Jay-Dee, the much-loved dog in a Giving2Grow member’s family, wants to tell you a story.
Recently a couple of Giving2Grow members, Debbie and Amy, pursued an opportunity to help one of our grantee organizations in a different way. The Fayette County Community Action Agency’s mission is to strengthen individuals and families to become more self-sufficient, achieving their potential by taking advantage of opportunities, improving the conditions in which they live, and taking ownership of their community.
Giving2Grow’s financial contribution helps support the Let’s Get Cooking! program for low-income pregnant women and mothers with young children. In this program, nurses in the Nurse-Family Partnership visit the homes of the women and assist them as they learn to prepare nutritious food for their families. The program needs basic kitchen supplies to fully implement its plan.
Debbie and Amy communicated with G2G members and friends, and within two weeks had collected two fully-packed van-loads of many gently-used items! Check out the donations in the photo above! This amazing pile included small appliances, crockpots, grills/panini makers, cooking pots and pans of all sizes, all kinds of bakeware, multiple place settings of dishes and silverware, mixing bowls, storage containers, salad spinners and colanders, a few tablecloths, and many other miscellaneous items.
Others, aware of the effort, stepped forward. They purchased and shipped a quantity of the most needed items. These generous donations will benefit the Let’s Get Cooking! clients as well as others served by FCCAA.
Debbie describes her experiences working with the Nurse Family Partnership at FCCAA: “We delivered things in two trips, one week apart. The first time, the head of the Nurse-Family Partnership program and her assistant helped us unload everything. They were amazed at what arrived that day (and the new grills/panini makers were delivered while we were there!), and told us about some of the specific recipients they had in mind for some items. For example, we had confirmed earlier that they would be able to use a donated microwave oven, and they had earmarked that for a young woman moving into a mobile home with her baby that very weekend. The following week, several of the visiting nurses were in the office to help set things up. It was our turn to be amazed—most of the items from the previous week were already gone. Clients had come in to ‘shop,’ or nurses had packed boxes to deliver to clients who couldn’t come in. They told us how delighted both the clients and the nurses had been to have a selection of needed items they could choose from. The nurses know each of their clients well and knew what they needed most from what was available.”
Jay-Dee did reassure us that, while she served as guardian of the goods, she was NOT part of the donation!
Many thanks to our generous G2G donors and friends, and especially to Debbie and Amy! We are grateful to be part of this work that alleviates hunger and food insecurity among children and families.
