Kits of hope: Holland Financial donates 1,000 homeless aid kits to Halifax Urban Ministries | Observer Local News

Holland Financial recently assembled 1,250 kits for the homeless carrying messages, and items, to provide hope.

One-thousand of the "God Loves Me" kits were donated on Friday, Oct. 4, to Halifax Urban Ministries. The kits were assembled at the Holland Financial headquarters in Ormond Beach by employees, all containing first aid supplies, socks, tissues, an emergency blanket, hygiene products, a flashlight, a panic whistle and a book titled, "The Case for Easter," by Lee Strobel.

The kits were the brainchild of David Holland, CEO of Holland Financial, who said people are often looking for ways to aid people in need, particularly homeless individuals.

"Their hearts want to help, but their minds don't know how," Holland said.

He sought to provide an easy way to do that, and the idea of the kits came to mind. He wanted to provide something that people would hold on to, was durable and carried messaging that would encourage them to seek help from the resources available in the community.

"The idea with this was to create a way to give them something that would be sustained and meaningful, and also be able to give them some important messaging," Holland said. "... Of course, the big message is right on the kit, which is 'God loves me.' Not, 'God loves you' — I could tell them that, but the kit will reinforce it because every time they pick it up, it'll have that message."

His hope is that people will then seek out a church community to speak about their faiths.

Most of Halifax Urban Ministries' programs have the word "hope" in them, said Executive Director Buck James.

"We know as Christians that God calls us to feed the hungry and to clothe those who need clothing, but if that's all we do, we don't really make a difference," James said. "But when you spark hope within somebody, it's a game changer — it's a life changer for them."

That's one of the reasons the kits are exciting, he added. They're providing useful items for people in need, but they're also carrying a message of hope. Inside the kits is also a directory of resources for Volusia and Flagler counties, including contact information for Flagler Cares, the Commission on Homelessness to Housing and United Way's 211 hotline.

Distributing the kits, James said, is something valuable people can now do to help.

"They don't need to be afraid about doing it," he said. "They can do it right there at the spot and so it's helping people to be part of the solution."

Holland Financial has kept 250 of the kits for clients and employees to distribute as well. In addition to the kits, Holland Financial also found themselves in a surplus of socks, so 288 pairs were donated to the Hurricane Helene Relief Collection. Some of the kits, James said, will likely be donated from HUM to hurricane relief.

"We're so excited to be part of it and to play our role," James said. "Thank you to David and Holland Financial and all of your clients that make this possible. I think this is just the beginning of something."

Holland said his team — he employs 25 full-time people in Ormond Beach — became very excited at the idea of the kits. Each year, the company has a "Plan Stronger Together Program" to help the community, and the kits are part of that. His company has four stakeholders, he said: employees, ownership, clients and the community.

"This allows us to fulfill that fourth and very important aspect of our organizational goals and mission, which is to serve the community, but to do it in a very tangible way," Holland said.