OMAHA, Neb (KMTV) — Nonprofit Abide Omaha practiced generosity in spades by handing out toys, hot meals, and pantry boxes to families in need.
Volunteer Sam Munns hopes service can give him the opportunity to understand and empathize with others.
"We're meeting such basic needs, you know, I probably overlook a lot of this stuff from my own life, because it's easy for me to come by this, I just have it and these people don't," Munns said.
"We're giving around 7000 toys, we're also impacting around 2500 individuals, but also serving 900 kids in the community," Abide Executive Director Joey McKernan said.
The "Better Together Christmas Store" has been donating items for 5 years. McKernan has already seen tremendous growth.
"When we first started the Christmas Store, we probably had no more than 100 families come through, it was probably in a little room, and we just had families come in, now you see we have thousands of people coming in this store, we have hundreds of organizations partnering with us to support it, so it's obviously grown tremendously," McKernan said.
Munns has a desire to delve deep into these communities.
"I've seen these North Omaha neighborhoods through my job over the years, and I've actually been in some situations that seem kind of dangerous and scary just being in this neighborhood, I want to be the person, instead of running away from that neighborhood, we're going towards that," Munns said.
Showing up when service is needed that's how Munns hopes to help re-strengthen inner-city Omaha.
"You show up in this neighborhood, you meet these people, the smiles, the high-fives, the happy kids and families, they'll break all your ideas you have in your mind and they'll show you this is just another neighborhood, they're just like you and me," Munns said.
For more information on Abide, click here.
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