JANUARY SUMMARY!
Just finished the numbers for Jan 2023. We fed 2898 families which is 9500 individuals. (Felicia's OCD is thrilled as we have a perfectly even number) 76% of these people were from Monroe County, 7% from Lawrence County, 6% from Green, 10% from Owen and 1% from a mixtures of several other counties. Roughly 80% of the adults coming to the pantries are EMPLOYEED with 1 or more jobs, most of the other adults are retired Senior Citizens, we have very few unemployed or homeless people who come to the pantry. Most families have 2 children or more. These are just some base stats that I have been asked a lot about recently. It always upsets me when people say that those who come to a pantry are "lazy or homeless", This is NOT the truth. Even if they were, they still deserve dignity, kindness, and to not be hungry. However the truth is, most who come just struggle to afford food AND rent / utilities. Can you imagine having to try and choose between heat and food? This is a sad reality at this time in history.
But enough of the struggles, luckily we are very blessed by being in such a loving, caring community and by having an amazing tiny staff and volunteers!! There is no way we or anyone could pull off these numbers with out a strong support system based on love and caring for each other. I want everyone to just take a moment and really appreciate this accomplishment that YOU ALL make possible! Its a perfect combination of everything between volunteering an hr or a day, donating 1 can of food or a case, donating $1 or many dollars, driving food to the homebound, sharing a post on social media, talking about this to friends, or just sending prayers or good energy. Seriously! Every single thing bog or small makes this small miracle happen day after day. I am always thanking everyone, but there really are no words to express the level of gratitude we and those we serve have toward all of you whom make this tiny dream a few young girls have turn into such a huge success! I hope these numbers have answered everyone's questions and give you selves a pat on the back !!
Thank you for the Generous donation in Memory of Ellettsville resident John Ellett. John is a well known Ellettsvlle Resident who graduated from Stinesville High School. A friend of his from teen years made the donation and he said he "just really thought a lot of John." What a wonderful way to remember an old friend!
This is so Awesome and yes John was a really Special Guy💫
So very thoughtful ❤️
How beautiful!!
Hello Dm me with your🥰 cash tag or PayPal 💯and ❤️get 🥰blessed
We were very Blessed this week! Many fun Thank yous to go out to Amy at The Caffeinated Cook ( who apparently has an amazing Biscuits and Gravy ). Her wonderful customers have been helping her celebrate her 49th Birthday by bringing in food donations, which she brings to us in groups of 49 ( for her Bday years ). She has brought us around 9-10 boxes so far!!
Faith Lutheran who has out done themselves this past couple of weeks with large donations!
Order of the Arrow Boy Scouts for 97 lbs of food!!! How awesome to see teens working for something helpful vs us hearing about bad things. These young men are amazing!
Cook Park 48 did another surprise food collection as well. 421 lbs!!
Ellettsville Boys and Girls club had many young ones that came to help us on MLK day. It was FREEZING , but they toughed it out and got a lot done!
Arlington Elementary is running a great Food Drive and our wonderful, Lisa Land has been bringing a lot from them.
Westside Christian Church started doing things to help us in Nov. Money, food drives, and this Sat several came to help volunteer! We got SO much done!
RBB National Honor society seniors came on Tues and helped get projects done that we have wanted to do for months!
It has been a very productive week! This week will be COLD. Please do not let the temps discourage you, hunger does not go away when the holidays end or when the temp is not nice. I personally find it extra rewarding in the more difficult days. Thank you so much to these Bombastic people and groups and EVERYONE who has helped and donated. It really does take a village!
It’s been a blast seeing how many items we could collect. I have one more FULL box to bring right now. So glad you have had such a great week!
This is Awesome💫
So wonderful! 🤗
That’s wonderful!
Woooooohooooo! This is awesome!
BACK to regular hours today ( Sat 1/28/23 ) !! We are open today 1-3. Feel free to come if you need food.
We have ANOTHER box of 49+ items to drop off!!
Just a reminder we are CLOSED today due to weather. Rule is RBB schools closed due to weather so are we. We will be back Sat 1-3 Stay warm, stay safe!
RBB schools have CLOSED due to weather, thus we are closed as well. Be safe everyone!
Well, the storm news has not improved since yesterday, and in fact they added another inch and more warnings. I'd say the chance of us closing on WED is about 90% at this time, but I will continue to keep everyone updated. HHFB has gone up and above again, and is bringing us our Wed trucks TODAY ( Tues ) to make sure we have food. Seriously, why take the chance, IF you NEED food, I would HIGHLY suggest coming today 3-6 to get it. We will have enough, and all of us here would rather work extra hard for 1 day, vs have people go hungry. Be safe and prepare. If the storm turns out to be nothing, then YEAH, but you never know. Please feel free to SHARE!
By now, many of you have heard there is a big snow storm coming in on Tues night/Wed all day. BUT it's Indiana, so Who knows!? However, in preparation for a storm and the POSSIBILTY of us having to close on Wed, we are allowing Wed people to go ahead and come today or tomorrow ( Tues ) vs risking it on Wed. WE WILL CLOSE IF RBB SCHOOLS CLOSE, this has always been our rule. Also, if the roads start getting too dangerous to drive on, makng it unsafe for our volunteers to get home, we will close. Please keep this in mind. Please prepare and be safe, stay tuned on here and I will update as things progress.
Thank you to those who brought by donations today! The stolen deliveries were replaced.