We have recently mailed our quarterly newsletter where we continue to share some of the stories that have positively impacted us recently including spotlights on special donors, volunteers and board members.
We’re working on providing information to you in more effective ways. This new one-page version of our newsletter has been designed to save costs. We hope you enjoy it. We plan to provide the highlights quarterly to you with the new printed format, or the pdf you may view by clickhere >
If you would like additional details from this update, you may call the office or read more details online.
click image to download the PDF version
Due to the significant decrease in funding from grants and pledges in the recent months, maintaining adequate supply for our food pantry has become our number one priority. To meet the current demand throughout the summer, large quantities of necessary pantry items cost nearly $10,000 each month.
To illustrate the continued need to restock the food pantry, see the bounty of pantry items donated by two local food drives (photo below). Food drives are a great way to replenish the food pantry needs. However, what you don’t see from this image is that just seven days later, the items were depleted and the food pantry shelves were vacant.
With the loss of over $30,000 in funding, continued financial support is critical, now more than ever.There are ways you can help grow support and awareness for this urgent need. Local organizations, individuals and private businesses are leading their own food drives to help restock our food pantry shelves this summer and have included Encore Performing Arts, Maurice, Goody's, Quintin Flagg, Plymouth LP Gas, Plymouth Public Library, United States Postal Service, Washington Elementary School and Wythougan Toastmasters. We want to thank all of these groups and the individuals who donated to these drives to help us in the recent months.
Serving over 1200 families throughout Marshall County, there is an urgent need for more items to be replenished on an ongoing basis. Will you and your large group help us by leading a food drive?
We are seeking companies, service organizations, youth groups, students and ministries to lead up the efforts for a food drive. You may contact Sara Hill by calling the office, 936-3388, for details on the types of pantry items currently needed at the time of your drive. We’ve also provided a list of nine easy steps for you to take for a successful food drive, see checklist >
It is often very easy for us to view poverty and its symptoms as being caused by one thing: lack of finances. However, this view is too limited and simply isn’t true. If you have worked in the social service field long you will hear very opposing stories...one of a family who came into some money and was able to use that to help them permanently exit poverty and one who came into some money, blew it all, and remains in poverty. So...what makes the first family different from the second?
Resources…and not just financial resources. There are many resources that a person needs to be able to achieve and sustain a movement from poverty to the “middle class”. During our study of Bridges Out of Poverty, the following eleven resources were mentioned:
Financial
Emotional
Mental
Spiritual
Physical (Health)
Support Systems
Relationships
Knowledge of Hidden Rules
Integrity
Motivation
Over the next year, we will be highlighting each of these resources in our newsletters and through our electronic impact letters as well as on our Facebook and I Heart Plymouth page...stay tuned!
Last year, MCNC served 4,308 individuals….70% of those people were from Plymouth.
We are proud to have served so many of our neighbors here in Plymouth, but there are so many more people that can be helped throughout Marshall County.
One of our goals in 2011 is to reach out to our friends outside of Plymouth. We want people in Culver, Bourbon, Bremen, Argos, Lapaz and all those other small towns to know that we are here, we care about them and their community, and we will help in any way we can.
We are currently making plans to attend local festivals and fairs throughout the summer and fall. We want to spend time reaching out to your communities and we are excited at the chance to do so through these celebrations.
As with anything that MCNC does, we cannot do this alone. As we build more and better relationships with our clients in these outlying towns we know that we will inevitably encounter newer and bigger difficulties in making sure that everyone has equal access to the services they need. We anticipate one of these needs to be transportation and are looking for partner organizations or businesses willing to help transport people from your town to MCNC once a week.
You can help us by letting those in need know we are here. Also, if you know of anyone who may be interested in learning more about MCNC and how they can support us, please help us connect with them. As always, you make us “The Heart of the Neighborhood”.
- Sarah Hendrix, Executive Director
At the heart of our organization is the desire to truly impact someone’s life. This month, I want to share a letter we received from one of our ongoing Case Management clients. She came to us about a year ago and soon after joined the Case Management program. She has consistently worked toward meeting her long term goals and is a volunteer at MCNC. We are proud to serve her and her family.
“ In the past year, I have seen changes in my family as well as myself. MCNC has helped with food, clothing, and the holidays. MCNC has encouraged me to stop focusing on the negative and switch to the positive. I have been given hope that led me to be more stable and independent. She (Sara Hill) has taken the time to run errands for me to obtain a job. I didn’t (haven’t) gotten hired, however, Sara says, ‘they don’t know what they’re missing’. MCNC believes in you when you do not. You feel at ease and confident in your life choices. I thank God, He has sent MCNC and Sara Hill our way to help me and all the others in our times of need. It is truly a blessing and a privilege…” - “Mary”*
- Sara Hill, Case Manager
* Name changed for confidentiality
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