To the editor:
On behalf of myself, Steve, Kyle and all of the current board members, we wish to thank all of the wonderful volunteers and those who made generous donations of monetary gifts and food donations all throughout the year of 2019. It was a great year, from the Soup Bowl benefit in April to the recent Christmas open house in December!
Mother’s Cupboard provides many needed services to the community: offering other available resources for needs we don’t supply; giving opportunities for students seeking needed community service hours for school projects; offering civic groups, church groups, etc., outreach programs and family units desiring to have a bonding experience by giving back to the community. These are just a few examples of how we serve not only those in need, but our community as a whole.
It goes without saying that the main purpose at Mother’s Cupboard is fighting food insecurity by providing hot meals, dry staples, dairy and fresh produce when available; special events, like Easter baskets and Easter ham giveaways, a summer ice cream social, Halloween party, Thanksgiving turkey dinner boxes (which we were able to provide 42 families with this year!). And then we had our Christmas open house with holiday appetizers, desserts, festive punch, egg nog and gingerbread people, door prizes and free stocking stuffers. Santa was there as well, with treats for all the good little boys and girls!
Special thanks to Big Woods Pizza for donating a variety of their wonderful pizza, our local McDonald’s, and a private donor for gift cards to use as some of the door prizes, Waycross Camp for once again providing us with cookie jars stuffed with homemade cookies, and all the others who brought us in homemade goodies to fill holiday cookie tins and containers! The Christmas spirit was truly present and a good time was had by all!
Mothers Cupboard is grateful for those in this community that contribute to us to make all these things available to their fellow neighbors and residents of Brown County. We are looking forward to serving the community again in 2020.
This year, we are not only going to concentrate on improving our services to the public, but also improving our impact on the environment. In February of 2020, we will no longer be taking or using plastic bags for the meals or groceries. We will be accepting paper bags in place of plastic ones, and clients will have the option of getting reusable totes. Later in the year as funds become available, we want to transition over from styrofoam meal trays to biodegradable ones. We currently recycle cardboard and cans, and by adding these two other steps, our environmental footprint should decrease! We not only want to be of serve to the public but to the environment in which they live.
Thank you, once again, fellow patrons, and here is to a HAPPY NEW YEAR for us all!
Chef Sherry House, executive director, Mother’s Cupboard
