easy ways to get in touch.

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: 00:17:30

So few excuses for you not to.

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: 00:17:33

New episodes drop on Apple Podcasts,

YouTube, Spotify, and at fuzzmartin.

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: 00:17:37

com every Tuesday.

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: 00:17:38

And with that, I will talk to

you next Tuesday, right here

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: 00:17:41

on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.