Small Efforts = Big Impacts

We all know about food stamps and welfare, the Friendly Kitchen and food pantries, the Homeless Resource Center and Cold Weather Shelter. There are many resources in the community to help people in need.

But what about the people who aren’t able to access those resources? Whether they don’t know how to, don’t have transportation to or just refuse to because of pride. And - at the risk of sounding cliché - what about the children?

I recently heard about a boy at Rundlett Middle School who was living in a bad
situation. Among other things, this boy was not eating at home because they had
no money and though he qualified for free or reduced lunch at school, he was not
even receiving that because the parent had not applied for it. I knew about a program run through Grace Episcopal Church in East Concord called Take A Tote. Every week, volunteers at the church pack up totes of food, donated by the parishioners at the church, and send them to Mill Brook Elementary School for children that receive free or reduced lunch but may not have food to eat over the weekend.

I reached out to Rev. Jason Wells at the church and asked if they could help this boy at Rundlett. I explained that I couldn’t afford to do anything myself- it’s hard enough trying to keep my own children fed- but I would be happy to trade volunteer hours or help in any other way that I could to repay the favor. Jason explained to me that the volunteer hours were not the issue, it was that they barely had enough resources to be able to service the 20 children a week.

However, for a couple weeks, Jason and his volunteers graciously provided me with a bag for the child and I worked with the guidance counselor to get the child the bag anonymously.

Then Jason asked me if I would be willing to organize a food drive for the Take A Tote program, to help increase their stock of food as well as increase awareness and support of the program. This program and cause have been very eye-opening to me as well as many other people who have contributed.

To reiterate what I wrote in the beginning, there are many programs and resources out there but you have to have access to them and there are some – actually many – children in this community who don’t have that ability or privilege. So needless to say, I agreed to do the food drive.

It was the month of December so fortunately many people were in the giving spirit. After considering partnering with an organization to maximize results, I decided to run the food drive independently, with faith in my network and community. I believe in the power of collaborations and social capital, so I decided to ask two community-minded businesses to be the designated drop-off locations. Not because I was sure they would say yes, but because I appreciate do-gooders and as a way to thank them for the good they do, I would be promoting their businesses and hopefully driving patronage to them.

True Brew Barista – as many of my friends know – is one of my favorite places in Concord, so I asked them and they were more than happy to help out. Along the lines of making donations convenient for people, I thought being the Christmas season there would be lots of traffic on Loudon Road. The Windmill Family Restaurant recently won a Pinnacle Award from the Chamber of Commerce for their outstanding commitment to the community, specifically the annual Thanksgiving dinner they host. I stopped in to ask and without hesitation, Kosmas (son of owner Louis Smirdioudis) agreed.  

I started promoting the food drive immediately. I placed the boxes in both locations on a Friday morning and by Saturday afternoon Stephanie from True Brew sent me a photo of an overflowing box! Soon after, my hairdresser Pam Seguin, owner of Beauty by Design offered to be a drop-off location and offer a discount on products in return for donations. I ran the food drive through the month of December, making several pick-ups and drop-offs over the month. In addition to people dropping donations off at the locations, there were some who gave food directly to me.  
 
And then there was the Patch article, thanks to Editor Tony Schinella! Tony reached out to me and we met at the Windmill to do . The additional publicity really helped to get the word out about the donations, the program and the issue of child hunger. The biggest donation came from Christine Cook, owner of truebluematch.com. She hosts an annual cookie swap at her home and usually her friends bring her a hostess gift. The afternoon before the party, she sent an email to all of her expected guests asking for donations for this program in lieu of hostess gifts. She called me the day after the cookie swap and said she had tons of food for the drive. I met her the next day and collected not just two extra-large garbage bags full of food but about 8-10 more totes of food! It was incredible!

So, the reason for this blog is two-fold. First, I want to thank everyone who contributed and supported the food drive. Thank you to the businesses who hosted the donation boxes: Stephanie and Rob Zinser from True Brew Barista, Kosmas Smirnioudis from the Windmill Family Restaurant and Pam Seguin from Beauty by Design. Thank you Tony Schinella for writing the article and helping us with publicity. Though I know there were many others, I’d like to thank the people that I know of who donated food: Diane Houston, Becky Kinhan, Tonya Rochette, Jenny Kretovic, Kaleena Guzman, Jessica Eshleman, Sandra Fay, Janelle Sprague, Karim Naji, Tony Schinella, Chris Schinella, Christine Cook and her girlfriends and Jim and Susan Milliken. To everyone else who donated anonymously and those who helped me spread the word- thank you!

And the second reason is that I want to share this wonderful experience with all of you so you are inspired and tempted to do your own kind of good will. Whether you’d like to get involved with the Take-A-Tote program and help us grow it or something different; there are so many causes and needs out there, pick one that resonates with you and do something! No matter how big or small the gesture is, it will make a positive impact in someone’s life and that’s what is important. And if you can, take the extra step to make more of an impact by being thoughtful and incorporating other elements; such as working with local businesses or recruiting young people for an opportunity to teach them the value of volunteerism. If you have an idea but not sure where to start or how to implement.. contact me!

“Helping a person will not necessarily change the world but it will change the world for that person.”

“Even the smallest act of caring for another person is like a drop of water, it will make ripples through the entire pond.”