Thank you to everyone who made our backpack and school supplies collection a success. Together we gave out over 1500 backpacks with school supplies and also provided over 200 middle and high schoolers with school supplies. We are grateful to all the MS/HS students and groups (Girl Scout Troop 3010, Lambda Theta Alpha, Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church of Washington DC, Eliassen Group, and The Monitor Group) who donated and to all our wonderful members and businesses who hosted collection sites for us (Christie Allen, Jim Douglas, Risa Shaw, Ashby Strassburger, Steve Whitney, TPSS Coop, El Golfo, Main Street Pearl, Takoma Bev Co, Athleta).

We were thrilled that so many of you joined in a wonderful day of ice cream treats and fun free brand new books! Our thanks to Jessica Clarke/TP Deputy City Manager for allowing us to use the TP Community Center bridge, our partners at Amerigroup for sponsoring the ice cream, and our friends at Swirleez for wonderful icy treats!

STM was honored to have Rep. Jamie Raskin join us on Friday, July 23 at the TPSS Coop. Rep. Raskin came to help pack fresh produce as well as share his flyer on the expanded Child Tax Credit flyer. We will be sharing his important flyer at all of our distributions.

Two distributions in honor of Juneteenth in partnership with Morgan Lewis. Families at Red Top and Hampshire Tower Apartments received mushrooms, potatoes, bananas, strawberries, asparagus, spinach, red peppers, baked goods, fresh chicken, eggs, casseroles, canned goods, and rice/ beans. Our thanks to the Morgan, Lewis, and Bockius team (Rachel, Mike, Adam, Heather, Logan, Karen, Emily, Mona, Kristen Jake, Danny, Kendall, Brad, Jack, Antoinette Amy, Veronica), Imperfect Foods, TPSS Co-op, Ward 4 Mutual Aid, HTA site coordinator Doris, and our team (John and Ben).

Our deepest thanks to Trader Joe’s in Bethesda for partnering with us! Your donations of produce, meat, bread, and flowers are being used to brighten the day of families in need. We are using your wonderful food to support families in need in Takoma Park at our distributions as well as helping 3 amazing Takoma Park community food pantries run by Lara Wilson, SatJiwan Ikle-Khalsa, and Kirsten Slade.

We ran out of food at our last distribution. It was heartbreaking. We never want to leave anyone empty-handed so we always bring extra food, but we didn’t anticipate a 25% increase in just one week. This week we learned that although businesses are opening up and the CDC has said that we don’t need to wear our masks if we are vaccinated and outside that life is only returning to normal for some of us. There are still many families and individuals in need in our community. We must continue to pull together to make sure that everyone is taken care of.

Wonderful Pfizer vaccine clinic at the Takoma Park Community Center on Sunday, May 16, 2021. Our thanks to Mayor Kate Stewart, Jessica Clarke/ City of Takoma Park, MD – Municipal Government, Jhennie Libongco-Barbour / Continuum Health, Dr. Rimple Gabri/ Giant Food Pharmacies, Amerigroup, and our STM team (Doris, Kate, Louise, Sara, Pablo, Ana, Violeta, Samuel, Alex, Darren, Jody, Andrew, Allison, Allegra, Karyn, Ethan, Everett, Laura, De, Ally, Dawn, Danielle, Gina, Libby, Stella, Marion) for bringing vaccines, healthcare, and food for those in need to #takomapark!

Signup for the second Pfizer clinic on Sunday, June 6 here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0c45afaa22a02-vaccine1

Small Things Matter in partnership with the City of Takoma Park, Giant Pharmacy, and Continuum Healthcare Services is bringing the Pfizer vaccine to Takoma Park on Sunday, May 16 from 10am-4pm at the TP Community Center Foot Bridge. Children 12-17 will be vaccinated along with adults. Both first and second doses shots are available. Registration suggested, but there will also be a limited amounts of walk-ins. Second doses will be scheduled on site for Sunday, June 6.

STM will arrange for additional Pfizer vaccine clinics in the coming weeks.

One of STM’s passions is promoting reading so today we went around #takomapark and filled up Little Free Libraries with lots of amazing children’s books! Please check them out!