Never let a pandemic closed coffee shop waste to-go cups where thereâs a need at the Payson Homeless and Homeless Veterans Initiative Warming Center.
The Mazatzal Hotel & Casino recently made a large donation of paper goods to the warming center operated by PHHVI.
Staff said most of the paper goods came from the closed Coffee Korner in the casino.
Penny DeGroot, treasurer for PHHVI couldnât contain her excitement when she posed with grandson Ronnie when the two received the donation.
She told casino staff this donation will now allow PHHVI to provide warm drinks and soup with their to-go dinners.
The grieving mother came into the Payson homeless warming center at the Mount Cross Lutheran Church simply to donate her sonâs clothes.
He had died two years earlier from cancer and she couldnât think of a better way to honor his memory, said Emily Brice, vice president and head chef of the Payson Homeless and Homeless Veterans Initiative.
But this mother found something more.
âSheâs been volunteering every night since,â said Brice.
Thatâs just part of the Christmas miracle Brice and her fellow board members and volunteers feel this year, even though COVID has changed everything.