“Welcome to our Holiday 2007 Newsletter. It’s hard for me to believe that Family-to-Family has been operating for five years already! As the end of the year approaches, I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you for everything you do to make Family-to-Family possible. Happy Holidays.”
– Pam

Holiday Toys Reminder
X'mas is coming fast, and as a reminder to those who have been with us…and for those who are new to us... we do an unwrapped toy, wrapping paper, tape and ribbon drive each year for our receiving families. The community outreach workers in our communities set a date before X'mas for moms, dads etc, to come in to the centers/churches and “shop” – no funds needed - for toys for their kids, wrap them and bring them home to give if they had purchased them. If you’d like to participate, make sure all toys, etc. are delivered to your chapter chair by this weekend!!

Turkeys Again!
We had a very generous donation of $1,500 for Thanksgiving turkeys again this year from Ruth Graham, the owner of “Creative Benefits” – a group insurance brokerage firm located 20 miles west of Philadelphia in Newtown Square, Pa. Ruth found out about Family-to-Family from F-to-F board member Jim O’Shea, a business associate of hers. This is the third year Ruth has made a substantial contribution to F-to-F to ensure that our receiving families have a turkey (or a ham!) on Thanksgiving Day. When asked why she donates to Family-to-Family, Ruth told us, “You have a great charity going. There’s not a lot of overhead or administrative expenses… the food gets right to the people who need it. You hear all sorts of ads for organizations that want to send turkeys to people, but I know that with Family-to-Family, every dime I give will go to feed families.” With Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Supervalu stores helping out by providing deep discounts, we used Ruth’s donation to purchase 240 turkeys and hams for families in Pembroke, Montrose, Myra and Thoreau (our new Navajo community).

Other turkey donations this year came from our Scarsdale/Edgemont, N.Y. chapter, where Chapter chair Andrea Kaplan writes, “The Edgemont chapter bought turkey vouchers for our families in Kermit (W.V) for Thanksgiving, and we sent holiday fixings in our food boxes. Sister Gretchen bought them from the local Shoprite and we sent her a check to cover the expense. We'll be doing the same… for Christmas for turkeys or hams, as well as sending some toys and wrap.”

Jeannie Stokes, the chapter chair of the Roswell, Ga. chapter also wrote in early November to tell us,“…Just wanted to let you know what my chapter is doing in regard to turkeys for East Carroll Parish. I contacted Sister Karen. She contacted the local grocer who agreed to provide a turkey breast, duck or chicken (family choice) for $10.00. I am collecting individual checks from my families that are participating when they drop off their boxes and will send them all on to Sister Karen directly. She will take care of getting the turkey to the receiving family, most likely when the come the following week to get their box…”

There may be other chapters that provided turkeys on Thanksgiving for their sponsored families in addition to the ones listed here….please let us know about you and we’ll put your information in our next newsletter.

Other Chapter News
Wallingford, Ct. Unusual as it is, we have a new “one-man band” chapter chair: Jason Zandri of Wallingford, Connecticut. Jason is sending food boxes to five families each month in our new Pembroke School District community, and has committed to do this for a year.
Edgewood, Ky. For those of you who read Chapter Chair Mary Kay Woodruff’s moving description of her visit to Pembroke in last month’s newsletter, we thought you might enjoy seeing a few pictures Mary Kay took of her trip:

Community Updates
Lake Providence
Sister Karen writes: “Sending families make receiving families here in Lake Providence very happy by providing each family with a duck, or a baking hen or a turkey (for Thanksgiving). The other nice thing about it was that the decision was made early enough that families knew the meat was going to be provided and didn't end up with 2 turkeys, one they bought and one the family provided!

“In the middle of the month, again thanks to contributions from persons connected with Family-to-Family, we'll be able to provide gifts for each member of the receiving families. As things have been sent throughout the year, we've stored them in a closet. Next week we'll unpack everything and organize by age and sex. Each mother/father will select at least one nice gift for each child. The parents are always surprised there's so much to choose from and we're so grateful to those who've been so generous.”

Pembroke
The best thing we can hear from our community contacts is that families we have helped are successfully moving on to lives beyond poverty. With that in mind, we’d like to share some updates and success stories sent to us by our community contact in Pembroke, Jessie Mae Walker, who tells us that many families who have left the program have done so in part because of the help they received from Family-to-Family. The F-to-F support over time seems to be part of each family’s “lifting up”… there seems to be a long term effect in addition to the emergency month-to-month hunger relief.
Vanessa Kizart is living in Rockford, Il. with her children and grandchildren. She is employed and preparing to return to college.
Janice Rogers still lives in Hopkins Park with her son Joshua. She resigned from her job as our village clerk after 3 years; she now runs a home daycare.
Mary Johnson now lives in Mississippi where she retired to and is enjoying her grandchildren.
Katie Curtis recently has opened up a beauty shop and business is going well.
Sandra Sterling moved to Indiana with her husband and is currently in full time ministry. She reports all is well and she was very much blessed by the program.
Karen Johnson lives in Kankakee with her children. She is employed and is enrolled in college where she is studying law enforcement.
Leyla Bowen now lives in Minnesota with her children and enjoys the cold air. She graduated from college, and is now employed at the Mayo Clinic.
Jeanette Wright recently remarried and still lives in Hopkins Park with her 3 children and new husband. She recently was promoted to supervisor on her job.
Meechie Rawls is working with mentally impaired adults. She still lives in the community with her daughter Kaila.
Tyanna Barnes now lives in Mississippi with her children and mother. She's currently employed as a CNA and is working toward being a LPN.
Perlie Nichols lives in Arizona with her children, and recently got married. She said she is very happy and enjoying her life.
Carrie Bioce lives in Oklahoma with her 2 sets of twins. She is working and pursuing a career in nursing.
Lorretta Hillard stills live in Pembroke with her husband and is now taking care of her mother, who is recovering from a stroke. She reports her grandchildren are doing well, and live in Chicago with their mother.

Jessie Mae also adds, “I want everyone to know that this program has been and is still a blessing to this community. What you have done, and what you are doing is greatly appreciated. I bless God for you all, and tell your families we appreciate the sacrifices they have made, sharing you with the world. You all are a part of what’s right with the world. I thank you, and be bless.”

Cairo
Because of a problem getting our food boxes to Two Rivers Ministries in Cairo, we’ve decided to switch protocols there… and to purchase grocery store coupons for our Cairo families instead of sending food boxes. (Our community contacts are not always there to receive our shipments because they go out on missions… such as a recent three week trip to New Orleans to help rebuild.) We already use this “local grocery option” in Lemmon, SD and Crownpoint, NM, and have found that families on both ends are quite happy with it. We’ve asked our current Cairo donating families if they’d like to switch to the local grocery option and keep sponsoring the families they have now, or, instead, to continue to send a food box, but to different families in a different F-to-F community.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with how the local grocery option works, every month instead of buying groceries and filling a box, each donating family purchases just the Monthly Drive item listed on our website and brings that item, their letter to their family and a check made out to Family-to-Family for $35 to their chapter chair in a zip-lock bag with their sponsored family’s name on the outside. (Obviously if it all doesn’t fit in a zip-lock a bigger bag can be used!). The chapter chair removes the checks, and ships all the Monthly Drive items, with letters, in a box to the community contact in their receiving community. The Chapter Chair then mails the checks to Pam, who wire transfers the money -- 100% of it -- to a grocery store in or near the receiving community, which in turn issues grocery store food coupons for our families there.

The benefits for the receiving families are: 1) they get to shop for their own food and get exactly what they like to eat and, 2) they can purchase perishable foods including meat, milk and fresh produce. (The coupons have several stipulations, including that only food items may be purchased, and no items such as cigarettes or alcohol.)

We know that this switch may be difficult for some of our donating families, but we hope everyone understands that our number one goal is to make sure that the families on the receiving end keep getting the help they need.

Thoreau
Kathy Spitz, our community contact in the new Navajo community in New Mexico wrote: "Weather is rapidly turning cold; below freezing most nights. Wind is bitter this week with gusts up to 50 mph! I share this with you to underscore our need for warm clothes & blankets. We're always looking."

With this in mind, Family-to-Family sent Kathy $100 which she used to purchase 30 fleece blankets on sale at Albertson’s – 3 for $10. Kathy says she now has enough blankets, but any help with warm clothing… would still be appreciated!

“Giving” Parties for ANY Occasion
In our October newsletter we told you about Birthday “Giving” Parties – our new birthday project that helps kids with “more” learn empathy and generosity. In Hastings on Hudson, New York, one family gave the “Giving” Party a new twist by holding a Halloween “giving” party. Guests were each asked to bring a pair of gloves and a warm hat; as they arrived they dropped their donations into a big box labeled “Hats and Ghouls”. Everything collected was sent to our Thoreau, New Mexico community, where nighttime temperatures are already in the twenties.

Does anyone have an extra laptop?
Jerome Kasekende, who is running a satellite Family-to-Family program in Uganda, recently asked Pam if she knew any way he could get a second-hand laptop computer. Jerome is an IT (information technology) student at the University in Kampala, and we’d love to be able to help him. So if anyone has one they’d like to donate (should be fairly up to date), please let us know. Jerome’s note to Pam:

Dear Pam,
I was thinking if it is possible and only possible if (you) could help and get me a second hand laptop because what I am using at home is quite old Pentium 3 and my course I am doing calls for a better machine because I do software design and website design.
Can you imagine it loads for 6 to seven minutes and clicking an icon is quite slow but sometimes it is fine. I have tried changing the Ram upgrading the hard disk space it functions properly for about a week and then is back to the old state. This I request if possible but if you can’t I am ok with that.

Reflections on Poverty from Arma Woods…
Answering an email from Pam about Family-to-Family and the persistent nature of poverty, our community contact in Montrose Arkansas, Arma Woods, wrote the following:

“…Family-to-Family has made a lasting difference in the lives of the families who live here. This program came at a time to the families here when they really needed that, what we call, "box of hope." To have someone in another part of the country thinking about helping and showing love to another family… these families had no idea that someone in another part of the country really cared about them.
“In the war on poverty, there’s no quick fix.… We that live in the Delta in Southeast Arkansas, and as it is in many other places, there isn’t much to offer people…People living in the rural areas don't have places where they can just walk down the street or catch a cab to a hotel or a Fred's or Wal-mart to get a job. People here have to drive 45-to 50 miles one way, and with the price of gas to get there and back, you really don't get paid enough for the effort… Some of the families are on once a month income where they aren't getting but $300 to $400 dollars a month. Even in the rural south that is very little money.

“I do get frustrated when I see that poverty is an unending cycle. But, this didn't start yesterday, and it won’t be fixed tomorrow. But, I do feel that with those that have and want to share with those that don't have, as this cycle turns and people learn that we are our “brother’s keeper” in a sense, I feel that things will begin to change. It will take time, but little by little…change will come. As people are educated and learn how to manage what they have, and those that have a lot stop saying “they could do better.”… Most people would do better if they only had the chance to do it and had someone who would hang in there for the long term…

“The reason why I say the things that I am saying now is simply because, I have been there. I have been where the families that I am mentoring are now, just like some of the families that Family-to-Family is sponsoring. Family-to-Family wasn't out in the 1980's when I lost my job, my health to a life threatening disease and was given up to die, husband walked off and left me with three small children 9, 7,and 4-years old. My life was turned upside down and would never be the same again.

“But, thank God for people that cared. These people didn't have much but they were willing to share what they had to help meet the needs of me and my children. The Church was there and these people didn't make me feel like I was nothing, and just wanted a hand out. They treated me with respect… I say this because I had help getting up and on my feet and it was a 10-year struggle. My children went to school and graduated, and have good jobs and families and are giving back to society now.

“Here I am 22-years later still on a monthly disability income… but I am able to advocate for other families and be that little massager to say you can make it, your children can make it… all we have to do is not give up.......

“So, that is just part of the story that I can tell. Family-to-Family and Pam Koner, with this great vision that God has given her to link families together is a blessing. It is making a difference in families’ lives…that “box of hope” that comes each month and that family saying I care about you and I want to know more about you. Because… if that box of food helps give your child a little food where he or she don't have to go to school hungry, he or she will be ready to learn. After obtaining knowledge one day this cycle of poverty can be changed.

“Family-to-Family is a light for many in that tunnel of poverty, and we that are out here working in the fields, see it. The beam of hope, a little help toward the boost of self- esteem that some people need to know someone cares. You can't measure that all right now, but one day you will. We will be able to see the after effects of the seeds that have been planted in the lives of the families that have made a connection…

“I have a testimonial that I would like to give; it is about how important the Family-to-Family program is: I had a family… a single mother with five small children; four boys and one little girl. The little girl is about six years old and for Christmas last year she got a doll, some toys and a much needed coat and clothes. But, I saw her pull a single size red blanket out of her Family-to-Family box and her eyes began to light up and her lips began to smile, she looked at me and asked, “Can I have this blanket?” I said, “Sweetheart, yes it is yours.” This little girl was so happy over the blanket she ran to her mother and said, “This is mine, I'm going to put it on my bed!”

“I began to just cry. I couldn't stop the tears as they can down my face. To see the joy that this little child had over a small blanket. So, someone said, “Are we making a difference?” Yes, you are and you really can't imagine how great. But, one day…it will be made known to all to see. Poverty as we know it today will be a thing of the past. So, I say keep up the good work...”

Books for Life Update
Many of you are familiar with our “Books for Life” book donation program, but may not know that it was conceived, organized and is still run by former chapter chair AnnMarie Ludwig of Long Island, New York.

AnnMarie gets donated books through book drives she holds at her children’s school, from neighbors and from people who read about the program on the website, email her and mail the books directly to a F-to-F community. She estimates two or three people a month contact her to mail the books directly… and that each person usually has 100-200 books to send. She says her whole neighborhood knows about it, and sometimes books will just show up on her doorstep.

AnnMarie tries to keep track of how many books go to each community, so she can keep it equal… She sends them to Cairo, Hope, Jackson, Lake Providence, Lemmon, Thoreau, Redbird, Crownpoint and Montrose.

And books aren’t the only things that show up at her house. Starting about a year ago, an anonymous donor from Southampton, New York has been donating boxes and boxes of schools supplies, blenders, can openers, coffee makers, toaster ovens and clothes every month! AnnMarie says the donor’s sisters bring the donations, which fill up AnnMarie’s garage until it’s time to ship them out!

That's all for this month, Have a safe and peaceful holiday.

Best,
Pam and the Family-to-Family team
– written & edited by Nancy Hennessee

Family-to-Family is a recognized 501(c)(3)
Our US IRS tax ID number is 57-1169066

For more information, contact Pam Koner, Family-to-Family
Tel: 914-478-0756