A Season of Warmth: When Community Becomes the Heat We All Need

One of volunteer stylists, Donna, with a guest after a haircut.

Our holiday pop-up at Standard Live! has always carried a kind of magic, but this year’s Season of Warmth Pop-Up Care Village felt different from the moment the doors opened. Maybe it was the way the cold drove people inside with relief instead of urgency, or how volunteers seemed to greet guests not as strangers, but as neighbors they had been waiting to see again. Maybe it was the memory woven into the walls. Standard Live! is where Make-A-Day first learned to show up in any space that would have us, offer meals, and build community in rooms that were not meant for it, but became home all the same.

Whatever it was, the day felt like a return to our roots and a step into something new all at once.

Guests streamed in steadily, 160+ officially checked in, though it felt like more as the space filled with movement and conversation. Our warming center van pulled up with several neighbors who were experiencing their very first Make-A-Day pop-up, and seeing them step into this community for the first time felt especially meaningful.

The haircut stations buzzed nonstop. Stylists leaned in close, listening as they trimmed and shaped, offering far more than fresh fades. By the end of the day, more than 60 haircuts were completed, with guests settling into chairs naturally throughout the afternoon as stylists became available.

Across the room, the legal navigation area never quieted. Fifteen guests met with the expungement team, and four people walked away with their records cleared, an act that often marks the beginning of a life that suddenly feels possible again. Many others found help with different legal needs they had been carrying for years.

And then there was Mission Warmth. Their bus pulled in early, and by the end of the afternoon nearly 100 neighbors living outdoors had stepped inside to get winter supplies, talk with their team, or simply rest somewhere warm. Just outside, Mt. Carmel Street Medicine parked their mobile unit and spent the afternoon treating a range of health concerns for guests who needed it.

Throughout the space, small moments stitched the day together as partners met guests with warmth and expertise. Columbus Public Health handed out 48 boxes of NARCAN and harm reduction supplies, while CMHA distributed 100 hygiene kits that guests called “the good stuff.” Lutheran Social Services gave away every pair of shoes they brought, and the African American Male Wellness Agency shared nearly 150 wellness materials. Nearby, Molina Healthcare, CareSource, and Humana answered questions about coverage and member benefits, and OhioMeansJobs helped guests explore work and training opportunities.

Mission Warmth’s supplies bus.

Franklin County Office on Aging and Franklin County Department of Job and Family Services guided people through county supports, while the Office of the Ohio Public Defender and a tenant rights attorney provided legal information. Basecamp, Volunteers of America, Community Medical Services, Southeast RREACT, OJPP S.A.F.E.R, Mid-Ohio Food Collective, Lohen Benefits Advisors, and Oak Street Health each spent the afternoon connecting guests to services that could stabilize their health, housing, or daily needs. Everywhere you looked, someone was helping someone else move one step closer to safety, stability, or simply feeling seen.

Thank you to BMI Federal Credit Union for sponsoring this event’s Dignity Market.

The Dignity Market was especially vibrant this year, sponsored by BMI Federal Credit Union, who also sent a team of volunteers to help guests find exactly what they needed. Shoes, blankets, winter gear, and clothing moved steadily out into the community, each item landing in the hands of someone who needed it more than we could ever know.

Food and warmth came from all directions. Starbucks sent baristas who poured fresh, hot coffee all day long, something our guests ask for every single event but rarely get to enjoy. Anthony-Thomas Chocolates donated sweets that made their way into hands and pockets, little surprises that brought smiles. And out on the food truck, our team served the signature burgers we have become known for, the kind that draw a line on their own simply because they taste like comfort.

Near the stage, a guest danced with her mother to the holiday playlist echoing through the hall, a moment of joy suspended in the middle of an otherwise long and heavy winter. A stylist and a guest discovered a shared piece of their past and hugged as if they had known each other for years. Partners described conversation after conversation as unusually deep, and unusually human; the kind of dialogue they rarely get time for.

These are the stories that do not show up in dashboards or quarterly reports, but they are the stories that matter. They are the heartbeat of Make-A-Day.

Longtime volunteers Mike and Lisa oversaw the Dignity Market, alongside their friends from aquafit. They organized shoes, refolded coats, helped guests find the right size, and reconnected with people they have seen over years of service. The first time they ever volunteered with us was at a Standard Live! pop-up. Seeing them return to the same space, now as anchors in our volunteer community, felt like witnessing our past and future meet in the middle of the room.

By the end of the afternoon, nearly every partner told us it was one of the best events they had ever attended. The energy, the warmth, the sense of belonging, it all added up to something larger than event metrics can capture.

And maybe that is what the Season of Warmth really is, a reminder that even in the harshest months, community can be the heat that carries people through. That a meal and a conversation can be the beginning of a new chapter. That joy can bloom unexpectedly on a cold December afternoon.

As we packed the final bins and turned off the lights, the room felt lighter than when we arrived, full of stories, full of connection, full of the kind of warmth no winter can quiet.

Thank you to our Starbucks’ baristas for serving up coffee and hot chocolate throughout the event.

A special thanks to BMI Federal Credit Union, Starbucks, Anthony-Thomas Chocolates, Standard Live!, Short North Rotary, Mission Warmth, Mt. Carmel Street Medicine, the Ohio Public Defenders Office, and all of our Giving Tuesday donors for making this event happen.