Pupdate

In December, the Pop Up Pantry, delivered to the following sites:

• Dec 7:       Commons at Livingston – 35
• Dec 14:     Hope Resource Center – 33
• Dec 21:     Southpoint – 38
• Dec 22:     Riverview International Center – 32
• Dec 28:     Grant – 20

Total served for the month of Dec:   158

Pop Up 2022 Monthly totals:

• January:         161
• February:       159
• March:           154
• April:              162
• May:               162
• June:              225
• July:               187
• August:           210
• September:    174
• October:         177
• November:     178
• December:     158

YTD:           2,107 Individuals/families served

As our 2022 year comes to a close, the Pop Up Team has been blessed to have this opportunity to be out in our community and to share love and support with our neighbors. In doing so, we ourselves have gained many blessings along the way.

Our Southpoint Christmas Toy Drive was a success.  On Monday, December 12, our Pop Up Team was able to deliver 168 gifts, gift wrap and cards!  The families were so happy to have their children’s wishes come true and many shared thanks.

The Pop Up Team is so fortunate to have the support from First Community Heart to Heart. They have given us the opportunity to continue our outreach in serving our neighbors. The Trading Post has helped us give our friends at Hope Resource Center warm clothing and the Mat Makers provide mats for them.  Richard Jacob continues to bless us with his gracious donations of toiletries each month.  Monday Night Meals help provide bread as they can.  We have so many individuals who volunteer and we are so very grateful to them.  Some volunteer weekly, some monthly and some just once.  We could not do this without them.

The Pop Up Team looks forward to another year of serving our neighbors.

~Rose and Melody

In November, the Pop Up Pantry, delivered to the following sites:

• Nov 2:      Commons at Livingston – 35
• Nov 9:       Hope Resource Center – 25
• Nov 17:     Riverview International Center – 30
• Nov 21:     Southpoint – 38
• Nov 21:     Grant – 20
• Nov 30:     Hope Resource Center – 30

Total served for the month of Nov:   178

Pop Up 2022 Monthly totals:

• January:         161
• February:       159
• March:           154
• April:              162
• May:              162
• June:              225
• July:               187
• August:           210
• September:    174
• October:         177
• November:     178

YTD:           1,949 Individuals/families served

Our Southpoint Christmas Toy Drive is off to a great start.  We continue to receive donations.  Our goal is to grant 28 families with 84 children totaling 168 gifts.  Each child will receive two gifts.  We are so thankful to have Wickliffe Progressive Elementary School, FCC congregation and our family and friends all help make the wishes of Southpoint children come true.

We served our neighbors at HOPE Resource Center at their new location this month.  They are now housed at First United Brethren Church on S. Wheatland Ave.  Their hours are M, W, F 9:30-12:30.  Now our neighbors have a place to sit inside and eat a meal, receive clothing, mats and our pantry food.  We were able to spend time and visit with our new friends.

Our Pop Up Team is grateful for some cake donations from Mary Youngquist.  She sends some to us that we give to our sites.  There are blessings all around us. Melody and I are continually blessed to have the support of First Community/Heart to Heart Staff and all the dedicated volunteers who give so much of their time and energy.

In October, the Pop Up Pantry, delivered to the following sites:

• Oct 5:         Commons at Livingston – 35
• Oct 12:       Hope Resource Center – 34
• Oct 17:       South Park Apartment w/Franklinton Farms – 21
• Oct 19:       Southpoint – 37
• Oct 26:       Commons at Grant – 20
• Oct 27:       Riverview International Center – 30

Total served for the month of Oct:  177 

Pop Up 2022 Monthly Totals:

• January:        161
• February:      159
• March:           154
• April:              162
• May:              162
• June:             225
• July:              187
• August:          210
• September:    174
• October:         177

YTD:            1,771  Individuals/families served 

We are excited to report our Southpoint Christmas is off to a great start.  We received ‘Wish List’ requests from 27 families with 82 children. Each child will receive two gifts totaling 164 gifts. We are thankful to have Wickliffe Progressive Elementary School, FCC congregation and our friends all help in making the wishes of Southpoint children come true.

The 4th and 5th graders from Sarah Oberlin and Amy Millers’ classes at Wickliffe Progressive Elementary School came to learn about Heart to Heart and the Pop Up Pantry.  They came with bags filled with donations – 469 lbs. of goods!  Yohan gave a tour of the pantry.  He answered questions and explained how the pantry is such an important part of our community.  Melody and Rose talked about why the Pop Up Pantry was formed and the upcoming Southpoint Christmas Gift Project with Wickliffe.

The Pop Up Team constantly experiences goodness all around us.  We are so grateful and send a big shout out to Rob, the store manager at ALDI’s in Upper Arlington.  Kathleen Hatcher generously has been purchasing plastic ALDI bags with handles to distribute groceries to our neighbors who walk to our sites at Hope, Southpark and Riverview.  Once he heard how we use them, he paid for our last box of 250 bags.  Kindness is everywhere!

Heart to Heart and the Pop Up Pantry were represented and given a big shout out at the Riverview Fundraiser on October 18 at Mozart Cafe’. Carla Edlefson, Rose Kandel, Kitty Rohrer and Melody Smiley were there to represent our Team and show support to Riverview and the wonderful work they do to welcome and support the refugees coming to Columbus.

We welcomed our newest volunteers to our team:  Carol Bramschreiber, John Oberlin and Beth Simeon.  John is our newest sub driver willing to pick up the task to get our bags to the sites.  Beth and Carol come with caring hearts and lots of energy!  Welcome!

In September, the Pop Up Pantry, delivered to the following sites:

• Sept 7:       Commons at Livingston – 35
• Sept 14:     Hope Resource Center – 35
• Sept 19:     South Park Apartment w/Franklinton Farms – 20
• Sept 21:     Southpoint – 37
• Sept 22:     Riverview International Center – 27
• Sept 28:     Commons at Grant – 20

Total served for the month of September:  174 

Pop Up 2022 Monthly Totals:

• January:        161
• February:      159
• March:           154
• April:              162
• May:              162
• June:             225
• July:              187
• August:          210
• September:   174

YTD:            1,594  Individuals/families served  

Plans are underway for our Pop Up Team to bring some joy to the children at Southpoint. Once again we are joining forces with Upper Arlington’s Wickliffe Progressive Elementary School.  This will be our third year giving the children at Southpoint a special Christmas.  More details to come in our October/November Report.

Our numbers have gone down at The Commons at Grant.  Some of the residents have said they are receiving the same items from other pantries.  It’s too much of the same and they have extras.  We explained to Grant that Mid-Ohio Food Collective plus all the pantries have a food shortage which makes supplies short and not as varied.  Many are still very grateful for our continued help.  We plan to continue even with the numbers being lower.  We told them we would still serve those residents that are counting on us for help.

Hope Resource Center has been in the news recently.  They are working on fixing some issues to better serve their neighborhood.   We are grateful to continue to be a part of their mission and serve those in need.

We welcome our recent and newest volunteers:  Katie Halley, Marcy Miller and Cathy Wheaton.  The Team is blessed to have the help.  They are a wonderful addition to our Pop Up Team.

Melody and I are continually blessed to have the support of First Community/Heart to Heart staff and all the dedicated volunteers who give so much of their time and energy.

Serving in Faith,

Rose Kandel and Melody Smiley

In August, the Pop Up Pantry, delivered to the following sites:

• Aug 3:        Commons at Livingston – 35
• Aug 10:      Hope Resource Center – 33
• Aug 15:      South Park Apartment w/Franklinton Farms – 18
• Aug 17:      Southpoint – 37
• Aug 24:      Commons at Grant – 21
• Aug 25:      Riverview International Center – 31
• August 31:  Hope Resource Center – 35

Total served for the month of August:  210

2022 Monthly Totals:

• January:      161
• February:     159
• March:         154
• April:            162
• May:             162
• June:            225
• July:             187
• August:         210

YTD: 1,420 individuals/families served

This past month, Heart to Heart asked for 50+ filled backpacks, and to our surprise, we collected 148 filled backpacks.  We thank all the individuals who contributed to this Backpack Project!  The Pop Up Pantry delivered them to Riverview International Center.  Within a few days, all 148 backpacks were distributed.  As we were delivering the backpacks, several children were running to the van all smiles and excited!  It was heartwarming to see their joy!  Blessings all the way around!

Our Team would like to acknowledge our devoted van drivers:  Boyce Lancaster, Les Sauer, Mark Tucker, Steve Young and Glenn Zook.  They are all so willing to give of their time loading the van and driving all around Columbus to help us deliver to our many sites. They step in to help each other out driving when others need a week off, which is a big help to us.  We are forever grateful for their time, dedication and service.

We are so grateful to all our regular volunteers who continue to show up week after week.  With this said, we are still looking for more individuals who would like to come join our Pop Up Team.  We typically begin Wednesdays at 11:00.  We end around 12:45 if just bagging; 2:00 if traveling to the site.  Heart to Heart and the Pop Up Team are always open to more volunteers.

Melody and I are continually blessed to have the support of First Community/Heart to Heart staff and all the dedicated volunteers who give so much of their time and energy.

Serving in Faith,
Rose Kandel and Melody Smiley
Volunteer Co-Leads
Pop Up Pantry, Heart to Heart

In July, the Pop Up Pantry, delivered to the following sites:

• July 6:     Commons at Livingston – 35
• July 13:   Hope Resource Center – 35
• July 18:   South Park Apartment w/Franklinton Farms – 17
• July 20:   Southpoint – 38
• July 27:   Commons at Grant – 33
• July 28:   Riverview International Center – 29

Total served for the month of July:  187

Pop Up 2022 Monthly Totals:

• January:      161
• February:     159
• March:         154
• April:            162
• May:             162
• June:            225
• July:             187

YTD:         1,210 individuals/families served

Our continued collaboration with Franklinton Farms is going well.  The South Park families have welcomed us and we are enjoying meeting the families with their children. Franklinton Farms has just recently been able to create some raised beds for the families at South Park Apartments so they can begin working their own gardens and have fresh produce available to them.  We found out many of the residents used to farm back in their country and this garden experience is a welcome sight for them.

The Pop Up Pantry is excited to work with First Community’s K-5 Department on this backpack project.  We have designated Riverview International Center to be the recipient of these backpacks.  We are hoping to receive 50-70 backpacks to deliver to Riverview on August 22nd.

We welcomed another volunteer this month:  Nancy Donaldson.  She will be joining the Pop Up for the summer months.  Nancy came to observe and jumped right in.  She is a wonderful addition to our team.

Melody and I are continually blessed to have the support of First Community/Heart to Heart staff and all the dedicated volunteers who give so much of their time and energy.

Serving in Faith,
~Rose and Melody, Co-Leaders
Pop Up Pantry, Heart to Heart

In June, the Pop Up Pantry, delivered to the following sites:

• June 1:    Commons at Livingston – 35
• June 8:    Hope Resource Center – 39
• June 13:  South Park Apartments w/Franklinton Farms – 19
• June 15:  Southpoint – 38
• June 22:  Commons at Grant – 33
• June 23:  Riverview International Center – 28
• June 29:  Hope Resource Center – 33

Total served for the month of June:  222

Pop Up 2022 Monthly Totals:

• January 161
• February 159
• March 154
• April 162
• May 162
• June 222

Our team is pleased to report our expansion is going well.  We are reaching out to more communities in need with an addition of 66 more individuals/families being served this month.

We joined Franklinton Farms at the South Park apartments June 13.  We are working together and will join them once a month.  Currently, this is a seasonal location for us. We have added an additional Hope Resource Center delivery on the fifth Wednesday. We will be going to the site again on August 31.

We welcomed a potential volunteer, Sherry Goubeaux, to come check out what we do each week.  She came to observe and joined right in and helped.  Sherry also has brought Heart to Heart fresh produce from her community garden from time to time.  We welcome Sherry to join us as she is able.

Melody and I are blessed to have dedicated volunteers who give so much of their time and energy.  We couldn’t do this without their support and dedication to serving our community.

Serving in Faith,

Rose and Melody, Co-Leaders
Pop Up Pantry, Heart to Heart

In May, the Pop Up Pantry delivered to the following sites:

• May 4: Commons at Livingston – 35
• May 11: Hope Resource Center – 36
• May 18: Southpoint Village Apartments – 34
• May 25: Commons at Grant – 28
• May 26: Riverview International Center – 29

Total served for the month of May is 162

We are happy to report we will be resuming deliveries with Franklinton Farms to Southpark Apartments. Bagging and storage delivery will begin on June 9.  Volunteers will be on site with Franklinton Farms on June 13 for distribution.

Hope Resource Center has requested our Pop Up for additional delivery as the need remains great.  We will increase numbers served to 40 on the 2nd Wednesday.  Our second delivery of 40 will be on the 5th Wednesday of the month (June 29, Aug 31, and Nov 30).

Our team sent a healing message to Richard Jacob.  We continue to hold him in our thoughts and prayers.

We are excited to welcome Bobbie Doak as a weekly Pop Up volunteer.  Bobbie recently moved to Columbus and wished to continue volunteering at a pantry.  She comes with great experience.  Welcome Bobbie!

Boyce Lancaster is back!  We are happy for his recovery and his return to driving for the Pop Up.  As always, we remain grateful for all our drivers.

Melody and Rose are honored to co-lead this mission with our wonderful team of dedicated volunteers.

2022 Monthly Totals:

• January: 161
• February: 159
• March: 154
• April: 162
• May: 162

Serving in Faith,
Rose and Melody