Expanding Our Reach to Serve More in Need
Your gifts and support are serving thousands of meals each week to food-insecure children and their families, and with each passing week you are doing even more! This is our seventh rapid response update on what your donations are making possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s been nearly three months, and together, we’re doing more than we ever could have imagined!
Seeking Opportunities to Fill Gaps in Pantry Shelves
Sometimes food donation opportunities come our way that we aren’t able to make use of, and when that happens, we pass the food along to an agency that needs it.
Got Milk?
Because of the great opportunities and connections we have been able to build, we recently began proactively working with the University of Notre Dame and the United Way to survey local pantries and agencies to discover what they need. Many said they were consistently short on milk. So, this month, as part of the USDA Farmers to Families program, we are receiving milk to distribute to the local pantries and nonprofits we partner with.
Right now we are receiving just over 1,700 gallons of milk each week which we are delivering to nearly 30 pantries and social service agencies. Every Friday in June, we’re hosting a milk drive where anyone receiving less than 50 gallons of milk picks it up at our facility.
Potatoes and Onions Too!
End Hunger Indiana donated 1,200 boxes of 10lb bags of potatoes and 5lb bags of onions. We can use some of this in our meals, but not 1,200 boxes. So, we reached out to our partner pantries to see if any could use this type of food, and many jumped at the prospect. Most of the shipment will go along with the milk distributions.
Dinners for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Michiana
Your support of Cultivate is serving lunch three times per week for families at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Michiana. Due to increased restrictions at hospitals, this has been an extra huge blessing for families who are staying at the hospital with their loved ones.
One family wrote, “Thank you for your food donations to Ronald McDonald House in South Bend. Our son has been in the hospital for over a week and we appreciate the meals you are providing so we can stay with him.”
It is such a joy to serve these families delicious meals so they don’t have to worry about leaving the hospital. Thank you for making it possible to provide them this blessing!
Eighth Graders at St. Joseph Grade School Finishing the School Year Strong!
Thanks to Mrs. Brittany Gelchion at St. Joseph Grade School for including Cultivate in their 2019-2020 Summons Project. We were honored to have Drew, Charlie, Landen, Pat, and Quinn volunteering to clean and sort backpacks as part of their project this past school year. These students helped facilitate the distribution of thousands of meals to children in need in their community. We wish them the best of luck as they enter high school next year!
Summer is Here – and the Meals Are Still Coming!
We need your support more than ever to continue to provide meals for food-insecure elementary school students and their families over the summer. With your help, we can continue to feed those in need every week. We hope to serve over 54,000 meals over the summer.
Providing Food Security for Lifeline Families
Your support of Cultivate is transforming one agency’s clients who struggle with food security, among other challenges.
Many of Lifeline’s clients in St. Joseph County are involved in some way with the judicial system, and much of their work in their office involves supervised visits, case management, and therapy sessions. Cultivate is providing meals to their office so families can eat together during these supervised visitations.
Liz Brueseke of Lifeline said, “In these few short weeks we have seen an increase in food security with our families, less stress knowing that they can have something to eat while they are with us. We have seen children clutching meals to take home to share with siblings, and relatives who are caring for them, carefully picking something that they know everyone will like.”
Hearing these stories touches our hearts and is a great testimony to how far your gifts go when you support Cultivate!
Keep Fighting Against Food Insecurity in Our Community
We need your support to keep providing meals to those in need during the months of June, July, and August.
You can carry a family through these uncertain times by making a tax-deductible gift of $105 or a monthly commitment of $35/month for the months of June through August. Your gift will get straight to work feeding the hungry in our community. Please consider giving today by donating securely online here or mailing your check made out to Cultivate to 1403 Prairie Ave., South Bend, IN 46613.