Moving Forward Into 2022 Together

November and December are the busiest months of the year at MOM. Although community need and generosity exist throughout the year, both are intensely evident these last couple of months.  

If you were to step inside one of our case manager’s offices this month, you would hear stories of heartbreak and loss, but also of hope and perseverance. Monique has one of those stories. Monique lost her job cleaning a hotel in March of 2020 when hotels closed because of Covid. This led to her losing housing. Over the next few months, Monique and her children bounced between friends’ apartments. She finally secured a job at a fast-food restaurant and began saving money. Thanks to the support of generous donors like you, MOM was able to help her pay move-in costs for a new apartment and provide her family access to healthy food. Now that she has stable housing, Monique can focus on moving forward and building a stronger future for her family.

If you were to step inside our Distribution Center during a food distribution time, you would see volunteers hard at work. Some of these dedicated volunteers have volunteered weekly for ten years while others, moved by the challenging circumstances around them, recently began. You would also see fruits, vegetables, milk, bread, meat, laundry soap and other basic supplies provided by community partners, donated by individuals, businesses and churches or purchased with funds contributed by community members.

These numbers illustrate both the services we’ve provided and support we’ve received the last few months:

246: households served choose-your-own meals through our Thanksgiving Baskets program

275 households that have been certified (or recertified) to use our services since October

60-90: households served during food distribution days which take place three times each week

$77,560: funds raised from nearly 170 donors in two days during our #GivingTuesday campaign

46: local artists who sold beautiful creations during our Holiday Art Fair that raised over $26,000

1680: neighbors who received gift cards for the holidays through our Winter Wishes program

We continue to live in uncertain times. This means that as an organization we have continued to adapt. Our case managers now meet with people both in person and virtually. We have spent the last few months preparing to launch our new Connections program that will serve neighbors in crowded (and usually lease-breaking) doubled-up living conditions, a group that has often fallen through a service gap. We look forward to welcoming our first family into the program in January of 2022. Senior rides and chores have resumed and neighbors are able to visit our Clothing Center. Under the recommendation of TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program) our Food Pantry, along with other food pantries in Dane County, continues to operate as a drive-thru model. Our model allows neighbors to come as often as they need and select food and personal essential items from a menu.

We are so appreciative of your ongoing support that enables us to make the necessary adjustments to meet the most pressing needs in our community. We don’t know what the future holds. But we do know that the best way for our community to move forward is together.

Sincerely, 

Ellen Carlson, Executive Director