Thank you to everyone who came out to make Kindness Day in Honor of Tommy Raskin a success! Representative Jamie Raskin and his family, Delegate Lorig Charkoudian, TP Mayor Talisha Searchy, TP Councilperson Shana Fulcher, and Councilperson Cara Honzak were among the many people who were in attendance.

Thanks to all who donated towels, sheets, dog toys, canned food, Lego, socks, acrylic yarn, travel sized toiletries, diapers, baby food, winter clothing, eyeglasses, and iphones to support local groups and nonprofits.

Our thanks to Tabletopdc, Amano, The Big Bad Woof, TPSS Co-op, Hanes, Montgomery County Volunteer Center, Motorkat, Takoma Bev Co., Zinnia, Licking Creek Bend Farm, Continuum Healthcare Network, STM Wooton, Crochet and Cozies, Lego Replay Whitman, Girl Scout Troop 2397,Takoma Park Elementary, Piney Branch Elementary, Ian Arthur Gray, Project Always Hearts, Takoma Park Maryland Library, STM Walt Whitman, Morgan Quarles & Messiah Williams, Nate Focarazzo and Aviva Focarazzo, Ocean Carrasco, Clifton Park Baptist Church, Let’s Play America, Boy Scout Troop 457, Risa Shaw/author of Not Child’s Play Anthology, Wellpoint, Takoma Art Library, Girl Scout Troop 34054 for hosting tables, sharing treats, and hosting fundraisers.

Special thanks to Chris Owens, Chris Fitzgerald, Rachel Gold, Elizabeth Wallace, Karen Ackerman, Paul B. Ellis, Carmy Spillman, Leandra Nichola, Charles Mac, Pete Zydas, Lucya Coil and Elvin Funez for their amazing work running the event!

Please visit the Tommy Raskin Memorial Fund for People and Animals https://tommyraskinfund.org/

Volunteers made 500 Cups of Cheer for seniors, 300 friendship bracelets, and 50 cleaning kits for the families we serve as part of the County MLK Day celebration at the Bethesda North Marriott & Conference Center. Our deepest thanks to Faith McNeill/Montgomery County Volunteer Center for partnering with us and providing us with all the supplies for these projects! Our thanks to our teens and to our adults Marta, Lesley, Martha, and John for helping the families with the various projects!

Join us for Kindness Day in Honor of Tommy Raskin on Saturday, January 27 from 10:30-1pm at Piney Branch Elementary School.

The day will be filled doing acts of kindness for animals and humans in need with activites and collections at PBES, and in-store kindness events at businesses. SSL hours will be given for middle and high school students.

Please sign up here if you are planning on coming: 2024 Kindness Day in Honor of Tommy Raskin

We will be putting together a book onsite at PBES for the Raskins. If you are not able to attend and would like to share a memory about Tommy, or share a message of a kind act done in his memory, or just a note please email them to Chris Owens at owechris@gmail.com by January 27.

Our thanks to all the organizations, groups, and individuals that are supporting this day of spreading kindness in our community!

On-site Activities at Piney Branch ES:
Abby Needleman and Nikki Cohen/STM Wooton – Making friendship bracelets for kids in need
Alyscia Charlery/Crochet and Cozies – Knitting and crocheting items
Alyssa Hodor and Gaby Hodor/LEGO Replay – Repacking Lego to share with local youth and overseas
Ava Yates/Girl Scout Troop 2397 – Making backpack charms (make and take activity)
Cameron Barney/Takoma Park Middle School – Household cleaning kits giveaway for families in need
Chloe Thompson/TPSS Coop – Kindness station with snacks
Claire Dean/Takoma Park Elementary School and Piney Branch Elementary School – making Thank You cards for teachers
Danielle Kordella/Girl Scout Troop 988 – Making cat and dog toys for local animal shelters
Elizabeth Wallace/Small Things Matter – Hat & blanket giveaway for families in need
Ian Arthur Gray/Poolesville High School – Assembling hygiene bags for the Homeless
Jackie Summers/Project Always Hearts – Making stuffed hearts with tags on them saying ‘Someone Always Cares’
James McDonnell/Takoma Park Middle School – Packing book bundles for NIH Children’s Inn Thoughtful Treasures Progam
Jheni Libongo Barbour/Continuum Healthcare – Toiletries giveaway for those in need
Kati Nolfi/Takoma Park Maryland Library – Making bookmarks for Small Things Matter
Randi Drewry/Clifton Baptist Church – Microgreens make and take
Marion Lambert, Sahana Thyagarajan/STM Walt Whitman – Making kindness rocks for seniors
Michael Tabor/Licking Creek Bend Farm – Farm education and fruit giveaway
Morgan Quarles & Messiah Williams/Clarksburg High School – COVID-19 mask decoration
Nate and Aviva Spokane/ Highland View Elementary School – Decorating lunch bags for TP Meals on Wheels
Ocean Carrasco – Making mental health awareness and sensory kits for local schools and the Takoma Park community center
Pat Rumbaugh/Let’s Play America – Making weighted hula hoops
Quinn Yates & Will Yates/Boy Scout Troop 457 – Making rope knot key chains (make and take activity)
Risa Shaw/author of “Not Child’s Play” – learning about healthy boundaries activity (sexual abuse education/prevention)
Robert Martin & Sandra Powell/Wellpoint – Produce box giveaway for food insecure families
Sarah Voisin, Izzy Funez, & Elvin Funez/Takoma Art Library – Making Valentines for the NIH Children’s Inn
Shannon Earle & Cara Honzak/Girl Scout Troop 34054 – Making dog pulls for local animal shelter

On site Collections at Piney Branch ES:
Towels, sheets, dog toys for local animal shelter (Big Bad Woof collection point)
Canned food drive for TP Presbyterian Church LFP
Lego collection (Tabletop collection point)
Socks (Tabletop & Amano collection point)
Acrylic yarn (Amano collection point)
Travel sized toiletries drive to benefit Interfaith Works
Baby Supplies Drive — Diapers and any related supplies (clothes, teething rings, bottles, etc) to benefit St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and baby food/formula to benefit Manna
Winter clothing drive for seniors at Potomac Valley
Iphones (no other brands being accepted) for India

In store Kindness events:
Tabletop – Girl Scout cookies snack table. BYOICM (bring your own ice cold milk)
Zinnia, Takoma Bev Co, Motorkat – 10% of sales donated to Small Things Matter

Please join us in celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by making items to benefit the families and individuals in need that we serve.  Middle school and high school students can earn SSL hours for their help!

Montgomery County’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service 2024 
Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center
5701 Marinelli Road, Rockville, MD 20850
1pm-3pm

There will be 3 activity tables for you to join in at:

1) Cups of Cheer for Seniors. Ceramic cups filled with treats and a kind note to make the day of a senior a little brighter.

2) Cleaning kits for food insecure families. Cleaning items such as comet, dishwashing detergent, sponges, and other cleaning items will be assembled together with a kind note to help the food insecure families we serve.

3) Friendship bracelets for children.  The pandemic disconnected many of us and this small gesture of a friendship bracelet is meant to help bridge those gaps and let children know that we care about them and want the best for them.

Please sign up here: https://forms.gle/sWifPwjE6EFCG6Pw9

A huge thank you to everyone for making our holiday toy drive a success. We distributed 2,020 toys & gift cards with the families we serve at the TP/SS apartments (Cambridge, Winslow, Hampshire Tower, Essex House, Park Ritchie, Parkview Towers, Blair Park, Edinburgh, Hancock Gardens, Maple View, MHP 610-614, Colonnade at the Creek, Sligo Creek, Langley Gardens), TP/SS families that we serve at our drive by distributions, TPSS Coop staff, Title I school Meadow Hall ES, and 15 families in Rockville.

Special shout out to all the groups that helped with toys (Lithko Contracting, Nexight Group, TPSS Co-op, Tabletopdc, Takoma Park Child Development Center, Takoma Montessori School – TMS, Old Takoma Ace Hardware, Silver Spring Ace Hardware, Olive Lounge & Grill, Wegmans Germantown, Child’s Play, Starbucks Coffee Westside, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Bethesda, MD, Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church, The Senior Connection, Thomas W. Pyle Middle School, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Studio Of Colour and Design By Margie Billian, Helping Hands Army, Herson’s Honda), our amazing and generous community for toys, gift cards, and monetary donations, Takoma Park Presbyterian Church for donating their chapel and 5th floor space so that we could sort and store the toys, elves (Mary, Chris, Manuela, Christine, Erica, James, Cameron, Colman, River) who sorted and assigned presents to the kids, and site coordinators (Doris, Jackie, Nafkote, Leda, Eva, Angel, Zina, Pamela, Flor, Wendy) who distributed the presents within the apartments. Thank you everyone for helping these children have a nice holiday season!

Small Things Matter is collecting brand new toys for ages 0-12 and gift cards for ages 13-17 for the families we serve. Please help us make their holidays a little brighter by dropping off a toy at these locations The Takoma Park Seventh-day Adventist Church Old Takoma Ace Hardware Silver Spring Ace Hardware Lithko Contracting TPSS Co-op Olive Lounge & Grill The Studio Of Colour and Design By Margie Billian Tabletopdc Helping Hands Army Starbucks Westside at Shady Grove Takoma Park Child Development Center Herson’s Honda The Senior Connection Nexight Group St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Bethesda, MD Wegmans Germantown Takoma Montessori School – TMS. You can also make a small monetary donation via Venmo @thesmallthingsmatter, Paypal thesmallthingsmatter@yahoo.com, or check made out to Small Things Matter, 14516 Bauer Drive, Rockville, MD 20853.

Alternative Gifts of Greater Washington, Inc. (AGGW) was founded on the premise that among the most thoughtful gifts you can give someone is a donation to one or more charities in their honor. STM is honored to be among the 14 groups at the fair this year. Thanks to everyone who joined us today for our in person fair. If you missed it you can still help by purchasing one of our gifts below to help the families we serve at aggw.org

$10 Helps STM purchase crafting supplies (yarn, cloth) so that we can make items such as fleece scarves, monster stuffies, and friendship bracelets for children’s hospitals and shelters

$30 Helps STM purchase brand new books for the underserved children we serve

$100 Helps STM purchase fresh produce for a TP/SS family in need for a year

Thank you everyone for coming out to support us on Monday, November 27, 2023! We are grateful to the Olive Lounge & Grill (7006 Carroll Ave, Takoma Park, MD 20912, 11:30am-10pm) for donating 10% of their proceeds and to People’s Book (7014 Westmoreland Ave Suite A, Takoma Park, MD 20912, 9am-8pm) for collecting brand new children’s books for us!

We apprecitate all of your support!

Our deepest thanks to our amazing partners: Montgomery County Food Security Task Force for providing us with produce and chicken, Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church of Washington DC for providing us with 430 turkeys , Arliss Giant in Silver Spring for donating 200 pies, MCPS middle and high school students for baking desserts, and our community for their sponsorship of turkeys and chicken which allowed us to share 1302 Thanksgiving baskets (roaster chicken or turkey, potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie/cake) with the families we serve in Takoma Park, Silver Spring, and Rockville.

Thanks to all of our amazing friends for coming out to our gala on Saturday, November 11, 2023! We have accomplished so much together! We are grateful to our team of volunteers, sponsors TPSS Co-op, The Takoma Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, Wellpoint, The Monitor Group, LLC, CuraCapitol, The Studio Of Colour and Design By Margie Billian, Meet Canopy Family Care , partners Wegmans Germantown, Imperfect Foods, Trader Joes, Lyon Bakery, Takoma Park Presbyterian Church, Pastor Xisto for his meaningful speech and prayer, and elected officials Councilmember Kate Stewart, Takoma Park Mayor Talisha Searcy, County Executive Marc Elrich, Delegate David Moon, Delegate Lorig Charkoudian, Senator Will Smith for their kindness and support!