STM had a lovely day at Tilden Middle School‘s 7th Day of Caring on Wednesday, November 27, 2019. The students assembled toiletry bags filled with shampoo/conditioner/soap, shaving items, toothbrushes/toothpaste, lotion, socks, and more in eco-friendly cotton bags for us. We enjoyed meeting the students and sharing our mission. The students also made blankets, bookmarks, and collected games so serve others in the community. Our thanks to Beth Ciangiulli and Jane Stasko for their kind invite and to Adam for being a fantastic host and definitely the “I” in KIND! 

STM Kokua Foods distributed over 10,000lbs of fresh produce, grocery, dairy, bread, frozen foods, and canned goods and other nonperishable items to 125 Takoma Park and 150 Rockville families in need this November. This month we were excited to welcome the families at Wheaton Woods ES Elementary SchoolWheaton Woods PTA (WWES) to join TPMS, TPES, PBES, RTES, and MBHS in our monthly distributions. We are grateful to our partners at Wegmans Germantown, Wegmans Woodmore, Imperfect Foods, and the TPSS Co-op for their generous food donations, to Silver Spring Cares for donating 50 amazing casseroles to us, to the Nugent family for their weekly donation of a grocery bag of nonperishable foods, to TP Brownie Troop #34039 who served at our RTES distribution and donated rice and dry beans for the families there, to Wegmans Germantown for a special donation of scarves, wraps, bags, and holiday items for all of our families, and to U-Haul Moving & Storage in Takoma Park for donating the use of their trucks to us. Special thanks to our distribution partner Bryan Goehring & Difference Makers/TPMS, and site managers Doris Duarte/Hampshire Tower Apts and Helen Winder/WWES. Thanks also to our STM members (Lana, Jacob, Sam, Jacinto, and Abigail) for helping with the distribution as well as giving out new books at TPMS and RTES, student volunteers (Yacouba, Everett, Alejandro, Precious, and Hadrian), and adult volunteers (Mayor Kate Stewart, WWES Principal Daman Harris, Bean Paul, Seth Grimes, Stephen Whitney, Ken Allen, Sarah Stella, Luis Almar, Thomas Jacob, Wei Li, Leandra Nichola, Taylor Dibbert, Aurelie Bush , Kevin Buchanan, Yajaira Garay, Enrique Garay, Erin Malia, Wendy Kent, Kia Robinson, Tyrone Robinson, Margaret Sutton, Doug Disrud, Jeff Diamant, and John Anderson) for their tireless dedication and hard work.
We would love to have more help for our food recovery efforts. If you are interested please contact us! www.smallthingsmatter.org

Our friends and partner TPSS Co-op are hosting a Register Round Up from November 24 – December 1 to benefit STM’s Kokua Foods Program. Please consider rounding up to help feed those in need. Our Kokua Foods Program serves 300 families in Takoma Park and Rockville. If you would like to volunteer with us please contact us.

STM is collecting small gifts and gift cards for our Kokua Foods families in Takoma Park to help them celebrate the holidays. If you can help with a toy/gift card please drop it off either at the TPSS Co-op (November 22- December 31) or Wegmans Germantown (November 29-December 31) in collection boxes at the front of the stores. We are available to pick up larger donations too. Please contact Roxanne at 202-669-8550. Thanks! #kindness

STM had a wonderful time at the Winter Social: SCC (Strathmore Children’s Chorus) Gives Thanks on Saturday, November 16, 2019! They made fleece blankets for The National Center for Children and Families and snack bags for Martha’s Table. We enjoyed our second year of collaborating! Our thanks to Suzanne Bagheri/SCC for organizing this event and to STM and SCC members Koji and Lana for their help!

Our thanks to Mark Choe/Mark’s Kitchen for holding a dineout for STM and to everyone who came out to support us at Mark’s Kitchen last night! Mark’s Kitchen donated 15% of the day’s proceeds to us which will go a long way to helping us with our programs. www.smallthingsmatter.org

Our thanks to Barnes & Noble​ for hosting a book drive for us on Saturday, November 16, 2019. They collected over 80 brand new books to support our Books to Bedtime literacy program. Our thanks to Melissa Rivers for organizing this wonderful drive for us.

Join us at the Takoma Park Maryland Library and enjoy the writings of students from TPES, PBES, and RTES. Their special books are up at the counter. Please enjoy them and share your comments with these wonderful students. If you feel inspired by them please pick up one of our “Be Your Own Author” kits at the library. Our thanks to Mayor Kate Stewart for coming by to read and comment on all the books and to Karen MacPherson for partnering with us on another adventure!