• Courtesy: Mankowski Christmas Party GoFundMe page

MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - During this time of year, families come together and shower each other with gifts, love and peace. But unfortunately, not all families are as blessed as others. However, because of a genuinely compassionate resident that wants nothing more than bringing happiness into the homes of those less fortunate, he is helping create the "Merry" in "Merry Christmas" during this holiday season.

Since 1991, Gayelord Mankowski, a former Meridian Township Police Officer, and his family have been giving back to the community, primarily children who are underprivileged.

"My father used to take myself and my other siblings to an orphanage in Harbor Springs every Christmas and that's kinda where I got a hitch for this," Mankowski stated.

He started off hosting a holiday party for kids that lived in a trailer park who aren't as lucky as most.

"We started with that for the first 5 years and then I got a little more on my feet and it kept growing to 60, 70, 80 kids and it got a little out of hand for me so I reached out to the community and man, it's been grassroots ever since," mentioned Mankowski.

And now, the holiday party is bigger and better than ever.

"We keep growing..this year was a record year," Mankowski said.

Approximately $10,000 was raised and donated from the community this year to provide area children with gifts.

"We buy all the toys based off of how much we have and we're not buying trinkets…we're buying NICE stuff," Mankowski stated.

"Nice stuff" has included Play Stations in the past.

And more recently, Mankowski has been gearing up for this year's holiday party which is being held on Saturday, December 12th at the Central Elementary School in the Okemos school district from 12-1:30 p.m.

"We set up, our volunteers come in..cookies, cakes, pop…the Chief buys pizzas from Leo's Lodge…the kids come in and we start feeding them and the toys are all lined up so they can kinda get an idea what they might wana get and we just pull names out of a hat…and then they rotate and go see Santa who's delivered by the Fire Department on a giant fire truck," mentioned Mankowski.

At last years event, a group of 150 kids attended.

"I've had kids show up that were staying at hotels..that's the kind of people that we're trying to reach out to," Mankowski said.

The party is generally geared towards toddlers and 5th-7th graders, however Mankowski strongly encourages that if any child or family is in need this holiday to come on down.

"If you got a kid thats gonna have a crappy Christmas, send them my way because for an hour and a half they can kinda tune out of it and have fun," Mankowski said.

Gayelord continues to touch the lives of families in the community with his passion for cheering up a troubled home and providing these children with the Christmas they deserve.

"The big heroes in this are the parents who step up and bring their kids to something like this because it has to be humbling or… I just can't imagine what that would feel like inside but they put their kids in front of themselves and that's what's important," Mankowski said.

This is the 25th year that this holiday party has taken place and there are many more years to come.