Your Impact, Today
Your gifts and support are making it possible for Cultivate to produce and distribute 16,000 meals per week.
Make sure you follow us on Facebook to get more up-to-the-minute news, live videos, and see photos of the impact you’re making with us here at Cultivate!
Our Fantastic Partners – Thank You!
We’d like to thank United Way of St. Joe County, United Way of Marshall County, United Way of Elkhart County, Community Foundation of Elkhart County, Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, and Stanz Food Service, just to name a few. These contributors are making sure we are able to produce thousands and thousands of meals every single week.
Thanks to South Bend, Elkhart, and Wa-Nee Community Schools; Family Christian Development Center and Moon Tree Studios; Food Bank of Northern Indiana; Vineyard Church and other partners for helping coordinate the distribution and get the meals into the hands of those who so desperately need them.
Volunteer Spotlight – Amy Zimmer
Congratulations to Amy Zimmer, a great friend of Cultivate, on the honor of being named P-H-M’s 2020 Secondary Teacher of the Year! This year, Amy organized a program with her Exceptional Education students to volunteer for Cultivate. Since they started, they’ve packed 1,696 meals, and at their last visit they packed 300 meals that would end up helping students and families who were sheltering in place due to COVID-19.
We’re so grateful for Amy and her students!
Farm to Fork in a Pandemic
One local farm family took the challenges from a food supply disruption and turned it into a generous gift to provide for the hungry in their community. Tim and Brandon Laidig donated 70 pigs to Cultivate! Then, it was a team effort to complete the “farm to fork” circle. Thank you, J & J Quality Meats, Slabaugh’s Meat Processing and John’s Butcher Shop for butchering the hogs and processing the meat, Hoosiers Feeding The Hungry for covering the costs, and Tyler & Jill Schmeltz and Jim & Kim Bope for transporting the animals.
What will we do with all that pork? Thanks to your gifts, staff and volunteers are hard at work slicing it into chops, loins, bacon, ham, and pulled pork. We estimate this donation will help us build 21,000 meals that will feed thousands over the summer. Farm to fork, indeed!
Backpack Program to Continue After School’s Out for Summer
Schools will soon wrap up their school years and e-learning programs, and the landscape continues to change for our community around COVID-19.
Cultivate is adapting and working hard to serve those around us who need it most. More and more are out of work, local businesses are hurting, and food insecurity grows and grows.
With your support, we at Cultivate are committed to continuing to provide meals to those who need them each week, even through the summer.
A gift of $35 will provide 24 meals for someone in need.