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!

We have many opportunities for teens, adults and groups to help the families and individuals we serve and earn SSL hours. All of these activities have been MCPS approved.

–Pack produce with STM at the back of the TPSS Coop (201 Ethan Allen Ave, Takoma Park, MD 20912). Check our calendar for times/dates

–Help feed families in need by making casseroles
https://montgomerycountymd.galaxydigital.com/need/detail/?need_id=522481

–Make baked goods for families in need
https://montgomerycountymd.galaxydigital.com/need/detail/?need_id=523901

–Make sandwiches to feed those in need at CASA RUBY https://montgomerycountymd.galaxydigital.com/need/detail/?need_id=520499

–Make friendship bracelets to spread kindness during COVID-19 https://montgomerycountymd.galaxydigital.com/need/detail/?need_id=524715

–Help the elderly during COVID 19 by making handmade cards for them
https://montgomerycountymd.galaxydigital.com/need/detail/?need_id=520495

Please contact us at thesmallthingsmatter@yahoo.com if you have questions.

Small Things Matter is known for its market style shopping experiences where 300 families are invited to shop from an array of fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, yogurt, cheese, and other dairy items, frozen foods, and a wide variety of breads on a monthly basis. Covid-19 has changed all that. We currently serve 370 families, elderly, and disabled individuals with prepacked boxes put together by our team. The crew starts off by collecting donations, purchasing food to fill in the gaps, sorting and putting together boxes of food, and delivering it, all the while handling the food with gloves and wearing masks and distributing it using a no-contact method. Each box is bursting with love…just take a peek inside!

https://wjla.com/news/coronavirus/no-contact-meal-distribution-in-silver-spring-leads-to-connection-need-on-the-rise

by Katie Kyros (ABC7)Sunday, April 5th 2020

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Several restaurants in Montgomery County have teamed up with Silver Spring Cares, a nonprofit, to provide hot meals during the coronavirus crisis.

Small Things Matter then distributes the meals, on Sunday in the El Golfo parking lot, serving a line of cars and loading the meals into trunks as part of their “no-contact distribution.”

El Golfo, Mamma Lucia, McGinty’s, Cielo Rojo, Middle Eastern Cuisine and Takoma Bev Co were among the restaurants providing meals.

“We’re here to comfort people, and let them know there are people out there that care and will help them,” says Roxanne Yamashita of Small Things Matter. “We’re all in this together and we’ll get through it together.”

On Sunday, Small Things Matter volunteers served 50 meals. But since the crisis started, they’ve served more than 4,000.

“Even though the county does give out free meals, there’s a transportation issue for many of them so there’s just a huge increase in need, we’ve been doing distributions like every other day when we used to just do them once a week,” says Yamashita.

In the cars, families contending with the economic insecurity that like the virus, is exponential right now.

“I’m an essential worker, I work for UPS, but my wife, she’s furloughed and shes a dental assistant,” says Claiborne Sellers III, of Takoma Park. On how they’re dealing with the lockdown: “A lot of togetherness, that’s all we can do, just be together in the house on top of each other, keep each other company.”

Laqan Mosley of Gaitherburg pulled up with his family. He’s filed for unemployment after losing his job as a truck driver.

“It’s very frustrating, but at the same time I feel as though there’s going to be a change or something’s going to happen,” he says. “I think it’s going to be better so staying positive.”

To support the meal distribution through Silver Spring Cares, visit the nonprofit’s GoFundMe.

“It’s not just about us coming out the other side, it’s that we come out the other side of this learning a lesson that there’s more things that connect us than divide us,” says volunteer Joe Bush Jr. “That we come out of this with our humanity intact.”

STM hosted 3 food distributions on March 31, 2020 thanks to wonderful donations from Wegmans Germantown and Wegmans Woodmore. Wegmans donated 1115.5 lbs of chicken, soup, beans, lettuce, cucumbers, potatoes, and bread. We were thrilled to share these with our families at Hampshire Tower Apartments, Rolling Terrace ES, and with the TP community. Our thanks to Wegmans, RTES site coordinator Flor Yanes, HTA site coordinator Doris Duarte, and Taylor Dibbert & Leandra Nichola/TPSS Co-op.

Silver Spring Cares has established an amazing initiative which gives our community the opportunity to donate hot meals to families and individuals in need by partnering with local restaurants: Denizens Brewing Co., McGinty’s Public House, El Golfo Restaurant, Takoma Bev. Co. , LocaVino , Cielo-Rojo , Middle Eastern Cuisine. Mamma Lucia, and El Campeon Rotisserie Chicken. Silver Spring Cares is raising funds to help keep these kitchens open by preparing healthy food for those in need to be distributed through Small Things Matter.

So far we have delivered over 2000 meals in the past 8 days, helped families and the elderly at Takoma Park MS, Piney Branch ES, Takoma Park ES, Montgomery Blair HS, Brightwood ES, Victory Tower, Takoma Overlook, Flora Singer ES, and Rolling Terrace ES. We are reaching out to more families and individuals daily. This initiative is all about showing kindness and support of one another, something we need more than ever with the challenging times we are facing. We are humbled and are so appreciative for the support from our amazing partners and this wonderful community. Thank you!

Please support if you can by making a donation here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/silver-spring-cares-community-connection