We received a wonderful donation of $1786.79 from the Cardigan Mountain School’s Pennies War Fundraiser. We really appreciate our partnership with them. Did you know that almost every Sunday a group of volunteer students and staff member come to our Canaan distribution site and help us behind the scenes? Pictured here is Carolyn Cusick, board member, and Corey Lawson, head of the History Department at Cardigan presenting the check. We thank you!
Lots of Food Support from Partner Organizations
Pictured below are Mascoma Valley Firefighters from Enfield , Grafton and Canaan who sponsored an annual Toy and Food Giveaway to the Mascoma Valley. We were happy to provide food boxes for 100 school families. Many organizations also sponsored food drives in December which we were the happy recipients to benefit the Friends Feeding Friends food insecurity program. Thank you to the Helping Paw Humane Society, Enfield Village Association, Realtors Luncheon, KDR Fitness, LaSalette of Enfield, the Upper Valley Humane Society , Kaylee Felix Snowball IRS Dance and all of the many anonymous donors.
100 Food Boxes are in that trailer!
Pictured Below
Eat Pizza to Raise Dough at Enfield House of Pizza
We are holding a fundraiser at Enfield House of Pizza on Sunday, December 14th. Order between 4 pm and 8 pm, present the following flyer, and 15% of your check will be donated to Friends of Mascoma! Thank you in advance for your support and for eating local.
Empty Bowls at Christmas in Canaan on December 14th
Friends of Mascoma is the beneficiary of Empty Bowls at Christmas in Canaan and we are extremely grateful. Empty Bowls connects the arts with food and community to bring awareness and aid to hunger in our community. At the event, receive a clay bowl and hot food for a donation of $5 or more! Donations will go to our Friends Feeding Friends program to fight hunger throughout the Mascoma community. Jason Jarvis, the Art Teacher at CES and EVS, has been spearheading this wonderful event.
We will be at this event and we invite you to join us by bringing a dish or attending to eat!
Click here for the form to sign up to bring a soup, stew or chili
November was a Very Busy Time for a Showing of Community Support for our Mascoma Valley Food Insecurity program, Friends Feeding Friends!
We were in awe and humbled by the many organizations and businesses that supported food drives to help lessen food insecurity in the Mascoma Valley. We gratefully acknowledge and thank the Enfield-Mascoma Lioness Club- Price Chopper’s Food Drive, Indian River Helping Hands, the Mascoma National Honor Society, the Mascoma Ecumenical Council, Nutrition on the Green, LLC, @Community Balanced Life, @Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, Dartmouth Hitchcock Physical Therapy Department, @New Hampshire Food Bank (140 free turkeys), the Canaan Community Dinner and many individual community donors who just drop food off anonymously!
Enfield-Mascoma Lioness Club: @Price Chopper of Lebanon.
Some of our 140 turkeys from the New Hampshire Food Bank.
Bar Harbor Bank & Trust of Enfield.
Some of many personal care items from the Dartmouth Hitchcock Physical Therapy Department.
Cardigan Mountain School volunteer students putting together food for 80 boxes for the Indian River Helping Hands and the Mascoma National Honor Society to distribute to Mascoma school families
Nutrition on the Green, LLC of Lebanon did a snack donation for us to distribute in our schools. This is a great idea cause we struggle to keep up with the demand.
Food Drives and Donation Planning
Are you planning a Food Drive to benefit FOM Friends Feeding Friends?
Areas of greatest need:
Single-serving snacks
Canned fruit
Dried fruit
Jams & Jellies (not grape please, we have a lot of this)
Hearty Soups
Cranberry Sauce
Stuffing Mixes
Evaporated Milk
Pumpkin Pie Filling
Pie Crust
Canned Corn
As the weather cools down, we are thankful that donations are beginning to heat up.
Friends of Mascoma Foundation (FOM) is currently in the process of supplying food for 30 Thanksgiving boxes for Indian River School and contributing to 50 Thanksgiving boxes assembled by the National Honor Society at Mascoma Valley Regional High School. Any needs beyond these boxes will be covered by the Mascoma Valley Ecumenical Council Thanksgiving Ingathering. FOM is acquiring the majority of the turkeys for the Thanksgiving Ingathering thanks to their partnership with the New Hampshire Food Bank and has facilitated the donation of 1800 lb. of squash and 450 lb. of potatoes from the Grafton County Department of Corrections Farm to the Ingathering.
As soon a those 3 waves of Thanksgiving drive-related items are transferred, Friends of Mascoma is going to immediately dive into assembling items for the 100 boxes to be distributed by Mascoma Valley Emergency Services (Enfield, Canaan, and Grafton) as part of their Christmas Toy Drive giveaway to families in need. This happens at the beginning of December.
Community Lutheran Church received seed funding from Thrivent Financial and quickly turned it into milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, baking mixes, frosting, and vegetable oil to kick of their Feed the Northeaster Challenge Food Drive. TDuring the month of October, they collected and delivered over 800 items to the Canaan Pantry and an additional $500 matching grant from Thrivent Northeast will be awarded to FOM soon. This $500 match from Thrivent will go a long way as Friends of Mascoma can purchase standard items through the NH Food Bank for about $0.10 per pound. $500 can turn into 5000 lb. of food for our community.
Enfield-Mascoma Lioness also completed a recent food drive and will be sharing some of the donations with Friends Feeding Friends and other local food pantries.
Watch for news on upcoming Stuff-a-Bus and NHS Food Drive, BSA Troop 44 Scouting for Food Camp Out, Community Balanced Life, and Thanksgiving Ingathering efforts to collect food for our neighbors over the next month as we approach the holiday season.
Every donation is hugely appreciated and needed as FOM works to share resources throughout the Mascoma Valley. The ongoing food needs in our community remain critical.
Please share the news about these important efforts to combat food insecurity in the Mascoma Valley with those you know.
Annual Warm Winter Clothing & Coat Drive a Success
We are incredibly proud of the work Beth Felix, Kaylee Felix, and our many volunteers doing in our community!
Foodie, the van, loaded with donations and ready to go!
Friends of Mascoma Foundation is always happy to support our Mascoma Valley families! The Warm Winter Clothing and Coat Drive happens because of the generosity of our Mascoma residents who pay it forward. We are honored to have a board member like Beth Felix and her daughter, Kaylee Felix, who take on this project yearly together with a team of volunteers. Thanks to all of you who helped by donating and giving your time so this can happen. Spreading resources rather than discarding it is the way to go!
Kaylee, an eighth-grader at Indian River Middle School, is happy to see how much of an impact the event has had since it began.
For her, it’s all about hanging out and playing outside with her friends no matter the time of year.
“I feel like everyone should be able to go outside and have fun,” she said. “It’s important that everyone helps each other out to make sure everyone has what they need. It’s important to be kind to each other.” ~excerpted from the Valley News, Saturday, October 20, 2018
We are grateful again this year to Canaan, NH Fire and Emergency services for sharing the use of their gathering room with us. We look forward to seeing everyone next year.
If you missed the giveaway and are in need of warm winter clothing, Friends of Mascoma shares items that do not find a home during our giveaway with the Canaan United Methodist Vestry for their Coats Plus program. Coats Plus also offers these items and many more, for Free to our community. Stop by and see what they have to offer.
Thanksgiving Ingathering & LISTEN Holiday Baskets
Please help us spread the word regarding the Mascoma Valley Ecumenical Council Thanksgiving Ingathering food baskets and LISTEN holiday baskets to both donors and Mascoma families in need. The deadline to submit forms for the Thanksgiving Ingathering is Friday, November 9, 2018 and the deadline for the LISTEN holiday baskets is Thursday, November 15, 2018.
For your convenience we have converted the information to image files in this post. To download a PDF copy please visit our Friends Feeding Friends page.
SAU #62 Meet-and-Greet
We had a great meet-and-greet on October 3rd and thank everyone who took time to come out. It was a casual affair and attendees had the opportunity to speak with new SAU #62 members one-on-one. We are excited about the new and promoted members in our district:
Amanda Isabelle, Interim Superintendent
Craig Sutte, Technology Director
Chris Besso, Special Education Director
Harrison Little, EVS Principal
Leah Wheelan, CES Principal
Megan Jones, IRS Assistant Principal
Pennies For Change Awesome Results! $6416.60
With sincere gratitude, we thank all the @Co-op Food Stores shoppers and members who “rounded it up” the month of September. This charitable program benefits 5 Upper Valley charities each month and is a great help to a small charity like us. Co-op Food Stores, you are awesome community partners!
Upper Valley Humane Society Partners with Friends Feeding Friends
The @Upper Valley Humane Society brought their Mobile Pet Food Pantry to our Friends Feeding Friends Canaan pantry October 24. Our pantries do try to keep pet food available and the UVHS also has a pet food pantry at their site in Enfield. Pictured above is Charity Piper of UVHS, Lana Evans of FFF, Carolyn Cusick of FFF and Julia Murray of UVHS. Community organizations are stronger together!
Warm Winter Clothing & Coat Giveaway October 20th, 9 a.m. to noon
Realizing your kids grew 4 inches over the summer?
Please hang on to those warm, winter clothes and layers in like-new condition and consider donating them to a neighbor in need.
Don't panic if you need something outside your budget - there are always great finds.
Each year Beth Felix leads the charge in collecting Warm Winter Clothing & Coats for children and families in the Mascoma District. Please reach out if you would like to donate clean, gently used items in excellent condition or new items. Call Beth at 603.306.6058 or email info@friendsofmascoma.org.
Date: Saturday, October 20th
Time: 9 a.m. to Noon
Where: Canaan Fire Station, Canaan, NH (Follow the Signs)
WARM WINTER ITEMS AVAILABLE in infant through adult sizes! Bring your own bag to fill!
Connecting Art with Food and Community Outreach!
Meet & Greet on October 3, 6-7 p.m.
New Hampshire Tackles Hunger
We are elated to report that our MVRSD Sports department headed by John Kelly participated in the New Hampshire Food Bank sponsored food drive with WMUR-TV and the NHAA. On September 22, 453 pounds of food was donated and 175 pounds of food was purchased with WMUR-TV donated gift certificates to Hannafords. This was a grand total of 628 pounds of food which was given to the MVRHS Pantry. Way to go, caring community!
Pennies for Change program at The Food Coop Stores Benefits Friends of Mascoma in September
The Pennies for Change Program is a charitable giving program at the @Coop Food Stores. Customers can donate their change to the designated community partners by rounding up to the next full dollar amount. During the whole month of SEPTEMBER, FOM will receive 30% of the collected funds. This is such an awesome program that last year we were awarded almost $6000 during the month of July. Please think of participating when shopping. There are 4 other charities benefiting so it is all Win! Win! Tell your cashier to "round it up"! Every penny makes a difference.
Meet & Greet the New SAU #62 Members
Save the Date!
Friends of Mascoma Foundation will be co-hosting a Meet & Greet in October. This is an opportunity for members of our community to meet new SAU office employees.
Warm Winter Clothing & Coat Giveaway OCTOBER 20
Realizing your kids grew 4 inches over the summer?
Please hang on to those warm, winter clothes and layers in like-new condition and consider donating them to a neighbor in need.
Don't panic if you need something outside your budget - there are always great finds.
Each year Beth Felix leads the charge in collecting Warm Winter Clothing & Coats for children and families in the Mascoma District. Call Beth at 603.306.6058 or info@friendsofmascoma.org.
Get in touch now if you want to donate clean, gently used items.
Date: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 is the GIVEAWAY
Time: 9 a.m. to Noon
Where: Canaan Fire Station, Canaan, NH (Follow the Signs)
WARM WINTER ITEMS AVAILABLE in infant through adult sizes! Bring your own bag to fill!
Harvest Season is Here - the Friends Feeding Friends Food Pantries Welcome Fresh Garden Veggies
Overrun with fresh-picked, delicious garden veggies?
Donations are gratefully accepted during regular pantry hours at the Friends Feeding Friends Food Pantries (see poster below).
Know a family in the Mascoma Valley who needs additional food resources? Pass our pantry information on! Friends Feeding Friends also generously shares resources with the pantry operated by the high school. Want to volunteer? Please email food@friendsofmascoma.org.
Thank you to all who have donated this harvest season!
Enfield Old Home Days Parade & Chicken Poo Bingo
Parade
FOM got a little groovy at the Decades-themed Enfield Old Home Days Parade.
Chicken Poo Bingo
Our test-run of Chicken Poo Bingo at the Sunday EOHD Country Fair proved to be highly entertaining for children of all ages. Watch for this event to return next year with higher stakes.
Thank you to the Enfield Old Home Days Committee for hosting and to our many awesome volunteers for making the weekend events fun!