Kudos to the teens for running another successful pantry distribution today at the TPSS Co-op. The families enjoyed pantry foods, rotisserie chickens, milk, chicken, Hanes socks, masks, and more. Our thanks to TPSS Co-op, Wegmans Germantown, Marla Caplon/ Montgomery County Public Schools, Hanes for donating 2000 socks, The Pollination Project for supporting Lana’s handsewn mask project, and for all the wonderful community donations. #kindness For a fun video of the day click here: https://youtu.be/VewRYcSjCdE

Thanks to all of you the holidays were brighter for the many families and individuals we serve. Together we were able to gift them with toys, Cups of Cheer, gift cards, fresh meat, extra produce, certificates to restaurants, hot meals, and more. Thank you everyone for all of your kind acts. We look forward to another year of service with you!

Lana Anderson received recognition as a 2020 Ravens Community Quarterback for her work as founder and president of Small Things Matter. Congratulations to the other award recipients and our deepest thanks to T. Rowe Price Foundation, Raven Foundation, and the NLF Foundation. Please watch this slide show that was aired during the halftime show of the Baltimore Ravens vs Dallas Cowboys game on December 8, 2020. https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/1336710585103343616?s=20

Today on #GivingTuesday STM would like to extend our deepest thanks to all of our wonderful partners and friends in the community who have joined us to feed families in need. The effects of COVID-19 are far reaching and have left many families and individuals struggling, stressed, and feeling desperate. We are grateful for the compasionate gifts of self, goods, and monetary donations that we have received to support over 1000 families in in need with fresh produce, meat, and shelf stable foods.

If you are able please consider donating to our GoFundMe, paypal thesmallthingsmatter@yahoo.com, Venmo @thesmallthingsmatter, or via check made out to Small Things Mattter, 14516 Bauer Drive, Rockville, MD 20853. STM a 501(3)c volunteer-run nonprofit and 100% of the monies you donate will go towards helping our food insecure neighbors.

Thanks!

On behalf of the STM team

Roxanne

Hi Friends! 

I’m writing today to ask for your help with our GoFundMe campaign.  Donations can also be made via paypal/thesmallthingsmatter@yahoo.com, venmo.com/thesmallthingsmatter, or check made out to Small Things Matter, 14516 Bauer Drive, Rockville, MD 20853.  

Our Kokua Foods program had been distributing 100,000 lbs of food each month to help over 1000 families and individuals in MoCo that are food insecure.  Recent cuts to the federal and state food programs is resulting in a loss of 50-70% of the food that we are able to share with those in need. The pandemic has been hard on all of us, but even more so to families who have lost family members, their jobs, health insurance, and more due to this pandemic.  Please consider making a donation no matter how small to support our campaign.  100% of the funds raised will be used to purchase supplemental food for these families.   We are grateful to all of you for helping our community and we hope that you will continue to bake goodies, bag beans and rice, and make casseroles for our families.  We need your help with food support now more than ever. Please take a look at this month’s newsletter to see how our community comes together during crisis. 

Thanks everyone!

STM teens had fun meeting all the families today at the Halloween Walk-Thru at the Junction. Our thanks to the City of Takoma Park, MD – Municipal Government Recreation Center for organizing this wonderful event and to our members Isabel, Anni, Lucy, Chase, Ethan, Jacob, Awa, Olivia, and Lana for giving out treats and books. Happy Halloween!!!

Our thanks to Mayor Kate Stewart for issuing a Mayoral Proclamation on September 30, 2020 for our work during COVID-19. STM is: Isabel Aliaga, Ken Allen, John Anderson, Lana Anderson, Lisa Beaudet, Emily Berger, Marnie Bernard, Brigitte Bonsu, Brendan Born, Aurelie Bush, Nathan Bush, Amber Cameron, Lucia Cangelosi, Amaranth Carrasco, Ocean Carrasco, Neal Chalofsky, Sam Chen, Pat Curran, Jody Devoll, Taylor Dibbert, Andrew Doris, Janet Doris, Janet Douglas, Jim Douglas, Laura Esquivel, Ashley Evans, Art Fabel, Max Finberg, Alison Gerber, Victoria Glancy, Amy Greene, Seth Grimes, Theo Hamaide, Julien Hamaide, Mary Hanisco, Lucy Hanisco, Clare Hardin, Mikel Anne Hoffman, Jacob Hutter, Norah Ivcevich, Nancy Illman, Anni Iwugo, Jamie Iwugo, Aga Jones, Sawa Kamara, Gabriel King, Megan Kennedy, Sam Kennedy, Lesley Krauland, Regina LaBelle, Marion Lambert, Mathilde Lambert, Kaizen Lartevi, Bethany Karn, Adrienna Lewy, Brienna Lewy, Isaac Lewy, Vivian Lewy, Sean Li, Wei Li, Karen Ma, Vita Ma, Daniel Malkin, Joshua Malkin, Denny May, Leela Mehta-Harwitz, Gabe Mclellan, Owen Mclellan, Timothy Mclellan, Megan Meline, Theo Meline, Millicent Memon, Darren Mitchell, Arianna Mondelli, Marta Montoro, Lewis Morris, Louise Morris, Leandra Nichola, Kati Nolfi, Allison Nugent, Caroleene Paul, Justin Rood, Jenny Ruark, Sabina Salguero, Keren Sarig, Phil Shapiro, Mona Sharma, Noorain Sheikh, Mark Sherman, Ethan Shoham, Kristina Smith, Sarah Stella, Deborah Stoll, Marina True, Peggy Walker, Sarah Walker, Elizabeth Wenk, Madeleine Wenk, Olivia Wenk, Steve Whitney, Flor Yanes, Dawn Yamashita, Roxanne Yamashita.Our thanks also to our many wonderful partners including Silver Spring Cares, No Kid Hungry, TPSS Co-op, Wegmans, Imperfect Foods, Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, Montgomery County Food Council, Montgomery County Volunteer Center, Montgomery County Public Schools, Locavino, Denizens Brewing Co, McGinty’s Public House, Mansa Kunda Restaurant, El Golfo Restaurant, Cielo Rojo, Mamma Lucia Restaurants, Kefa Cafe, Dominic’s Italian Grille, Campeon de Pollo, Takoma Bev Co., Olive Lounge & Grill, El Gavilan Restaurant, A Friendly Bread, Seasonal Roots, Medium Rare, Sunflower Bakery, and many others in our community who donated funds and in-kind donations to feed those in need. www.smallthingsmatter.org

In response to the overwhelming need in our community our teens will be launching a new food pantry distribution starting this October. The foods offered will help families with kid friendly offerings such as mac-n-cheese, peanut butter, tuna, spaghetti, and more.

These teens were a large part of our packing team during the summer and we are excited to see them run this new distribution. We are also very lucky to have teens that are packing produce early each Friday morning before they start their school day.

Our thanks to the TPSS Coop for their continued support in too many ways to name, to the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church who graciously offered us a large room to use as an additional pantry space and packing area, and to KindWorks for donating shelving. Our small team has grown tremendously in this time of need thanks to people in our community pitching in to help.  We are grateful for the many ways we are being supported with gifts of time, encouraging words, food, and monetary donations.

Thank you everyone for your kind and continued support.  

Please check out our September 2020 Newsletter to see what we’ve been up to all summer.

We are looking for additional adult volunteers to help with our food distributions. Please reach out to us at thesmallthingsmatter@yahoo.com if you have time to help on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings.

Our SSL opportunities for Middle and High School Students can be found here:
https://montgomerycountymd.galaxydigital.com/agency/mgrNeed/?agency_id=81036&need_id=376899

School is out and Small Things Matter is working harder than ever to serve those in need. In addition to its weekly distributions of fresh produce supplemented with staples such as eggs, milk, rice, beans, pasta, and pantry items, we are offering frozen casseroles and baked goods to our families thank to our wonderful members and student volunteers. Our MCPS-approved SSL opportunities are all listed here and also include making cards for the elderly, sandwiches for the homeless, and friendship bracelets to let kids know that they are not alone. We are also continuing to serve hot meals to those in need throughout the summer months.

Small Things Matter collaborates with many other nonprofits, businesses, and groups to be able to help others. Our partners include Silver Spring Cares, TPSS Coop, American Diversity Group, Francis on The Hill , Otis Street, Mongomery County Public Schools, Montgomery County, Long Branch Business League, Montgomery Housing Partnership, Takoma/Langley Crossroads Development Authority, Northern Gateway CDC, Medium Rare, Sunflower Bakery, Mark’s Kitchen, Cielo Rojo, Denizens, Mansa Kunda, LocaVino, Dominic’s, Mamma Lucia, Campeon de Pollo, Middle Eastern Cuisine, Kefa Cafe, McGinty’s, Takoma Bev Co, El Gavilan, El Golfo, La Casita Pupuseria, La Pasion Restaurant, Samantha’s, Veronica’s Cafe, and Chicken Loco.

We will continue to serve our community and we hope that you will all continue to do so to by volunteering and giving back in the way that you can. To support us please consider making a small donation via Paypal, GoFundMe, or Venmo: thesmallthingsmatter. Thank you!