AIM Offers Hope for Holiday; Community Support Important

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

As the holidays arrive, the work at AIM feels, this season, more vital—and more urgent—than ever.

“I get the joy of heading up our Christmas program,” said Sarah Ann Bannister, director of resource development at AIM, with the candor of someone quietly assembling miracles with the kind of optimism that manages to survive both paperwork and scarcity.

AIM, in its essence, is a bridge: connecting Andersonians not merely to sacks of rice and boxes of canned food, but, as Bannister puts it, “support, resources, and education,” the essentials required for families to cross from unease to self-sufficiency.

The food pantry, one of the linchpins of the ministry, has been called into extraordinary action this year.

“We’ve seen more families than ever,” Bannister said.

Even Kristie King-Brock, AIM’s founder and executive director with 35 winters of experience, admits the need is unprecedented. The nationwide constraints affecting SNAP benefits—constraints felt most keenly in places like Anderson, where community often outruns policy.

But as November wanes, the local mood begins to shift. “We are excited that it is moving in a positive direction,” Bannister said. Hope animates the busy office—and expands outside its doors. On Monday, AIM orchestrated its annual Thanksgiving distribution at the Civic Center, serving a thousand families with food and, one suspects, with a helping of reassurance.

For Bannister and her colleagues, the holidays are a chance not just to hand out turkeys, but to offer the sort of connection that fortifies Anderson anew each year. The country may change one program at a time, but here, it starts with hands outstretched—and an unwavering kind of hope.

To donate or volunteer, visit AIM.