It isn’t 99 degrees, and the sidewalks aren’t melting – happy days! School is back in session; the kids are getting free breakfast and lunch, and our Tiger weekend bags are going home with nearly 100 kids. Our Middle and High School Pantries are stocked with supplies so the kids can grab what they need. This really helps the families that use the free and reduced school program; it provides those extra meals and snacks on Saturday and Sunday as well as long weekends and holidays. Are your kids’ part of a cheer, football, soccer, team, a choir or band group, Scouts, youth group, etc. looking for a project? Have them collect items for our bags or put together bags – we are happy to send you a list! Kids LOVE the idea of helping other kids.
We just finished our Back-to-School event and have other exciting events coming up; Empty Bowls, Pass It On (which fills the Thanksgiving Boxes, Holiday Boxes), the Giving Shop, there is never a quiet moment at the LIFE Food Pantry. We always need more assistance. Won’t you please consider volunteering? Look at our website and visit the volunteer section; we’d love to welcome you to our group for as little or as much time as you can donate. It’s a lot of fun and camaraderie for the community!
After the inevitable delays that happen with remodeling and construction projects, I’m excited to announce that we moved last weekend! Seeing things come together is so fulfilling when you know how much this move will mean for the clients. Most of all, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude by the flood of support from the community with the contributions arriving; from monetary donations to shelving to lamps to composting bins to sinks from our wish list. It feels a little bit like the Olympics; training, training, training, just waiting for the Ready, Set, GO! Our new address is 677 Loveland Madeira Rd., right next to ACE hardware. Look for information on a grand opening in October. We still have some items needed for the new location on our Amazon Wishlist if you would like to donate. You’ve never seen someone get so excited about opening an Amazon box and finding a composting bucket or a sink sprayer or an electronic bug zapper – it’s like Christmas every day! In all seriousness, we are appreciative of everything that comes our way and if you look at the list, you’ll see there are no fancy items and no high-end frills, just basic needs.
With an attitude of gratitude,
