DOWAGIAC — Earlier this month, a local group of volunteers was surprised with a “thank-you” for making a difference in the community.

Area charity One Good Deed Michiana recently recognized Jubilee Ministries with a ceremony and donation for the work Jubilee does in the Michiana area.

Since 2000, Jubilee has provided church services once a month at First United Methodist Church in Dowagiac for individuals with developmental disabilities. Each service is tailored to the needs of the developmentally disabled from providing sign language to interactive services. Disabled persons from living communities in Niles, Cassopolis and Dowagiac are brought to the service, with several volunteers with Jubilee Ministries providing transportation for those who want to attend the services, said Pat Huttenstine, a representative of Jubilee Ministries of the recognition.

“This is all about providing something for them,” she said. “Whatever they want to do is how we try to encourage them.”

The motto of One Good Deed Michiana is “helping those who help others because one good deed can change a life,” and the goal of the organization is to recognize those who are working to make a difference in their respective communities, according to the charity’s founder Allison Hayes Freeze-Shelton. She said Jubilee Ministries lives up to the motto and mission of One Good Deed Michiana by being a group of individuals that are dedicated to providing something special for others in their community.

“We want to show that even one good deed can change someone’s life and to encourage others to continue to do that. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. Little things can make a difference, too,” she said. “[Volunteers with Jubilee Ministries] have been doing this on their own time with their own money. They are just doing this out of the kindness of their hearts to help those that they see in the community that can’t go to ‘traditional’ church services. It goes beyond the message of God that they are sharing. It is friendship, kindness and acceptance.”

Huttenstine said she was grateful for the recognition by One Good Deed Michiana.

“This is just really wonderful,” she said. “We appreciate it very much.”

She added that she was glad that the greater community was seeing what Jubilee Ministries was doing in the community, saying that she hoped the recognition would inspire more to volunteer with the organization so that the group could provide even greater services to the area’s developmentally disabled.

“I’ve seen what good this can do,” Huttenstine said. “It really does help [the developmentally disabled] make a connection.”

To volunteer with Jubilee Ministries, visit the group during its regular meetings at 5:30 p.m. on the second and third Thursday of each month at First United Methodist Church, 326 N. Lowe St., Dowagiac.

To volunteer a person or group of volunteers to be recognized by One Good Deed Michiana, email Freeze-Shelton at ahayes@onegooddeedmichiana.org.