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’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

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!

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!

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

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.

STM was thrilled to be part of the Montgomery County Department of Transportation Vision Zero Safety Fair 2023! We shared about our food, literacy, and crafting programs. Our thanks to all the children who stopped by to make bookmarks to go along with the brand new books we distribute and to all the teens that signed up to serve with us this summer. Thanks also to Duwan Morris and his Vision Zero Safety Ambassadors for their dedication to eliminating serious and fatal collisions on County roads for vehicle occupants (drivers and passengers), pedestrians, and bicyclists by the end of 2030.

STM celebrated GYSD with 2 amazing projects. Lana organized the collection and distribution of cleaning supplies and makeup in an attempt to address additional needs of food insecure families in Montgomery County. Her project was funding in part by a grant from Sodexo Foundation and Youth Service America. Sahana organized a kindness project to help bridge the gap between youth and seniors by engaging children to craft kindness rocks, Cups of Cheer (mug filled with tea and a cookie), and handmade cards. Her project was supported by a grant from Hershey’s and Youth Service America. Our thanks to our amazing sponsors and our community for coming together to help those in need.

Our deepest thanks to Stephany Yu/ Yuan foundation and Jhennie Libongco-Barbour/ Continuum Healthcare Network for celebrating national minority health month with a community conversation featuring Elizabeth Chung/ Asian American Center of Frederick, Mark Martin/ Maryland Department of Health, Delegate Harry Bhandari, Delegate Karen Simpson, Senator Clarence Lam, Dr. Dawei Yang/ AACF, Dr. Suresh Gupta/ Holy Cross Hospital, Dr. Kihn Maung, Asha Clark/ Jubilee Association of Maryland, Dr. Delvin Jackson/ University of Maryland, Dr. Christine Handy/ Montgomery County Public Schools. It was a very informative gathering! We are grateful for the kind recognition of our food work and COVID vaccinations by the Maryland Legislative AAPI Caucus. AAPI Heritage Month: Recognition of Outstanding Community Members – Harry Bhandari

Congratulations to Lana Anderson for receiving a gold level President’s Volunteer Service Award and a citation from Governor Wes Moore! Congratulations also to all the other recipients whose volunteerism was celebrated tonight! Our thanks to the wonderful chairpersons Karina Hou and Dr. Surinder Gill for putting together such an inspirational evening.