MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - This holiday season has been difficult for many families during this unprecedented time of the COVID-19 crisis. Many businesses and organizations have reduced staffing or closed in order to keep people safe.

HOMTV spoke with Darla Jackson, the Human Services Specialist for Meridian Township, about the impact this has had on families, “We are trying to keep people socially distant and still help people in the community, and I have been working with organizations to connect households in need with food for the holidays. Usually we would ask people to sponsor food baskets, but what we’re asking for this year is just asking for a donation so that we can either purchase the food or gift cards for food for households in need. Meridian Cares hasn’t been able to have traditional fundraisers like they usually would this year and have been working with organizations to connect households in need with food for the holidays."

“What my colleagues and I have been seeing more is people that are very low income can’t access the services they usually would be able to, because people are working from home and places just aren’t open and some of the places are out of funding,” Jackson said. “It’s very different from what we had expected and we’re trying to shift everything to meet the needs that are there in the time frame that is necessary so people don’t end up evicted, homeless, or go hungry.”

Jackson added, “I think there are a lot of people who are going to be cutting back. I think it’s going to put a lot of more stress on people and everyone wants to have a lovely holiday and get together with their families. It is very hard to see extended family in a pandemic. With the amount of people who are struggling right now, we are going to try our best to meet the needs that are out there.”

You can watch the full video on HOMTV's Youtube channel.