Some people leave a legacy. Others leave a piece of themselves in the people and places they touched. Don Vander Kooy did both.

It is with profound sadness that we mourn the passing of Don- longtime President and CEO of Family & Children Services and a truly extraordinary leader, mentor, advocate, and friend.

For 37 years, Don devoted his life to Family & Children Services. He helped guide the organization through decades of change, growth, and transformation. He always kept the same thing at the heart of his leadership: children, individuals, and families who needed someone to care for and believe in them.

But Don’s impact cannot be measured simply in years of service, programs created, buildings built, or milestones achieved. His greatest legacy was the people he encouraged, the lives he touched, and the belief he instilled in others that the work we do here matters.

Even after retiring in 2005, Don never really left Family & Children Services. He remained a supporter, advisor, donor, and mentor. He continued to show up, to encourage us, to ask how things were going, and to remind us why we do what we do.

That kind of love for an organization, and for a community, is rare.

It is difficult to think about the story of Family & Children Services without thinking about Don. So much of the foundation we stand on today was shaped by his vision, his dedication, and his unwavering belief in our mission.

And yet, perhaps his greatest lesson was a simple one: while the ways we serve people may change, our responsibility to care for one another never does. If you take one thing from Don's life, we hope it's that: our responsibility to care for one another is profound and enduring.

We will miss his wisdom. We will miss his encouragement. We will miss his presence.

Our hearts are with Don’s family, friends, colleagues, and the countless people whose lives he touched throughout Kalamazoo and beyond.

Thank you, Don, for believing in Family & Children Services, for believing in our community, and for spending so much of your life helping make both stronger.

This year's United Way Day of Caring was truly humbling. Eaton Cummins had dozens of volunteers help load kits for our clients. Everything from warm kits with hats, gloves, and hand warmers, to school supply kits, period kits, math and food kits.

The impact of this one day of generosity will be felt throughout the fall and winter for our clients. Thank you to each one of you for spending your day ensuring our clients have some of their basic needs met!

This week, we had the joy of unveiling our new Lending Library, a beautiful space created with our clients and their families in mind.

This library truly started as a labor of love for our Board Member, Emily Gardner. For months, Emily asked friends and family to drop off their almost-new books on her doorstep. When the books started bursting out of one of our rooms, we knew it was time to create an entire library!

And who better to help bring the vision to life than Emily, who also happens to be an interior designer? Working alongside our Development Team, she helped transform the collection into a welcoming, beautiful space for our clients.

Today, more than 5,000 books have been donated! Clients and their families can enjoy a book while they’re here or choose one to take home and enjoy together.

One of our visions for the future of our community is that parents have the resources they need to support their children’s growth and development. This Lending Library is one piece of that puzzle, and we’re so excited to see the impact it will have.

A heartfelt thank you to Emily and to everyone who donated books and helped make this vision a reality. Your generosity is helping create a community where families can learn, grow, and thrive, one book at a time.

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, over 1,000 children had the opportunity to experience summer enrichment activities that may not have otherwise been possible. From trips to the zoo and Michigan’s Adventure to summer camps, tutoring programs, and so much more.

For many of the children we serve, our organization becomes part of their lives during some of their hardest moments. While we’re here to provide support during those difficult times, we’re also grateful to be able to create moments filled with joy, discovery, connection, and hope.

This summer, your generosity gave children the chance to make memories, try new things, learn, explore, and simply enjoy being a kid.

Thank you to every donor who made Summer Enrichment possible. Your support helped make this summer special for more than 1,000 children and reminded them that brighter moments are possible.