Venus Foundation Aids Homeless in Kalamazoo

The 13th Baby It's Cold Outside event offered winter supplies and food to homeless residents while helping locate missing people.

Updated on Nov. 7, 2026 in Philanthropy

Venus Foundation Aids Homeless in Kalamazoo

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Should your community be doing more to help homeless residents survive winter?

The Venus Foundation held its 13th Baby It's Cold Outside event on Saturday in Kalamazoo, Michigan, providing warm clothing, blankets, hygiene items, shoes, boots, and hot food to homeless people. The event also seeks information about missing persons within the homeless population.

Why it matters

The event pairs winter necessities for Kalamazoo's unhoused residents with a search for missing people, linking direct community aid to missing-person efforts. For local residents, it shows one way nonprofits are addressing both immediate needs and long-unresolved disappearances.

The event is in its 13th year, and at least one missing person has been found in each year it has been held. Organizers have not released totals for attendees served or the number of missing people located overall.

The players

Venus Foundation

A Kalamazoo-based nonprofit that serves domestic violence survivors and organizes missing-person searches, founded in memory of Venus Stewart.

Mary Hopkins

Venus Stewart's aunt, who founded the Venus Foundation after her niece went missing and has led its missing-person outreach.

Kalamazoo Dream Center

A local Kalamazoo organization that received leftover food from the event.

The details

Organizers gave homeless attendees donated winter items and served spaghetti, chili, biscuits and gravy, turkey and noodles, and cookies, then asked whether guests could share information about missing people. The Venus Foundation, founded by Mary Hopkins in memory of her niece Venus Stewart, who went missing for eight years, also serves domestic violence survivors and organizes missing-person searches. Leftover food was donated to the Kalamazoo Dream Center.

Saturday (before November 7, 2026): Venus Foundation held its 13th Baby It's Cold Outside event in Kalamazoo.

Big Picture

Community-led missing-person outreach like the Venus Foundation's complements formal national systems such as NamUs by reaching populations that may be harder to connect through official reports. Its model pairs that search with direct services for the unhoused.

Residents of Kalamazoo who want to help can attend future Venus Foundation events or support the organization's missing-person searches. Those who can share information about a missing person may contact the foundation directly.

The takeaway

Community-based outreach can reach people that formal systems miss, offering both practical aid and a path to information about missing loved ones. Supporting local nonprofits that combine services with search efforts can strengthen both.