Family-to-Family is a non-profit, national hunger relief program that provides needy American families with basic life necessities during difficult times. Our mission is to connect families with more to profoundly poor, mainly rural families with much less.
The nuts and bolts of how Family-to-Family works are simple: A group of donating families forms a chapter, and each chapter is linked with a needy community. Each donating family in the chapter is matched with one needy family.
Once a month each donating family shops for 7 non-perishable dinner-type meals for “their” family, packs them in a box and delivers their box to their local Chapter Chairperson. (Or, 2 donating families can sponsor 1 needy family together.) Foods sent include things like rice, beans, mac & cheese, canned stew, soups and peanut butter.
Food boxes are timed to arrive the third week of each month, when food stamps often run out and local food pantries run low on food.
The Chapter Chairperson ships the boxes to an outreach worker in the needy community, who then distributes the food boxes to the families. There is no big organization, no expensive administrators; it’s just one-on-one, direct from one family to another.
It costs each donating family between $20 and $35 a month to buy the groceries, which are listed in a suggested shopping list on the Family-to-Family website (http://www NULL.family-to-family NULL.org/) each month. Shipping usually costs about $12 per month per box. When two sponsor families share a family, they can alternate shopping for food one month, paying shipping the next.
Each donating family is encouraged to include a note or a letter to their adopted family with every shipment, to help create a meaningful connection between the families. Often the sponsored families write back, although extreme poverty and illiteracy make it difficult for some to do so.
Adopting a family can be a meaningful way to teach children empathy and caring, because sending life’s necessities is such a concrete way to give. Kids can help shop for the food, pack the box, draw a picture for their family, or write a letter.
If you’re interested in joining Family-to-Family, please contact the Chapter Chairperson Bev Morgan (cantonftof null@null comcast NULL.net), or contact Pam Koner (famtofamily null@null aol NULL.com) at (914) 478-0756. For more information, visit http://www.family-to-family.org (http://www NULL.family-to-family NULL.org)