GSP Initiative
The Human Fund
"Money for People."
Making sure no one in the Cleveland community feels forgotten during the holiday season.
The name is a nod to the fictional charity from Seinfeld — the same show that inspired GSP's founding. George Costanza's made-up "Human Fund" became something real: a holiday program with a simple, earnest purpose. Learn about GSP's origin story ↗
About the Program
The Holidays Should Feel Like the Holidays — for Everyone
The Human Fund is GSP's holiday initiative built on one belief: that no one should feel invisible during the most communal time of year. Whether it is a family going through financial hardship, an elderly resident in a nursing home who rarely receives visitors, or a person simply without anyone to celebrate with — The Human Fund steps in to make sure they feel seen, included, and cared for.
Through adopt-a-family programs, nursing home visits, gift drives, holiday meals, and community events, GSP brings the spirit of the season to those who need it most. The holidays are not just about gifts — they are about belonging. And everyone deserves to belong.
What We Do
Programs Within the Program
Adopt a Family
GSP matches donors and community members with families in need during the holiday season — covering gifts, meals, and household essentials so parents can give their children a real Christmas without the financial weight.
Nursing Home Visits
Nearly 60% of nursing home residents receive no regular visitors. GSP brings gifts, cards, music, and most importantly — presence — to residents who might otherwise spend the holidays completely alone.
Holiday Gift Drives
Collecting and distributing toys, clothing, food, and household items to families and individuals across the Cleveland community who are struggling to afford the basics — let alone gifts.
Holiday Meals
A warm holiday meal for someone who would otherwise eat alone is more than food. GSP organizes and funds holiday meals for individuals and families in need across Northeast Ohio.
Community Holiday Events
Bringing people together — the lonely, the isolated, the grieving — for shared holiday experiences that remind them they are part of a community that cares about them.
& More Each Season
Every holiday season, The Human Fund evolves to meet the community's needs. New partnerships, new programs, new ways to make sure the spirit of the season reaches everyone.
Why This Matters
The Holidays Are Lonely for More People Than You Think
The holiday season is marketed as the most joyful time of year. For millions of Americans, it is one of the hardest. These are not edge cases — they are neighbors, family members, and people in our own communities.
61%
of Americans expect to feel lonely or sad during the holiday season
ValuePenguin Survey
14M
Americans will spend Christmas completely alone this year
AMFM Mental Health, 2025
1 in 3
older adults ages 50–80 report feeling lonely — rising during the holidays
National Poll on Healthy Aging, 2024
60%
of nursing home residents receive no regular visitors
University of South Alabama Research
Holiday Loneliness Is Growing
The percentage of Americans experiencing holiday sadness or loneliness increased from 55% in 2021 to 61% in 2024 — a trend moving in the wrong direction. The holiday blues are not a mood; they are a widespread public health reality.
ValuePenguin
The Elderly Are Most Vulnerable
40% of older adults report that their feelings of loneliness intensify during the holiday season. For nursing home residents without regular family contact, the stretch from Thanksgiving through New Year's can be genuinely devastating.
AARP & National Poll on Healthy Aging
Isolation Has Real Health Consequences
Social isolation during the holidays is linked to higher risks of depression, anxiety, heart disease, cognitive decline, and increased mortality. Loneliness is not just emotional — it is a health crisis. A visit, a meal, or a gift is not just kind. It is medicine.
National Poll on Healthy Aging, 2024
Who the Human Fund Reaches
Anyone Who Deserves to Feel Included
Families in Need
Parents who cannot afford gifts or a holiday meal for their children.
Nursing Home Residents
Elderly individuals without regular visitors or family nearby.
Those Grieving
People facing their first holiday after a loss — the hardest kind.
Individuals Alone
Single adults without family nearby who would otherwise spend the day alone.
Community Members
Anyone in the Cleveland area who could use a reminder that they belong.
60%
of nursing home residents
receive no regular visitors
Adopt a Family
Give a Family the Holiday They Could Not Give Themselves
The Adopt a Family program is simple: a family in financial hardship is paired with a donor or group of donors who cover their holiday — gifts for the kids, a holiday meal, winter clothing, household essentials. Whatever that family needs to actually celebrate.
For a parent who has been lying awake at night worried about how to give their children any kind of Christmas, this is not charity. It is relief. It is the ability to watch their kids open gifts and be present for that moment instead of crushed by the weight of what they could not provide.
GSP facilitates the match, handles the logistics, and makes sure the family's dignity is protected throughout the process. Donors never see the family's financial details — just their wish list and their need.
Nursing Home Visits
The Most Important Thing We Bring Is Ourselves
Nursing home visits are perhaps the most quietly meaningful thing The Human Fund does. Research from the University of South Alabama found that nearly 60% of nursing home residents receive no regular visitors. During the holiday season, that isolation becomes almost impossible to bear.
GSP visits local nursing homes with gifts, cards, music, and conversation. We bring volunteers who sit with residents, learn their names, hear their stories, and make sure that for at least one day during the holiday season, no one feels invisible.
"The key is just to take an interest, because most people just feel invisible."— Dr. Whitney Carlson, Geriatrics Psychiatrist, UW MedicineVolunteer for a Visit
of nursing home residents receive no regular visitors
of older adults report loneliness intensifies during the holidays
of adults ages 50–80 report feeling lonely some or often of the time
of all adults experience profound social isolation during the holiday season
In Action
Holiday Moments from The Human Fund
Photos from our holiday programs, family adoptions, nursing home visits, and community events across the Cleveland area.
Adopt-a-Family
Gift delivery day
Nursing Home Visit
Gift Drive
Holiday Meal
Community Event
GSP Holiday Team
Volunteers in action
Photos from our holiday programs coming soon. Follow @project_tgs for updates throughout the holiday season.
How to Help
There Are Many Ways to Be Part of This
Adopt a Family
Cover the holiday for a family in need — gifts, a meal, and the essentials. GSP will match you and handle the logistics.
Adopt a FamilyVolunteer
Join a nursing home visit, help organize a gift drive, or assist with a holiday meal. Your time is one of the most valuable things you can give.
Sign Up to VolunteerDonate to the Fund
Every dollar donated to The Human Fund goes directly toward holiday programs for families and individuals in need across the Cleveland community.
Donate NowKnow a family or individual who needs support this holiday season? Nominate them here.
From The Good Samaritan Project
The holiday season is for everyone —
and we mean everyone.
Nobody should feel forgotten because they cannot afford gifts, because their family is far away, or because age has left them without visitors. The Human Fund exists to close that gap — one family, one nursing home, one meal, one gift, one moment of belonging at a time.
The Good Samaritan Project is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. All donations are tax-deductible.