The holiday lights are up on Franklin Street in Michigan City. In store windows, perfect gifts are wrapped in shimmering paper. Families will soon gather around warm tables, planning celebrations filled with laughter and joy as the holiday season begins. For our unhoused neighbors, the holiday season tells a very different story.
Where others see magic, they see fear.
With the temperatures dropping and festivities beginning, those experiencing homelessness face their darkest days of the year. The cheerful chaos that marks this season for many becomes a painful reminder of everything they’ve lost: home safety, community, and friends. The holidays don’t bring joy; they bring anxiety about where the next meal will come from, whether their clothes will keep them warm and dry through another freezing night, and if they’ll find a safe place to lay their head.
Their holiday wishes are whispered as prayers for survival.
This year, we’re launching our holiday fundraiser that asks you to see the holidays through their eyes: “My Holiday Wish Is…”
However, these wish lists don’t request the latest gadgets, toys, or luxury items. They ask for what most of us can’t imagine living without:
My holiday wish is… a warm meal that fills my empty stomach.
My holiday wish is… a heavy coat to shield me from the bitter cold.
My holiday wish is… a safe bed where I don’t have to sleep with one eye open.
My holiday wish is… the stability to rebuild my life.
These aren’t extravagant requests. They’re basic human needs. The things that allow someone to survive and reconnect to their community through the support of Nest Community Shelter and Nest La Porte.
Every week throughout this season, we’ll share the real wishes of our shelter’s guests with fictionalized personas, respecting their privacy and dignity. Behind every statistic about the unhoused is a person who deserves warmth, dignity, and a chance at a better tomorrow. The holidays are about coming together, about compassion, about remembering those who need us most. So this year, we’re asking you to be part of something truly meaningful. To look beyond the glittering decorations and see the faces of your neighbors who are struggling. To understand that your generosity doesn’t just provide a meal or a bed, it provides a home for this holiday and all of the holidays to come for our guests.
Because no one should spend the holidays fighting just to survive.
Join us in this fundraiser. Follow along each week on our social media and share these stories. Help us turn these simple, heartbreaking wishes into reality. Because, together, we can give the gift that matters most: the basic dignity that every human being deserves.
How to Help
