Fall is a time of transition. Sometimes change comes quickly – the temperature drops and we find ourselves in a different season seemingly overnight. At MOM, we’ve successfully navigated many transitions over the last few months with your support.

We’ve continued to provide nutritious food and housing assistance to neighbors in a number of ways. At the end of August, we expanded in-person shopping to four days a week and continued our drive-thru, delivery and mobile pantry services. We supported more families in our Connections housing program as they moved out of doubled-up living arrangements and into homes of their own. Nearly 600 students got the supplies and backpacks they needed to make a strong start to the school year.

In the first two months since our food pantry re-opened for in-person shopping in June, MOM served nearly 2,400 guests. At the same time, we maintained the flexibility of our services and continued to offer food deliveries and drive-thru services one day a week. Meanwhile, inflation has driven food prices higher and housing costs continue to rise. These conditions put even more pressure on the neighbors we serve, who were already stretching limited resources to cover the costs of healthy food, housing, child care and medical bills.

We hope that as we enter this season of giving and reflection that we can continue to come together to support those in our community who need it most. We’re grateful to new volunteers who have come on board to help staff our expanded food pantry hours and thrilled to welcome back those of you who have not been here for a while. We’re even offering new ways for volunteers to get involved, through one-time shifts, in addition to those able to make a more regular time commitment.

“Every shift of people that come in have something to add,” says Jacque Strahl, who has been a MOM volunteer for more than 10 years. “Something to make a difference, something to make it better.”

There are a number of ways to be part of MOM – whether you sign up for a shift to pack grocery deliveries or help a senior citizen with household chores, take advantage of an employer match or shop at our Holiday Art Market in December. Your support is what has always moved us forward and continues to allow us to build an even stronger community where every child has access to the food they need to thrive and all of our neighbors have stable housing.