Together With THCA June 2023 - Toco Hills Alliance

Dear Supporter of Toco Hills Community Alliance.

School is out, graduations have been celebrated, and now summer is in full force. At Toco Hills Community Alliance, this has usually meant an upswing in people coming for services. This year is certainly shaping up that way, as we served 2,120 families in May – the most since the height of the COVID crisis in 2020. And every one
of those families received an average of 52 pounds of nutritious food, meaning we distributed 110, 000 pounds of food last month!

We don’t know if the need will increase, but seems highly likely.We don’t know if the weather will treat us kindly, but it seems summer storms and heat are highly likely. We do know that the way we meet the challenges is – together. As US Youth Poet Laureate says:

Every week, about 70 of our volunteers come together to deliver and sort and pack the food, make the lunches, clean the building, register our neighbors, distribute the food, share the clothes. Just this past week, we celebrated at our Summer Volunteer Appreciation Lunch.

We gathered with lunch, music, games, prizes, and mostly just to express in a small way our gratitude for all our volunteers do.

We gathered together for fun just as we gather together throughout the weeks and months to serve our neighbors in need, like –

And so many others who come and find that THCA together shares more than food and clothes. We also share hope and
hospitality, compassion and community, acceptance and affirmation.

A few weeks ago, Operations Coordinator Juan Carlos Chavez and I attended the Atlanta Community Food Bank conference for all of its 700 partner agencies across North Georgia.

The theme for the conference was “Transforming Access Together.” ACFB has found that when our neighbors have convenient, consistent, frequent, equitable access to healthy food, it frees up other family resources needed for stability and thriving. In order for food pantries to provide increased food access, it takes communities and neighborhoods working, you guessed it, together.

Because you all have supported us so well, with time and energy and food and supplies and funds, we at THCA have been able to provide that increased access to healthy food for our neighbors. With the And, we are more grateful than ever that, in the fight against food insecurity in our neighborhood, we are in it – together.

At that conference, I had a chance to share with other food pantries how our experience of our support from our community – including from all of you – has helped us to provide the access to meet the need. Here is a brief clip: Lisa Heilig at Transforming Access Together

Thankful for being in it together,

Rev. Dr. Lisa Heilig, Executive Director

If you want to donate or coordinate a drive, here are the most needed items. We are in URGENT NEED of diapers sizes 4,5,6, & 7 and baby wipes.

The foods we are most in need of are:

We can also use cleaning/office supplies, such as:

Someone is available to take donations at Toco Hills Community Alliance building on Monday through Friday from 9am until noon. Drive up under the white tent and our volunteers will retrieve the items from your car.

Many high school students must have community service hours and we can take volunteers who are 14 and older to help with all of the many activities that go in to ensuring our neighbors have the food they need. We have had great experiences with high school students in the summer, and would be glad to have more this summer! Please go to http://bttr.im/po89m to sign up
For any questions, please email us at [email protected]

We can now accept donations of stock! If you have stock you would like to donate to THCA, you or your broker can go to: https://donatestock.com/toco-hillscommunity-alliance-inc

Thank you all for your continued support!