Update...Make a Difference..Stuff a Shirt...Help a Family

Lot's going on here at F-to-F....and we hope all of our followers take a moment to checkout our ever-changing F-to-F website's homepage! www.family-to-family.org We have new projects monthly...so do take look.

So much to do.....

Labor Day has come and gone and school has started.....life moves on. Yet many here in the USA are finding the struggle to keep on going almost too much to bare. I have been quite taken aback by the daily phone calls and emails I receive from ordinary American families looking to us for help..with housing...with food...with the basics.

My cell phone rings..my home phone rings...emails accumulate....what do I say..how do I handle all of this need?
I find myself shaken by the sound of a voice on the other end of my phone telling me they heard form a friend that I can help...a single mom..with 3 "lovely little ones" she says...homeless and hungry.
Times are bad.....

A Dictionary in Every Home!!

The summer is fading and school is on the minds of all of our kids....on my mind too.
It's occurred to us here at  Family-to-Family that many of our receiving families don't have a simple dictionary in their homes and we aim to change that with our  "One Dictionary in Every Home Campaign"!!
We are asking our friends and sponsors to either share a dictionary from your own library, or purchase and send a new one for a family (your own F-to-F "family" if you'd like) living in one of the communities we sponsor. http://family-to-family.org/Community  A simple yet powerful book...

Imagine the possibilities.....

A Fond Farewell

Hello readers -

This is Sarah, the intern.  I built this blog (based on Pam's vision) and have written many of the posts you have read.  At the end of the week, I will no longer be the Family-to-Family intern, and in three weeks, I will be heading to Macalester College, where I plan to study Human Rights and Humanitarianism and bring Family-to-Family to the great state of Minnesota.

Although it turns out desk work is a lot less pleasant than I thought, working for Family-to-Family over the past three months has easily been the most fulfilling job I've ever had.  To start, I could not have asked to work for more lovely ladies than Pam and Nancy.  I've learned a lot about making official write-ups, keeping records, communicating with professional personnel, creating Excel documents, and other skills necessary for working in the non-profit world.

But the experience I learned by far the most from was running our Joplin emergency relief project.  I got to hear first-hand accounts of the devastation in Joplin, which was scary.  It's easy to look at pictures of broken houses, read statistics, or push a button to donate $5.  It's harder to speak to someone who has lost their home, their pets, their possessions, their history, and try to be both the practical intern at a non-profit short on funds, trying to figure out what they're MOST in need of, and the most frugal way we can get that to them...and also a person, with feelings and experiences who wants to help them to feel better and lend a sympathetic ear.  And I still struggle to find the right words to say to someone who has lost...whether it be a loved one, a pet, a house, or all three,  "I'm sorry" never seems to be enough.  What amazed me most, about victims of the tornado, though, was that many of them valued having a sympathetic ear just as much as receiving packages with much-needed supplies.  And nearly every single person I spoke to was thrilled that an organization in New York, and that people "out there" cared about them, and what happened in their town.  One woman told me the relief effort restored her faith in humanity.  Another said that monks from China had come to help distribute supplies...and between the monks from China and the little hunger relief org in New York, she felt real hope that everything would turn out alright...that she would get all the help she needed. 

It brought me to tears on more than one account to hear of all of the suffering in Joplin....one man was suffering from multiple life-threatening conditions, yet he and his family of 7 were crammed into a small trailer without good access to a hospital....he had a service dog that helped him with his heart problems, and they didn't even have enough room to store his food....they kept bags of dog food outside, under their porch.  Yet he was optimistic, he joked around with me, and seemed happily surprised to find that we wanted to send him aid.  Another man had just bought his first house weeks before the tornado...he and his wife had a newborn baby, and all of their property was completely demolished, their cats were killed, and their dog had three broken legs.  Most heartbreaking of all, one of his best friends and her young daughter had been killed...yet I was told they still felt better off than a lot of others, simply because they were alive and could live in his mother's home until a new one was built for them.

I was so floored by the gratitude these people expressed, even in the midst of so much devestation.  It helped rid me of the sense of entitlement that teens living in affluent communities like mine are often saddled with.  I feel grateful for what I have every day, and even more determined to continue spending my life helping others.  There really isn't a better feeling than knowing you've brought joy and hope into the lives of people who need it most.

So thank you, for all of your generosity...on behalf of the families in Joplin, and also on my own behalf.  I feel like I really grew up this summer, and your contributions enabled that.

Be on the lookout for a new section of our website oriented towards college students...it'll go up sometime this summer, and I'll be running it!


Happy Trails,
Sarah

Hello from Flint, Michigan!

Here's a video compiled of clips taken on-site by our partner at The Boys and Girls Club of Flint, Michigan.  Enjoy!

9/11 Day of Service and a Message from our Intern

We are proud to announce that Family-to-Family will be participating in the 9/11 National Day of Service to honor those who were killed serving their country during and in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.  To read more about how people across the nation will be paying tribute on the 10th anniversary of the attacks, go here: http://www.serve.gov/sept11.asp

There are two different events we are asking F-to-F donors and their friends and relatives to host and/or participate in.  They are:

1. HOMELESS LIVING IN SHELTERS: PERSONAL CARE ITEM AND SUITCASE DRIVE:

 Make a small difference in the lives of the homeless living in or near your community. Imagine what it's like to have very limited access to personal care items on a regular basis..and nothing to carry them in!  Many homeless find themselves moving from one homeless shelter to another, carrying all of their clothes and other possessions in trash bags. We can help!  Gather your friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors and ask them to bring new or gently used soft suitcases, duffel bags and large backpacks to your event.  Additionally,  ask your friends and neighbors to gather and bring small bottles of shampoo, conditioner, soaps, wash cloths, deodorant, tooth brushes and toothpaste, body lotions, shaving cream, cotton swabs, and any other personal care items you might think of to your event. Please also include baby wipes, diaper cream, kids’ wipes, kids' shampoo and conditioner as well as kids' toothbrushes and toothpaste. 

The event itself!! Invite your friends, neighbors and colleagues to join you...you determine  date and time...and pack up as many soft suitcases, duffel bags and backpacks (gently used are fine!) with all of the personal care items. You might find that swapping and sharing the personal care items and putting them in zip lock bags will insure that the bags have variety.  It's always nice to add a note...wishing well, or have crayons, markers and paper for the kids at your event to draw and share a good will wish. Please contact us at pkoner@family-to-family.org before your event so that we can link you to a local homeless shelter. For more information about F-to-F, please visit our web site @  www.family-to-family.org

2. BIRTHDAYS IN A BOX...FOR CHILDREN LIVING IN HOMELESS SHELTERS:

How Your Kids – And You! – Can Help Kids with Less – Birthday Surprises in a Shoebox  A Concrete, Hands-on Way to Give on Make A Difference Day!

It’s hard for many of us – adults or children - to imagine celebrating a child’s birthday without a party or presents. But for many U.S. families living in poverty in a homeless shelter, the idea of a party is just unimaginable and most likely, impossible.  But...we CAN make it happen! Host a Birthdays in a Box event in your home, office, place of worship, town hall, town library or any other public gathering place. Birthdays in a Box are birthday celebrations in a box which, after you assemble, we'll ask you to drop off at a womens’ shelter or a homeless shelter in your community (we will link you to a shelter in your area). What do you need to do? Invite friends, neighbors, colleagues to your event asking them to each bring:

A large sneaker-sized shoe box or a decorative shopping bag (available at $1 stores, which you as the host might consider supplying).

A box of cake mix
A can of frosting
Birthday candles (no matches please!)
A small $5.00+ gift for that child.
Birthday decorations of your choice
2  disposable round cake pans
If you like, you can also include a goody bag filled with small surprises and/or a gently used book that the child you are sending the box to might like
 

Then….we ask you the event host, to supply birthday wrapping paper, tape and ribbon and:

·   Wrap the small gift (and book, if you are including one) in birthday wrapping paper

·   Wrap the top and bottom of the shoe box separately (so that even wrapped, the box can be opened), and fill the wrapped box with the things you have gathered. 

·    If you would like to give the child you’re giving your box to a chance to write back to you, include a postcard with a stamp on it, addressed to you c/o Family to Family, PO Box 255, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, 10706. Then email us at pkoner@family-to-family.org  put “birthday postcards” in the subject of the email, and tell us your name and address.  Also tell us that you have included a postcard in your box, so we’ll be able to forward the postcard to you if we receive it.

·    You can also make a birthday card and put that inside the box as well. Then tie the box closed with ribbon, and label it with the age and “boy” or “girl”. (For example, you might write “6 year old boy” or “10 year old girl”.) Please contact us at pkoner@family-to-family.org before your event so that we can link you and your group to a local shelter. For more information about our work please visit our website at www.family-to-family.org and our blog at:blog:themeetingground.blogspot.com.

And now, a message from our intern, Sarah:

Hello!  We have just received a few more emails from organizations and individuals looking to sponsor a family in Joplin, and I'll get to you all soon, I promise.  Right now, I'm working on using the donations we received from Groupon, and an individual donor to make up packages on Amazon.com and send gift cards for local gas stations and Walmart to nine families in Joplin who were unsponsored.  The response I've gotten from them has been truly unbelievable.  I called each family rather than send them a questionnaire to expedite the process, and I have been truly touched by the warmth and gratitude that each family has expressed.  What I have learned is, in hard times, often the good gesture is more meaningful than the product.  The women and men I spoke to were thrilled to hear that people in New York, LA, Portland, DC, Seattle, and Minneapolis were looking out for them, and thinking about them.  I think they appreciate that even more than they'll appreciate receiving bedsheets, clothing, and toilet paper.  I have become a more appreciative person working on this project.  I spoke to one woman whose family had literally lost everything they'd ever owned.  The only furniture they had in their homes were FEMA-issued beds...they have not a single table or chair, and nowhere to put what few things have been donated to them, or purchased new.  Another woman was living with three kids and two adults...but none of them were related to her.  She simply took them in out of the kindness of her heart, and when I asked what she needed, she made sure to meet their needs first.  And both of these women were just so grateful that we at Family-to-Family were thinking about them.  It almost makes me feel like I can never complain about anything again, when others are so gracious.  I want to thank all of you donors on behalf of the Joplin families F-to-F is sponsoring, and also on my own behalf...I plan on majoring in Human Rights and Humanitarianism when I start college in the fall, and seeing all of your generosity has really given me hope that there are good people out there, and we really can help others and make a huge difference.  Thank you!

Food Banks and our Joplin Emergency Relief Effort

Starting off this post with some really great news...in an effort to spread our dollar and our reach, I have been hard at work setting up relationships with Feeding America food banks on the ground  in the communities we sponsor.  We had already partnered with Arkansas Food Bank, Good Shepherd Food Bank, Gods Pantry, Food Bank of New York, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, and Food Bank of Eastern Michigan.  Now, we are also working with Huntington Food Bank, Northern Illinois Food Bank, The Community Pantry, Three Square Food Bank, and Food Bank of Northern New Mexico to purchase food for our communities.  This will give us a huge increase in the amount of food we are able to buy for our families.  When we were working with local grocery stores, a $30 monthly donation bought a family of five seven dinner-type meals...through the food banks, we can get seven dinner-type meals for a family of five for just $5.  That means we will now provide SIX TIMES the amount of food!
Feeding America is the largest food bank in the country....read more here: http://feedingamerica.org/

This is also what will probably be the last Joplin-related post on this blog.  With media attention away from the tornado, scarcely any donors have signed on lately, and I'm thinking there probably won't be too many more.  Despite a few bumps in the road and lapses in communication from the ground in Joplin, though, I am happy to say that we have successfully linked donors to 55 needy families in Joplin.  That said, we have about 32 families who still need assistance, so please, reach out to family, friends, and coworkers.  You can sponsor in groups!  Our intern, Sarah, and her family are co-sponsoring a large family with their friends.  And if you don't have the means or the time to sponsor a large family, several of our "families" are only one or two adults.
I'd also like to thank our donors for all of the effort, and most importantly, the compassion they've shown caring for complete strangers...from what we've heard so far, it means the world to our Joplin families.

Introducing...3 New Communities!

Family-to-Family is now sponsoring three new communities!  Crownpoint and Bloomfield are both located near the four corners (the point where Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah meet) area of New Mexico.  The area is in the desert, and it is very rural, far away from any major cities.  They are also deeply impoverished, with the per capita income over $20,000 below the national average.  The community contacts are Marilynn Holtsoi, and Ronnie Tso, respectively.  Both women work for Special Education Related Services CUA.  

We will also be sponsoring families with students enrolled in the Whitney Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Whitney Elementary School is located in a very low-income part of Las Vegas, and Las Vegas was one of the areas hardest hit by the recession.  Most of the students at Whitney Elementary are homeless, and, according to community partner Shannon Williamson, kids living in the projects "often have a harder existence than the homeless kids."  The school has been providing students and their families with wraparound services for over eight years, but we would like to provide them with even more assistance and families who care about their success.

We are accepting clothing donations for these new communities, and there will be families available for "adoption" soon!

More on our Joplin Tornado Relief Effort and Victory Gardens

Joplin first...a little more than half of our donor "families" (as well as families in the traditional sense, many of our donors have included single women, offices, or even entire floors or companies, and teams of two or more families) have heard back from their families in Joplin, and have sent back an initial package of goods.
We've been hearing some pretty amazing stories from our families in Joplin.  Two of the women who signed up in Joplin still have their homes and were not displaced by the storm...but their children and their children's families, and their neighbors were, so they have taken them all in, and had signed up on their behalf.

We're at the point in this process when it becomes very important to keep us updated.  We have reassigned four sponsor families so far, and we ask that you let us know whether or not you've heard from your Joplin families....after 2 1/2 weeks, we will reassign (email us at famtofamily@gmail.com).

As far as the Victory Gardens go, we have a bit of a mixed bag.  The gardens of the Jenkins Schools families have been doing wonderfully.  The plants were "hearty and easy to grow," and almost all of the chickens survived!  The weather in New Mexico, however, has not been good to the plants...New Mexico has suffered through droughts, fires, and water shortages.  The nights have been extremely cold, and monsoon season came too late...this is a learning experience, though, so in the future, Family-to-Family will try to send local seeds which might fare better in the harsh New Mexico weather.  Lettuce is growing well and chicks are doing great in McRoberts, but a large number of chicks unfortunately perished en route to Kermit.  In Myra, the chicks are healthy and growing, and lettuce and onions are being successfully harvested, although some corn was lost to birds....in other words, despite a few big misfortunes, Victory Gardens have been, and have the potential to be, very successful!

Please do use this blog to share your experiences, and help each other out.  We've been getting lots of emails about extra clothes that families have...post it here, and who knows?  Another family might be looking for the exact size and gender of clothes that you have extra hand-me-downs of.

Joplin Update!

Hi everyone.  It's taking longer than we thought it would for the families in Joplin to send back their questionnaires.  We really have no idea what life must be like for them, and it's very likely that there just hasn't been time to go to the post office, or fill anything out, but we are asking that if a donor family does not hear back from their Joplin family within 2 1/2 weeks of sending the initial package, to let us know, and we will reassign you to a new family, to make sure we are getting help to as many people as we can.
Despite a few bumps in the road, though, this project has been largely successful so far.  Many families have already sent a second package of gift cards and/or bedding, towels, toiletries, clothes, and children's books, and a few donor families have been in touch with their sponsored families several times already.

We've already matched 55 families to donors, with sponsors from: New York, New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Wyoming, Iowa, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Virginia, Kansas, Michigan, Washington, Mississippi, and Oregon.

That's a lot of states!  It's incredible that we've had such widespread response, and the mother of the head of one of our sponsored households told our intern, Sarah, that it felt great just to know that there were people out there who cared about the people in Joplin.  You've all shown someone in Joplin that you care, and that makes a big difference in their lives.

HOWEVER, we still have a little over 20 families that still need sponsors!  And there are more coming!  So please, tell your friends, your relatives, your neighbors, and your coworkers about this cause.  It's so important!  And do let us know if you haven't been able to get in touch with your family in Joplin.

Meeting up....

It's been a long week.....

We're beginning to hear back from our Joplin donor families...some are still waiting to hear from the family they have been assigned...and others are out there starting to gather needed items.  We hope that you will all use this blog to share or exchange what you have...and remember...it's really fine to send gently used things.Tag sales are great too!

Our Groupon campaign raised almost $3000...that's 10 Joplin families we'll be sponsoring from F-to-F's home office starting on Monday!

More later.....need coffee!

Today just might be the day....

Updates on our Joplin, MO. story.....more families signing on for help...yet the story of Joplin is fading fast from the public eye. How is it that a disaster like that only lasts a news cycle? What does that say about us....how do we change it?
We're keeping our focus on Joplin....even if we only help a few...we're doing the right thing.
Groupon campaign raised funds for 10 Joplin families...I'll do the shopping for these 10..and I can't wait!

As a note to all Joplin donors...as info comes in about your Joplin family..think about coming here to exchange/share/ what you have..what you've learned etc. this blog and comment section can help a lot! If you have clothes or items to share with other donors and their families in Joplin, do post that here!

My days are amazing....

In bed last night thinking through my day....I felt as I usually do..so grateful to have found a way to make a difference in my world. I am truly amazed by the "kindness of strangers"....friends out there who have never met, but feel a sense of belonging to each other.

We watched as the emails came in yesterday..Groupon's program for F-to-F ran yesterday and will be running through tomorrow...from those you have just heard of F-to-F's work, and it is always a joy to read the same lines...."I've been looking for something to do to make a difference".

Spoke to a principal in Las Vegas who makes sure over 75% of her student body has food in their backpacks as they leave school each day as they are all homeless and hungry. We're in the process of signing them up to be our 21st community...we want to help them. Talked with the local Feeding America Food Bank..and they were eager to help us help by allowing us to sponsor the school as a pantry. We're going to try and help 50 families there...and lighten their load.

Onward now...calls to make...our story to tell as we keep pushing to grow and extend our reach where we can.

Monday...

Monday morning and we are out of the gate at a gallop!
Exciting week.....we have a BIG event happening with Goupon any day now....and we are getting our latest group of Joplin families linked up with a sponsor. We have 20 families in Joplin waiting now for a sponsor family...so any help getting this out there with your friends and family...would be awesome.

Arma Woods, our community partner in Montrose, ARK. has been all tears lately...in a good way. We put the call out to our donors linked to her Arkansas community, asking for some help with gas money for Arma to take her mom to chemotherapy treatments hours away from her. So many of you came through...and today 2 donors surprised us all with a $550. donation for Arma! What a treat to send that email on to Arma!!! :)
I am consistently amazed by the kindness of strangers....
Wanted to share an article with everyone...we're hoping to connect and help a school community of homeless kids in LasVegas...hard hit by the recession: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/09/eveningnews/main20070437.shtml 
Do take a moment...and read it. Shocking....

Update on Joplin!

Great news: all of the Joplin families we've received so far have been sponsored!

The donor response has been really amazing.  We're being flooded with generous volunteers offering to sponsor a family (or a few families!)... so much so that we actually have more donors waiting to sponsor a family than we have names and addresses of families who need sponsoring!  This is a good thing, though...it's always better to have more of those willing to help than those in need.

That said, I am about to make contact with five more shelters in Joplin, so we should have plenty of new families in need of donors very soon.

Unfortunately, weeks after the tornado hit, the death toll is still rising.  Some victims of various traumatic injuries have gotten a fungal infection which has been fatal in a few.  Recovery efforts are still continuing, and benefits for the Joplin tornado victims, from sports summer camps to art sales, are being hosted across the country.

It looks like smaller organizations bringing most-needed items directly to families in need, just like Family-to-Family, are really making a big difference in Joplin: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_741204.html

Here's a short, informational article on the first temporary houses being provided for the tornado victims by FEMA:http://articles.kspr.com/2011-06-08/fema-program_29636591
The Joplin families that our tornado relief effort sponsors will be living in temporary homes like these...without basics such as towels, sheets, and blankets.

I'll end with a more optimistic story: http://www.koamtv.com/story/14875802/cat-found-alive-in-debris-16-days-after-ef-5-tornado