Roseann Newcomer, an Overland Park business owner, is now giving back to the Johnson County Christmas Bureau after she benefited from the nonprofit’s holiday market as both a child and single mother.
Catch up quick: Newcomer will be on the Bureau’s board in 2023 and is also working as a volunteer shopping escort at the Bureau’s annual market for low-income residents this December.
- Her past experience as a client of the Bureau, she says, shapes her work as a volunteer.
Key quote: “It’s allowed me to give back in all kinds of different ways,” she said. “That’s probably one of the things (volunteering at the bureau) does —it allows me to be blessed, and to be able to give blessings back. It fills you up so much more than a job that you’ll be paid for.”
Backstory: Newcomer was raised in Mission and first came to the Bureau’s holiday market as an eight-year-old with her mother (The Bureau typically doesn’t allow children at its holiday market, but Newcomer’s mother couldn’t find a babysitter that year).
- It was the first time, she said, that she had a chance to pick out a winter coat that had not previously belonged to one of her two older sisters.
- Twenty years later, Newcomer was a single mother herself and struggling to buy her own two children — a son and daughter — Christmas presents.
- She qualified to get goods from the Johnson County Christmas Bureau’s holiday market, which allows Johnson County residents living at or below 150% of the federal poverty line to shop for free essentials and gift items, like toys and clothes.
Giving back: In addition to her volunteer time and her upcoming work serving on the board, she and her husband Raymond, with whom she owns R & R Construction Services in Lenexa, are “diamond-level” sponsors of the Johnson County Christmas Bureau’s Holiday of Hope event.
Wider impact of the Johnson County Christmas Bureau
Nina Kimbrough, executive director at the Johnson County Christmas Bureau, said volunteers like Newcomer are a good example of the kind of heart that goes into putting on the holiday market.
- The bureau has roughly 3,500 volunteers this year, but is still seeking volunteer assistance — especially for helping take down the shop after the market ends Dec. 10.
A final thought: “It just shows the love and the dedication that our community has for our neighbors,” Kimbrough said. “That’s what we’re all about — sharing the joy of the season, sharing our hearts with our neighbors and hoping that they feel that they are loved and cared about.”
