Middletown Community Thanksgiving Project︱Lara SantaMaria

It's always a good time to think about the needs of others, but it's especially top of mind around the holidays. The Middletown Community Thanksgiving Project is a perfect example of Middletown's ability to come together in service. In today's conversation, Ayanna sits down with Lara SantaMaria, Executive Director of Ministry Services at Fellowship Church and the coordinator of the Middletown Community Thanksgiving Project. Lara shares the evolution of this amazing project and highlights all the partners joining forces to bring Thanksgiving meals to hundreds of families in our community. We invite you all to get involved!

https://www.facebook.com/thanksgivingproject/
https://svdmiddletown.org/food-pantry/
https://russelllibrary.libcal.com/event/9855422

Book Recommendations

Recipe for Disaster by Aimee Lucido
Maizy Chen's Last Chance by Lisa Yee
Garlic and the Vampire by Bree Paulsen
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard
Thank You Omu! by Oge Mora
Freedom Soup by Tami Charles
Anni Dreams of Biryani by Namita Moolani Mehra
PIE by Sarah Weeks

This podcast uses music by Ashutosh, under a creative commons license:
Time by ASHUTOSH | https://soundcloud.com/grandakt
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

Transcript

Ayanna: 0:00

And thank you for joining us today on Middletown Strong Looking up with Russell Library. I'm your host today, Ayanna McKennon, and I am joined today by Lara SantaMaria Executive Director of Ministry Services at Fellowship Church here in Middletown, as well as the coordinator of the Middletown Community Thanksgiving Project. Which was able to donate over 800 meals to families in need just last year in 2021. Russell Library is so excited to be partnering with you guys again. With the Middletown Community Thanksgiving Project Initiative and helping to get the word out about what you're doing for the community. So welcome to the show, Lara

Lara: 0:30

Thank you very much. I'm glad to be here.

Ayanna: 0:32

Yeah. So let's get into it. We just want to make sure our listeners are aware of this awesome initiative you're doing. So for those who don't know, Lara, please tell us what the Middletown Community Thanksgiving project is about.

Lara: 0:43

Okay, so the Middletown Community Thanksgiving project is made up of a group of non-profits businesses in town. And it's just a group of people who came together that wanted to provide meals for families in need. Thanksgiving is such a great time of year to get families together. And we know that there are many families that struggle, that are unable to purchase the food that they need for Thanksgiving. And we put this initiative together so that through all do donations, we are able to provide families with, with these, with the food so that they can make these meals.

Ayanna: 1:18

That's awesome. And again, when when I came on as the engagement coordinator, the community engagement coordinator here, and I was introduced to this initiative it was one of the, Ones I was most passionate about. Because it's always exciting to be able to contribute to to food insecurity in that way. Absolutely. And to, to be able to help and the, It's always so well received. Yes. By the community. So what, what inspired this. Initiative besides food insecurity, obviously.

Lara: 1:46

Well, it actually started about 11 years ago. At that time the Red Cross was still here in Middletown and they, as well as several other churches provided small meals for people for Thanksgiving. It was, nothing was unified as far as one organization doing all of it. When we found out that the Red Cross was leaving town, A group of of people came together and just said, We don't wanna see this end. But we would also like to make it more mainstream and have it just one place in town for people to go rather than, you know, three different areas where they could go sign up. So at that point a group of volunteers came together from, from different organizations and banks and just decided to start it. Named it the Middletown Community Thanksgiving project, and it has kind of just grown from that. We reached out to the other organizations that were doing their own thing. They joined us. So we were able to just have one organization provide food for, for everyone who needed it in Middletown

Ayanna: 2:40

That's so awesome and it is very reflective of the way this community always seems to come together for folks in need. Is, it wasn't necessarily a surprise to me that, that this all came about, but it seems like such a big lift for the coordinator of the project. But is so how was that for you?

Lara: 2:58

It's a great, I, I love doing it. It's probably my, the favorite thing that I do all year long with different events that I help coordinate. And I think it's because just seeing the desire that people have to help others it's amazing. You never wanna say have too many volunteers, but it, it gets to the point every year I'm like, I don't know. There's just gonna be a two week. We're gonna be tripping over each other and everybody wants to help. And, and I start getting phone calls and emails in August. Wow. This year, actually, this was the earliest I've ever gotten it. I got, had people reaching out to me and saying, Hey, We've helped in the past. We, we weren't on your list the last couple years. We really wanna donate again, or we really wanna volunteer again. And it's just amazing to see how people really care for their community and really wanna come together and support those that are in need. Agreed. Yeah. Even, even here at Russell right around August, everyone's looking at me and they're like, Hey, what are, what are we doing for Thanksgiving?

Ayanna: 3:49

Are we, are we joining forces again? Are we collecting, like how are we, how are we getting involved? I, I def you definitely feel the buzz. Yeah. Around this time to, to start getting involved. In 11 years, right? Mm-hmm. you've, you've kind of, and you've kind of alluded to it, how have you, how have this, how has this evolved? How has it grown to be what it is now?

Lara: 4:06

Well, when I started 11 years ago, I, I worked alongside the Red Cross the first year. And they, they were doing under a hundred. Boxes a hundred families at the time, and they had people donating. It was miscellaneous items. What we have changed over the, the years is everyone gets the same food in every basket. So it's not just, you know, you might get pasta, you might get. Rice, you don't know what you're gonna get. Everybody gets the same thing in their baskets. And it's really, we originally, they were only servicing families of two or more. And within a few years into the program, the, the steering committee decided that that's, that's not right. You know, Single people need Thanksgiving food as much as anybody else does, right? So so we added that and it's just the word has gotten out. The need has got increased and we, last year we did over 850 boxes for families. So that's probably closer to 4,000 people. Wow. Cause the 850 isn't people, it's families. Right. Couple years ago we actually did a thousand. So, you know, it, it fluctuates from year to year. It, it's, it's great to see the need decrease because then you're hopeful that that. That is a good sign for people around town, but you never know from year to year with the economy the way it's been this year, we anticipate we may be closer to the thousand mark again.

Ayanna: 5:20

Yeah, for sure. So we've been, you've been doing this for 11 years, right? Mm-hmm. And so 2020 comes how, how does the, how does the initiative shift for Covid?

Lara: 5:32

So, you know, like everybody else, we were like, Oh, what are we gonna do? Here's Covid. Put a wrench in things. Some organizations ended up instead of collecting food, because they weren't, they didn't have people in their offices, they donated money, which we then take to, to purchase food, which is fine. It worked. We had a little bit of a challenge. The Middletown Police Department does a great Turkey drive for us each year. We had. To adjust some things at Stop and Shop. They used to be in the building, you know, collecting turkeys from people as they came in or left the building. They had to move to the parking lot. Stop and Shop was great as far as working with us where that is concerned. We ended up changing the pickup to be a drive-through situation, so they used to come park their car. walk in the building and they, there'd be several volunteers to help them and assist them back to their car with the food and their Turkey and their box. But the, in 2020 To make things safe, we decided that it would be a drive-through. So people just drive up, they'd have a ticket that noted how many people were in their family, and then our volunteers would say, Pop group trunk, and we'll put your, your box and your Turkey in the trunk for you. So, so those were the main things that we that we had to adjust. And, and they've. They've worked well. We've actually kept the drive through Right. Because it's just, it's so much easier for individuals, especially we have elderly people or disabled, and it's, it's hard for them to park and get out and walk in and, and this just makes it, it easier for them, so

Ayanna: 6:52

For sure. And were there any other valuable changes? I have to assume that. there, there were a couple times where you probably had to make a pivot to adjust and to make folks feel safe and, and definitely deal with access issues. Were there any other changes that came out of the pandemic that you decided to keep or maybe let go?

Lara: 7:10

Yeah, we, the, the signups so people have to register to get, to get a basket, they have to register in advance, and that is done at Amazing Grace Food Pantry. So, For 2020, we did hold that outside. All the registrations was sent outside so people weren't entering the building. You know, people were wearing masks. That that was not as fun. right? Cause it's cold and you're sitting there for several hours at the time. So, so that we did, when, when they reopened the pantry, we did move back inside. So, yeah,

Ayanna: 7:38

For sure. And then shout again to the volunteers who are willing to, to brave the elements. To, to make sure that folks get what they need. So I know in September you put the call out to us and the community, right? But what goes on behind the scenes from from now until, until Thanksgiving

Lara: 7:56

So it's busy. This is my busiest time of year, but I do love it. So right now I'm working, we have an intern from Middlesex. Community college, which is great. She's very helpful. So she and I have been reaching out to all of the businesses and organizations that have donated food in the past. So we send'em an email asking them if they thanking them for their past donations, asking them if they would be willing to donate again which we will follow up in a couple weeks with a confirmation of what they're collecting, give them information on when they need to drop it off and then. In the late October we will start registration. So that's, that is very time consuming. So we, we will get all the registrations and then all of the information has to be entered into a spreadsheet so that we know exactly how much food we need. You know, 4,000 cans of corn or whatever it is. So that's done for four weeks. We do registrations and then entering the data. We send out reminder emails to the organizations that are, are donating as to when to drop off. We get volunteers for that drop off day. Every family gets a box. Every box has to be put together. So we have a day that we have volunteers come in just to build boxes. And then the day before the pickup, we actually have a lot of volunteers who come in because this, these 850 or a thousand boxes, all the food has to be put into them. And we, we give fresh potatoes. So the fresh potatoes have to be bagged and the rolls have to be, you know, broken into six if it's a single family. And so there's a. A lot of work that has to be done that last weekend, mainly before, right before the, the handouts

Ayanna: 9:22

Super busy. Yeah. And so for those listening who may need information on how to receive their meals how can they stay updated?

Lara: 9:30

So we do have a Facebook page. It's the Middletown Community Thanksgiving Project Facebook page. There's information on there. Also Amazing Grace Food Pantry has notices as far as registration. Registration does begin Monday, October 24th. And we are at Amazing Grace for four weeks. The days that they're open is Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We're there from 12 to four while they're open. So anytime between October 24th or November 18th, people can come sign up to receive a meal.

Ayanna: 10:01

Perfect. So by the time this podcast airs registrations will absolutely be open. So be sure to go ahead and do that. If you are one of those families in need for sure.

Lara: 10:11

So you will need to bring a little bit of information with you if you're not typically someone who, who visits the Amazing Grace Food Pantry. You do need to bring proof that you live in Middletown because this is a an initiative just for Middletown residents. So you need to bring proof of that, proof of residency as well as proof of how many people live in your household, because that's what the basket is based on. So you need to bring birth certificate, it's social security cards, pieces of mail with their name on it and the address, something like that. So, so those are just, that's information that you need to bring with you. That saves you from coming back.

Ayanna: 10:43

Right. And those are for new registrants, or do you have to

Lara: 10:47

Those are for new registrations. If you, if you received a basket in the past just bring your ID and we will give you the same number as you receive in the past. If the number's increased, you'll need to bring that information. But if it's the same, then we, we look at last year's list.

Ayanna: 10:59

Perfect. And, and so similarly for those who may wanna get involved may wanna. How can they do that?

Lara: 11:05

The best way is to email me. We have a an email set up for the project. It's MCTP, which stands for Middletown Community Thanksgiving project 2013@yahoo.com. So they can email me there, or they can again, you know, put something on our Facebook page. We see that we can, we can reach back out, out that way.

Ayanna: 11:26

Definitely. And if you are. A library user, you can absolutely feel free to help our initiative. We are collecting sweet potatoes this year for the Middletown Community Thanksgiving project. 40 ounce cans. We want the big heavy ones.

Lara: 11:39

Nice big ones.

Ayanna: 11:40

Yeah. So get a little arm workout while you bring those to the cart and bring those into the library for us. We would greatly appreciate that. So one last question for you. What has coordinating this initiative taught you about community

Lara: 11:53

It's really taught me How much people wanna help each other and, and how sometimes we feel so alone and, and we feel like everything we see on the news is so negative and things we hear are so negative. But there are so many good people in our community that really just wanna help each other. And it, it just warms my heart every year to see how many people get involved and how excited people are just to serve other people. And it's, it's amazing.

Ayanna: 12:16

Agree. That's great. I, I agree. That is one of the reasons why I, I sign up. It's one of the reasons why the library goes so hard to make sure that we participate every year. So what, what a message would you like to, to spread with this project?

Lara: 12:30

I, I'd really like to spread Love, kindness. We need so much more of that in this society today. And this is one way to do it, to really, to really love on our friends and neighbors and and let them know they're not alone and that, that people have their back and that we're here for them.

Ayanna: 12:46

Yes. Thank you so much. Lara. Thank you.

Lara: 12:49

Thank you for having me.

Ayanna: 12:52

Coordinator of the Middletown Community Thanksgiving project Lara Santamaria, thank you for coming to chat with me. Thank you for what you do every year. Thank you for being a part of the solution.

Lara: 13:02

You're welcome. Thanks for having me.