As prices rise, requests for food and emergency assistance go up too. In fact, the past month saw the pantry serving 150% of our usual number of clients! Here are this month’s totals:
During the month of March, the NEEDS pantry provided food to 123 families – for a total of 435 people!
NEEDS also provided emergency financial assistance to 10 families, distributing $3676.78 to cover rent and utilities.
If you would like to help stock the NEEDS pantry with food and toiletries, please check out the list of most-needed items below.
Donations can be dropped off during NEEDS’ open hours (Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-1:00). Thank you!
Canned Food:
Baked beans
Refried beans
Pineapple
Salmon
Other Non-Perishable Food:
Pasta sauce
Pasta side dishes (such as Knorr and Pasta-Roni mixes)
Boxed cereal
Home and Personal Care:
Paper towels
Laundry detergent
Here’s a heartwarming story from NEEDS pantry coordinator Maureen:
“Madeira Elementary School students and their families are among the NEEDS pantry’s biggest supporters. After holding a very successful drive for the pantry in fall 2021, they did it again in March 2022.
Heading up the effort were teachers Katie Naegeli and Sunday Bernicke. When NEEDS volunteers arrived on March 25 to pick up the drive’s proceeds, they had very little work to do. The school’s student leaders carried all but the heaviest boxes to the cars, excited and proud of their efforts. Donations filled four SUVs.
Madeira Elementary School students are learning early that ‘it takes a village’ to meet the emergency needs of our less fortunate neighbors.”
Pantry coordinator Maureen recently shared this good news:
“It started with a short phone call from the manager of the Pet Supplies Plus store in Independence, Kentucky. She asked if the NEEDS pantry was still interested in pet food and supplies for its clients, saying that she had quite a lot on hand. Of course we were interested! And we said we’d be down to pick it up within an hour or two.
The manager and her staff wheeled cartload after cartload of items out of their storage area, and loaded them into our waiting SUV. They filled not only the cargo area, but the floor wells and the front seats. Best of all, they promised to call with more! For our clients – who struggle to feed themselves, let alone their pets – that’s a golden promise!”
Thank you, Pet Supplies Plus!
Interested in supporting NEEDS…and winning cash? The Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon’s Piggest Raffle Ever is the perfect opportunity!
Now through April 30, you can purchase raffle tickets for $5 each – with 100% of your donation going directly to NEEDS! On May 1, the Flying Pig will draw a winner of $5000 cash. The winner’s charity will also receive $5000! While everyone is welcome to celebrate Flying Pig race weekend, you do not need to be present in order to win.
Entering the raffle is easy! Just visit http://piggestraffleever.com/ and select NEEDS from the drop-down list of charities. Then choose your number of tickets and click “Adopt.”
If you are a runner, you can also support NEEDS when you register for a Flying Pig race event. For more information about registration discounts and other perks, visit our Facebook page.
NEEDS is so excited to participate in the Piggest Raffle Ever. Thank you for your support!
If you would like to help stock the NEEDS pantry with food and toiletries, please check out the list of most-needed items below.
Donations can be dropped off during NEEDS’ open hours (Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-1:00). Thank you!
Canned Food:
Pineapple
Mixed vegetables
Diced tomatoes
Chili
Salmon
Other Non-Perishable Food:
Instant oatmeal assortment packs
Snack items
Home and Personal Care:
Body wash (we run out of this very quickly!)
Shaving cream
Laundry detergent
Here are the totals for the past month:
During the month of February, the NEEDS pantry provided food to 96 families – for a total of 333 people!
NEEDS also provided emergency financial assistance to eight families, distributing $3500 to cover rent and utilities.
February may be a short month, but it’s been packed with activity for NEEDS volunteers and donors!
Early in the month, Logan Symson of Amberley Village (pictured above) organized a food drive to support the NEEDS pantry. Despite rough weather, the drive was a success – and Logan hopes to organize additional drives in the future!
Later, NEEDS volunteers presented funds from the Student Assistance Drive to Maple Dale Elementary. School officials will use these funds to make sure students have warm winter clothing.
Of course, many of us will remember February 2022 as the month the Cincinnati Bengals made it to the Super Bowl. To our excitement, several local organizations – Twin Lakes Retirement Community, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Youth, and Madeira Silverwood Presbyterian Church – celebrated by holding “Souper Bowl” drives to benefit the NEEDS pantry. Though the Bengals fell short of a win, NEEDS was a winner this month!
Pantry coordinator Maureen recently shared this heartwarming story of teamwork in our community:
“Bill Ertle, of All Saints Church, holds a special place in the hearts of volunteers at the NEEDS food pantry. For several years now, he and his Chevy Tahoe have made the short trip from the parish to the pantry every week or two bearing gifts. By the time he arrives, he’s already made the rounds of four sites where church members drop off their pantry donations, and loaded them all — usually with the help of one of his kids.
A cheerful smile, a caring heart and a can-do attitude are just a few hallmarks of his big personality.
Bill has been working with Anne Marie Kaes, another volunteer at the parish, to involve more families in the work with NEEDS in hopes of increasing donations. Through SignUpGenius, families willing to transport parish donations to NEEDS can volunteer on a one-time or ongoing basis. The hope is that once families visit and tour the pantry they will become more enthusiastic supporters. Bill plans to accompany families on their first trips to help orient them to the process.
While the new team effort will really benefit the NEEDS pantry, we’ll miss seeing Bill on a regular basis!”
The NEEDS pantry welcomes donations of non-perishable foods, but we’re also thrilled when our partners help us to provide fresh food to our clients. Recently, a joint effort with St Vincent De Paul resulted in NEEDS’ being able to offer clients a supply of milk for their families. As pantry coordinator Maureen shares:
“The cost of milk by the gallon mounts up, especially when the NEEDS pantry needs 20 gallons on each day it is open. On rare occasions, milk is available through the Freestore Foodbank at no cost to food pantries. And we may receive a few gallons in a random donation. But receiving funding for milk on an ongoing basis was a real gift to NEEDS.
Mike Hathorn, president of the Saint Saviour Parish’s St. Vincent de Paul chapter and a long-time board member of NEEDS, facilitated that gift. While the chapter runs its own food pantry, the facility has no refrigeration. It gives its neighbors grocery vouchers for the local IGA supermarket. The store’s manager, in turn, gave the chapter with four $500 gift cards for use only on milk. But with no refrigerator in which to store the milk, Mike passed on one of the gift cards to the NEEDS pantry. And when we depleted the card amount, he gave us a second card!
‘When you use that one up,” Mike said, ‘just give me a call. I’ll probably still have the other two and will give you one.’
It’s a team effort to feed our neighbors in need. We’re grateful that Mike and NEEDS are on the same team!”