Thanksgiving Baskets

Our deepest thanks to our amazing partners: Montgomery County Food Security Task Force for providing us with produce and chicken, Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church of Washington DC for providing us with 430 turkeys , Arliss Giant in Silver Spring for donating 200 pies, MCPS middle and high school students for baking desserts, and our community for their sponsorship of turkeys and chicken which allowed us to share 1302 Thanksgiving baskets (roaster chicken or turkey, potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie/cake) with the families we serve in Takoma Park, Silver Spring, and Rockville.

STM Gala, a Success

Thanks to all of our amazing friends for coming out to our gala on Saturday, November 11, 2023! We have accomplished so much together! We are grateful to our team of volunteers, sponsors TPSS Co-op, The Takoma Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, Wellpoint, The Monitor Group, LLC, CuraCapitol, The Studio Of Colour and Design By Margie Billian, Meet Canopy Family Care , partners Wegmans Germantown, Imperfect Foods, Trader Joes, Lyon Bakery, Takoma Park Presbyterian Church, Pastor Xisto for his meaningful speech and prayer, and elected officials Councilmember Kate Stewart, Takoma Park Mayor Talisha Searcy, County Executive Marc Elrich, Delegate David Moon, Delegate Lorig Charkoudian, Senator Will Smith for their kindness and support!

STM Silent Auction

Our deepest thanks to all of the businesses, groups, and individuals who donated items for our silent auction! 100% of the proceeds go towards feeding our neighbors in need.

Bid on our Silent Auction ONLINE here:

Items will be displayed at our gala on Saturday, November 11.

Bidding ends Sunday, November 12 at noon!

Thanks everyone!

Backpack distribution a success!

Our thanks to everyone for making our backpack drive a success! We distributed over 1600 backpacks to the families we serve in Takoma Park, Silver Spring, and Rockville! Our thanks to all of our wonderful partners: Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), Target, Sts Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church of Washington DC, GFWC MCC, Morgan Lewis, The Monitor Group, LLC, Creative Explorers Child Care, Pure Barre, Williams Asset Management, Massmutual Greater Washington, Vendor Centric, Wellpoint, WP Buffs, Saydam Properties Group at Keller Williams Capital Properties, Continuum Healthcare Network Telemedicine Program, collection partners: Sprout Bloom & Bake, Zinnia, Tabletopdc, Takoma Park Presbyterian Church, The Takoma Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, TPSS Co-op, The Studio Of Colour and Design By Margie Billian, Starbucks, MCR-SGA, and our community!

STM Back to School Drive is On!

STM’s annual backpacks and school supplies drive is starting and we need your help in order to reach our goal of collecting 1500 backpacks filled with school supplies to help all the families we serve. Backpacks and school supplies can be dropped off now at Zinnia, Tabletop, TP Presbyterian Church, TPSS Coop, Colour & Design, Pure Barre, Starbucks (locations TBD), and at our office in Rockville.

Monetary donations can also be made via Venmo @thesmallthingsmatter, Paypal thesmallthingsmatter@yahoo.com, or check made out to Small Things Matter. Monetary donations allow us to purchase things in bulk. There will also be good sales for school supplies in August at Target. Thanks!

Thanks to all of our amazing sponsors, partners, and our community. #strongertogether

Feeding Students in Montgomery County

STM was excited to serve students at Takoma Park ES and Piney Branch ES both in Takoma Park, Title I school Weller Road ES in Silver Spring, and Title I school Meadow Hall ES in Rockville with monthly deliveries of fresh produce for the 2022-23 school year. Produce was also shared with the students at Rolling Terrace ES in Silver Spring last week and we will be including them in next year’s distributions. We are grateful to the commitment of their principals and staff to help destigmatize receiving food aid as well as promoting healthy eating. Have a happy summer all!

School-Wide Book Distribution for PBES and TPES

Students at Takoma Park Elementary School and Piney Branch Elementary School were thrilled to select a brand new book of their choice at our book distributions. Our thanks to our amazing in-kind and monetary donors, Principal Oberdorf, Principal Gadsden, Reading Specialist Rob Bledsoe, and our team Chris, Barry, Mary, Jessie, and John!

STM Serves Food Insecure UMD Students and Staff

Food insecurity exists everywhere, even at college campuses. The University of Maryland helps its food insecure students and staff with a campus pantry that rescues food from their cafeteria as well as in-kind donations of perishable and nonperishable foods. Lana, STM Founder and UMD freshman, found out about this invaluable resource and reached out to Larry Tumlin, UMD pantry manager, to coordinate food donations from STM. STM has committed to support the UMD Campus Pantry twice a month on the first and third Monday of each month with fresh produce from its food rescue efforts. The pantry is open to students Monday-Friday during the school year and on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the summer. Staff can access the pantry on Mondays. To find out more check out: https://dining.umd.edu/sustainability/campus-pantry

Celebrating AAPI Month

STM was honored to attend many Asian American Pacific Islander celebrations this month! Our thanks to all the amazing leaders in our community. It was inspirational to learn about all the wonderful work being done in our community. We truly enjoyed meeting everyone and learning more about all the different cultures through conversations, food, and cultural events.