Small Things Matter Kokua Foods distributed over 7000lbs of fresh produce, grocery, dairy, bread, frozen foods, canned goods and other nonperishable items to 150 local Takoma Park families in need in October 2019. Our members also shared new books and read to the younger children at the distributions. We are grateful to our partners at Wegmans, Wegmans, Imperfect Foods, KOL Foods, and the TPSS Co-op for their generous donations of fresh produce, grocery, dairy, bread, frozen foods including chicken, and healthy snacks, generous student donor Katherine and her family for their contribution of nonperishable foods on a weekly basis, and Difference Makers for being a recipient distribution group with our program. Our thanks to our fantastic adult volunteers (Bryan Goehring, Seth Grimes, Amber Cameron, Stephen Whitney, Wei Li, Leandra Nichola, Aurelie Bush , Doris Duarte, Kevin Buchanan, Wendy Kent, Kia Robinson, Tyrone Robinson, Margaret Sutton, Doug Disrud, Jeff Diamant, John Anderson, and Roxanne Yamashita) and great student volunteers (Carter, Sam, Sam, Zach, Jacinto, Vaylor, Abigail, Lana, Yacouba, Precious, and Hadrian) for their dedication and hard work.
We would love to have additional volunteers for our food recovery efforts. If you are interested please contact us! www.smallthingsmatter.org

We had a wonderful day at the Friends of the Takoma Park Maryland Library Used Book Sale on October 19, 2019. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to make a “Be Your Own Author” book with us. It was wonderful seeing the enthusiasm of the children as they wrote their books. We can’t wait to share them in the Takoma Park Maryland Library this winter where others will get to read and enjoy them. Our thanks to Karen MacPherson, Children’s & Youth Services Coordinator at Takoma Park Maryland Library for partnering with us and to our wonderful members Eric, Jacob, and Lana.

We had an amazing time at the Baltimore Comic-Con 2019. We met lots of amazing comic book folks including Jon/Beyond Comics who donated 500 comics to us last year, John Tomlinson and Harry/Fandata Bargain Comics who donated comics to us onsite, and Richard/Welcome Back Comics and Steve/J&S Collectibles who said they’d be glad to donate to us in the future. We get many requests for comic books from students and we are grateful for their generosity!

Donations of in-kind items of books, toiletries, canned foods, etc. are vital to our small non-profit. Our thanks today to student William for collecting toiletries and to Mona Sharma for sewing monster stuffie blanks for us. We truly appreciate your kindness and support!

Our thanks to Stephen Whitney/HOOPOE BOOKS, Share Literacy, Books for Afghanistan, Books for Pakistan for their generous donation of 75 brand new books for our literacy program on October 13, 2019. It is so wonderful to have a partner that is equally committed to encouraging children to read. Thank you!

STM had a wonderful time making monster stuffies with the families at Washington Episcopal School as part of their First Friday Night dedicated to community service on October 4, 2019. The stuffies will be donated to Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center Pediatrics once they are stuffed and sewn up.
Our thanks to Head of School Danny Vogelman and Tiffney Brockway for the kind invite and to our wonderful members Lana, Brigitte, and Koji for leading the activities.

STM had a fantastic time vending shave ice at 2nd “Onoversary” Luau Party at Ono Brewing Company on September 28, 2019. The day was filled with Hawaiian music and hula, artisans, ono food, and lots of laughter. Mahalo and Congratulations Cyndi and Scott/ Ono Brewing Company and thanks to Koji, Lana, and Mylene for working so hard!

STM had a great time on September 27, 2019 giving students grades preK to 5th a brand new book of their choice at Rolling Terrace ES, a Title I school in Takoma Park. We gave out 984 books and handmade bookmarks! We are so grateful for everyone’s support: in-kind donations, book drives, monetary donations, fundraising (shave ice and lemonade) that made this possible. Our thanks to all of you and to our wonderful members for all their hard work! #kindness

STM had the amazing honor of bringing a few of our projects to AVENDRA/ Aramark Building Community Day on September 19, 2019. The volunteers decorated 48, filled 36, and sewed up 46 monster stuffies for Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, made 9 fleece blankets for families in need at Stepping Stones Shelter, decorated and filled 100 resuable cloth bags with toiletries and socks for the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, and made a monetary donation to use towards purchasing 250 new books for our literacy program. Our thanks to Colleen Opitz/Avendra, Aramark, and Emily Merritt/Alliance for Strong Families and Communities for the invitation and grant that made this possible. We appreciate your commitment to our community! #aramarkvolunteer#kindnesswww.smallthingsmatter.org

STM had a great time at the KID Museum#FutureFest on September 15, 2019. Together we made 245 monster stuffies to be donated to Children’s National Medical Center, Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, and The Children’s Inn at NIH. Our thanks to the kind children who stopped by to craft with us, to our fantastic members and volunteers Molemo, Jacob, Marion, Sahana, Avantika, Koji, Aditi, Sophie, Shashwat, Justin, and Lana for helping the children with their creations, to the AMAZING Mona Sharma who sewed and donated 233 fleece monster stuffie blanks, and to our friends at KID Museum for the wonderful opportunity and for their dedication to children! Seeing all the love that went into making each one of these stuffies truly warmed our hearts. #kindness