“I believe in you, Santa!” Kevin Seymore told Sunny 101.5’s white-bearded man.

Kevin, who participates in both day service and supported living through ADEC, stopped by the new Gaining Grounds Center and was thrilled to see Santa sitting inside the coffee house.

Santa came to ADEC for a Sunny 101.5 live remote. The local adult contemporary radio station was on-site to talk about career opportunities at ADEC and to spread the word about ADEC’s new space.

Although there’s no guarantee Santa will be around, you can still stop and check out the Gaining Grounds Center for yourself from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Order a happy holiday latte (or any other coffee or espresso drink you can dream up) and browse our Art by ADEC store, stocked full of one-of-a-kind seasonal artwork created by the people we serve.

Visit ADEC’s After-School Club on any given weekday, and you’re sure to see at least one person break out in song and dance.

On Dec. 11, all of that practice paid off as the After-School Club put on a special Christmas celebration for friends and family.

After-School Club members performed Christmas favorites — from “Jingle Bells” to “Santa is Coming to Town” — for a full house.

Check out the short recap below.

At ADEC, many of the people we serve have no family in their lives and no one to purchase Christmas presents for them. But at ADEC, we believe that everyone deserves to feel the magic of the holiday season and know that someone cares about them.

Each year, ADEC staff nominate clients for the ADEC Wish List who would otherwise have nothing to open on Christmas morning. Although ADEC celebrates holidays in the group homes and marks the day with a special meal and decorations, staff avoid purchasing presents for some clients and not others.

The clients provide a Wish List of three items, ranging from romance novels and fuzzy pink flamingos to car calendars and magazine subscriptions. Individuals, churches, businesses and schools from Elkhart and St. Joseph counties stepped up this year to adopt each of the 85 ADEC clients on the Wish List.

Between 14 group homes and dozens of supported living sites, ADEC’s residential team does not often have a chance to gather together in one place.

But on Dec. 12, the entire residential division met up at High Dive Park for a Christmas celebration complete with a hot chocolate bar, a cookie decorating station and a brunch of eggs, potatoes, sausage and gravy.

ADEC’s corporate choir provided the entertainment with a set of Christmas carols.