Save the Date - NH Gives 2020!

Supporters have impressed us with an outpouring of donations to support Friends Feeding Friends and our increased operational costs during COVID-19 and these amazing support makes us teary-eyed at times. The financial fallout from COVID-19 for students and their families will continue to be felt in the coming months.

As such, Friends of Mascoma Foundation is committed to raising money for our scholarship fund during NH Gives again this year. These scholarships will be increasingly important as families recover financially in the wake of COVID-19.

Please save the date and consider supporting us from 6 pm on June 9th to 6 pm on June 10th. For more information on our campaign please visit our website or Facebook event.

Friends Feeding Friends & Emergency Responder Response to Covid-19 Featured in the Valley News

Click to access article on the Valley News website

In this time of unprecedented and rapidly evolving needs, we are thankful to the Valley News for continued coverage of food resources in our area including our efforts in collaborating with Mascoma Valley emergency responders.

The Valley News hosts a complete list of Upper Valley food shelves and ongoing Covid-19 coverage free on their site as a resource for our wider Upper Valley neighbors.

Friends of Mascoma will continue with food packages for the foreseeable future. We are excited to be offering another strong selection this week with a few hard-to-find items that we have sourced and purchased thanks to the generosity of our donors. Our pantry operations costs have significantly increased over prior years and we expect needs to continue to increase as we enter the second half of April.

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You can chip in to help from the safety of your home by donating online.

If you or another Mascoma Valley resident you know needs information on food resources, please share our Friends Feeding Friends program news and updates with them.

Mascoma Community Rallies During COVID-19 Outbreak--Thank you!

THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR DONORS, PARTNERS, AND COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS!

It has been a crazy few weeks, but we wanted to give you a quick update. Thank you to all of you have supported our work during these trying times. Each and every gift means a lot to our organization and the people living in this community! If you would like to make a gift you can do so here on our website. Your support allows us to provide food to those in the Mascoma community who need it most.

We are still meeting our partners at Willing Hands every week. And we are traveling to the New Hampshire Food Bank. Those partnerships allow us to distribute things like apples, bread, onions, eggs, and potatoes in addition to non-perishable items. With the support of local law enforcement and emergency services teams we have been able to distribute food to those who need it once a week for the past two weeks. We are preparing for week three as we write this update.

We are overwhelmed by the financial support we have received in recent weeks and the continued support of our loyal volunteers during this time. Thank you to each and every new person who has reached out to us inquiring to see if we need more help. The and health and safety of our volunteers and shoppers is our top concern so we can only have a limited number of volunteers working with us at this time. Things are changing week to week so please know we may call upon in the near future if we need additional support.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

The Friends of Mascoma Team

Update: First Week of New Pantry System & Critical Need for Donations

Hello all,

Our first week at this new system went well. We will make adjustments every week/as we go. Thank you to all of our volunteers and local law enforcement/emergency management teams that helped to make this happen.

The complete details about what we are doing and how you can sign up can be found below. Financial contributions are critical at this time and we are SO appreciative of the support we have received thus far. FOM partners with the NH Food Bank and $1 is easily turned into 2 full meals worth of quality food. Please consider making a contribution:

If you have any questions about making a gift or signing up for our new weekly program please reach out.

Thank you!

A Message from the Friends of Mascoma Foundation and Local Law Enforcement

RE: Friends Feeding Friends Food Distribution Plan for the foreseeable future

The current health crisis has necessitated the closing of our public food pantries in Enfield and Canaan. The MVRSD pantry located in the High School is also closed. We are now partnering with our local law enforcement and other designated emergency response contacts in each of our five towns of Canaan, Dorchester, Enfield, Grafton and Orange. This is our current plan to offer emergency food bags/boxes to residents in need once a week. Please be aware that this could change as new developments occur. There are volunteers “behind the scenes” that will help make this possible. Thanks to our wonderful caring community for being so responsive. We have been overwhelmed by the amount of support we have received. We thank you and we will follow up when and if we need more volunteers.

• To access our food weekly, you must pre-register by each Friday by 3:00 PM. Please send the requested information (see below) to Eula at via e-mail with the subject heading BOX ORDER. You may also call Eula at 603.632.4542 and leave a detailed voice message or communicate with local law enforcement via the information provided below.

• Please remember we are traditionally a three-day emergency food pantry system and agents of the New Hampshire Food Bank located in Manchester, NH. This is an entirely new system for us and will not be the same as our standard operations. We will do our best with what supplies we have available to us to pass on to those who are in need at this time.

• This is the information that we need:

Emergency Food Box Form
Shopper Name:_______________________________________________
Shopper DOB: _______________________________________________
Shopper Address: STREET:______________________________________ TOWN:____________________________ ZIP:______________________
Shopper Email or Phone #:______________________________________
Size of Household:____ # of Adults:_______# of Seniors: _______ # of Children:_______
PICK UP AT DESIGNATED SITE:____________________________________
NEEDS DELIVERY CIRCLE ONE: YES NO
QUARANTINED CIRCLE ONE: YES NO
NOTES:__________________________

• We are coordinating with many members of local law enforcement. You may also communicate your request to them at the following email/numbers:
  o Grafton: Russell Poitras [click here to email] or call (603) 523-7667
  o Enfield: Roy Holland [click here to email] or call (603) 632-7501
  o Orange, Dorchester or Canaan call or email FOM 603.632.4542

• Please do not plan on delivering your form in person. We all need to limit our direct contacts with each other during this time. Be safe!

• Food will be distributed every Tuesday at the following places. The next one is scheduled for Tuesday, March 31st from 4:00 PM-6:00 PM. Each site will have a procedure to have minimal personal contact. Please observe the setup. Your food bag/box will be denoted in some way.

o Canaan Fire Department
o Enfield Police Station parking lot
o Grafton Police Department

We will adjust and adapt these polices and procedures each week. The health and safety of our volunteers, shoppers and local law enforcement is our top priority. We will continue to offer this type of food distribution as long as we feel that we can do so while maintaining the health and safety of everyone involved.

Thank you,
The Friends of Mascoma Foundation

Eula Lee Kozma
Executive Director
Friends of Mascoma Foundation
9 On the Common Way, Unit 5
Canaan, NH 03741
E-mail
Office: 603.632.4542

FOM Food Outreach During COVID-19 Outbreak

A Message from the Friends of Mascoma Foundation and Local Law Enforcement

March 22, 2020

RE: Friends Feeding Friends Food Distribution Plan for the foreseeable future

The current health crisis has necessitated the closing of our public food pantries in Enfield and Canaan. The MVRSD pantry located in the High School is also closed. We are now partnering with our local law enforcement and other designated emergency response contacts in each of our five towns of Canaan, Dorchester, Enfield, Grafton and Orange.    This is our current plan to offer emergency food bags/boxes to residents in need once a week. Please be aware that this could change as new developments occur.  There are volunteers “behind the scenes” that will help make this possible.  Thanks to our wonderful caring community for being so responsive. We have been overwhelmed by the amount of support we have received.  We thank you and we will follow up when and if we need more volunteers.

·       To access our food weekly, you must pre-register by each Friday by 3:00 PM. Please send the requested information (see below) to Eula at Elkozma@friendsofmascoma.org with the subject heading BOX ORDER.  You may also call Eula at 603.632.4542 and leave a detailed voice message or communicate with local law enforcement via the information provided below.

·       Please remember we are traditionally a three-day emergency food pantry system and agents of the New Hampshire Food Bank located in Manchester, NH.  This is an entirely new system for us and will not be the same as our standard operations. We will do our best with what supplies we have available to us to pass on to those who are in need at this time.

·       This is the information that we need:

Emergency Food Box Form

Shopper Name:_______________________________________________

Shopper DOB: _______________________________________________

Shopper Address: STREET:______________________________________

TOWN:____________________________ ZIP:______________________

Shopper Email or Phone #:______________________________________

Size of Household:____   # of Adults:_______# of Seniors: _______ # of Children:_______

PICK UP AT DESIGNATED SITE:____________________________________

NEEDS DELIVERY CIRCLE ONE:     YES      NO

QUARANTINED CIRCLE ONE:        YES     NO 

NOTES:__________________________

·       We are coordinating with many members of local law enforcement. You may also communicate your request to them at the following email/numbers:

o   Grafton:  Russell Poitras russellpoitras@aol.com (603) 523-7667

o   Enfield: Roy Holland rholland@enfield.nh.us (603) 632-7501

o   Orange, Dorchester or Canaan call or email FOM 603.632.4542 elkozma@friendsofmascoma.org

·       Please do not plan on delivering your form.  We all need to limit our direct contacts with each other during this time.  Be safe!

·       Food will be distributed every Tuesday at the following places.   The first pick-up date is

Tuesday, March 24th from 4:00 PM-6:00 PM.  The next pick-up date is Tuesday March 31st from 4:00 PM-6:00 PM. Each site may have a procedure to have minimal personal contact. Please observe the setup.   Your food bag/box will be denoted in some way.

o   Canaan Fire Department

o   Enfield Police Station parking lot

o   Grafton Police Department

We will adjust and adapt these polices and procedures each week.  The health and safety of our volunteers, shoppers and local law enforcement is our top priority.  We will continue to offer this type of food distribution as long as we feel that we can do so while maintaining the health and safety of everyone involved. 

Thank you,

The Friends of Mascoma Foundation

UPDATE: COVID-19 OUTBREAK

COVID-19 OUTBREAK

March 19, 2020

Hello all,

Effective immediately the Friends of Mascoma Foundation will no longer be operating food pantries that are open to the public.  We will be coordinating with local law enforcement or otherwise designated points of contact to get bagged/boxed food to people ONCE a week.  If you are interested in receiving this food please complete the information below and send it to Elkozma@friendsofmascoma.org or call the FOM Office: 603.632.4542 by Friday at 5pm.   We anticipate that boxes will be packaged on Sundays and then made available to each designated person/office below in one of the 5 Mascoma Towns on TUESDAYS, from 4:00-6:00 PM. Pick up/distribution will be coordinated through each town. You may also send them your form directly.  Boxes will be available through each contact so you may be able to get a box even if you miss the Friday deadline.  The Friday deadline will allow us to make an estimate of how many boxes we need to prepare. 

CLICK HERE FOR FOOD BOX FORM

BY EMAIL:

Grafton Email:  Russell Poitras russellpoitras@aol.com

Dorchester Email: Sherman Hallock shermanhallock@msn.com

Orange Email:  Karen McFarlane at karen@sc3d.org

Canaan Email: Eula Kozma at elkozma@friendsofmascoma.org  

Enfield Email: Roy Holland rholland@enfield.nh.us

BY PHONE:

Canaan: Call FOM (603) 632-4542

Grafton: (603) 523-7667

Enfield: (603) 632-7501

Orange and Dorchester call FOM  603.632.4542

If you have any questions please let me know.

Thank you,

Eula

Eula Lee Kozma

Executive Director

Friends of Mascoma Foundation

9 On the Common Way, Unit 5

Canaan, NH 03741

elkozma@friendsofmascoma.org

Office: 603.632.4542

Consider Making A Recurring Gift to Friends of Mascoma

Did you know that you can support the Friends of Mascoma Foundation on a recurring basis? Monthly or quarterly support is good for our organization’s overall health and community impact. There are weekly and monthly costs associated with our work and your pledge to make a recurring gift will increase our revenue, improve our cash flow, allow us to plan better for our future, and run more cost effective fundraising campaigns.

Here are 5 reasons why providing regular support to the Friends of Mascoma Foundation is good for YOU!

1. It is convenient for you! You can set it and forget it. It is also a great way to budget your personal giving so you don’t feel compelled to give to multiple organizations every time they ask.

2. You will get fewer asks from Friends of Mascoma and more updates on our work. You’ve already decided to give so we will do our best not to pester you with more unnecessary asks. Fewer requests to give, as you are already giving, and more updates on the difference you are making.

3. You’ll get a little special treatment from us! We will send you one our tshirts and offer you a tour of our facility.

4. Your support makes a regular, compounded impact. Your regular and predictable support allows FOM to fund our operations and predict our future cash flows better leading to a better overall organization.

Make your recurring gift here: http://friendsofmascoma.org/donate

Friends of Mascoma is Looking for Volunteers

Our Friends Feeding Friends program is looking for volunteers to work in our food pantries on Tuesdays in Enfield and Wednesdays in Canaan. We are also looking for more drivers and ride-a-long helpers for our weekly runs to the New Hampshire Food Bank. If you have ever thought about volunteering—now is the time!

We could not do the work we do without our dedicated volunteers, but you might be wondering what is in it for you? By volunteering with Friends of Mascoma you are:

• Making a difference in our community

• Using your skills and talents for good

• Meeting and socializing with other people in the community

• Working for a cause you believe in

• Feeling satisfied by helping others and completing a job well done

If you are interested in getting more involved or if you have any questions please email Eula at ELKozma@friendsofmascoma.org .

Our 2020 Scholarship Application is now LIVE!

The 2020 Scholarship Application period is now open! If you are a member of the Class of 2020 or if you know someone who is please consider applying for a scholarship through FOM or pass this information along to that student.

The Friends of Mascoma Foundation scholarship application period is from January 1st through April 1st. Applications are ONLY accepted through this website. To learn more about our Scholarship Application process and to view the application please visit: https://friendsofmascoma.org/scholarship

Scholarships from the Friends of Mascoma Foundation will be awarded at the Mascoma Valley Regional School District-High School Awards and Scholarship night on Sunday June 7th.

Friends of Mascoma Selected for the Hannaford Helps Reusable Bag Program for February 2020

For the month of February, every time the reusable $2.50 Fight Hunger Bag is sold at the Hannaford store located at 8 Market Street, West Lebanon NH, Friends of Mascoma Foundation’s Friends Feeding Friends will receive a $1 donation.

This is a GREAT way to show your
support! Next time you are at Hannaford buy a few Fight Hunger
bags. If you don’t see them at the register be sure to inquire with the Sales Associate.

Good for Friends of Mascoma!
Good for the Planet!
For more information about the program visit: hannaford.bags4mycause.com

Listen to our Executive Director on WNTK

Friends of Mascoma Graces the Air Waves

WNTK invited us to promote all of the wonderful things we are up to on Tuesday December 17th.

In case anyone missed Eula’s interview on WNTK News Talk 99.7 and would like to hear it, click here ⤵️
https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-p4vbg-cbb970

Foodie Cruises to His Goal!

Our dear van Foodie

A BIG THANK YOU FROM FOODIE AND THE FRIENDS OF MASCOMA FOUNDATION TEAM

Thank you all for your contributions during this, our very first, crowdfunding campaign. On December 27th our Friends Feeding Campaign came to a close. We are excited to announce that we surpassed our fundraising goal. Here is a quick look at the stats. In just 45 days we:

Had 71 Donors

Provided 4 different match opportunities

Provided 9 reward opportunities

Raised over $14,000

We cannot thank you enough!

Not to late to donate in 2019. Go to our donate site and be part of our supporting team!

New Day in Enfield Starting in the New Year!

Mark your calendars! Beginning on January 7th the Enfield Food Pantry will be switching from Thursdays to Tuesdays.

Enfield Food Pantry will be open on Tuesdays from 3:00pm to 5:30pm.

Enfield Town Office | Whitney Hall | 23 Main Street

We welcome you to shop with us once a week.

Residents of Canaan, Enfield, Orange, Dorchester, and Grafton are welcome.

Please email Friends of Mascoma Foundation with any questions or issues at food@friendsofmascoma.org.

Empty Bowls a Huge Success!

We are pleased to report that the 2nd Annual Empty Bowls event was a huge success! We would like to thank our Mascoma Valley Regional School District Art Department for sponsoring Empty Bowls as part of the Christmas in Canaan festivities.

This collaborative event brought together students and community members to combat food insecurity in the Mascoma Valley. Handcrafted bowls were available for purchase for $5, attendance was fantastic and lots of bowls were purchased as well as lots of yummy donated including, soups, stews, chilis and Mac ‘n Cheese.

We were able to fill those bowls that were made by the students and staff of the MVRSD. Thanks to all those who helped serve the food , including Fresh Picks Café representative, Lana Evans.

Over $1,500 was raised for the Friends of Mascoma Foundation.

Thank you generous and caring community!

#emptybowls #friendsfeedingfriends #friendsofmascoma

#GivingTuesday for Friends Feeding Foodie!

Join us by giving $5 For Foodie!

2nd Annual Empty Bowls Event @ Christmas in Canaan

We are thankful to the art teachers in the Mascoma Valley Regional School District for bringing together students and community members to combat food insecurity in the Mascoma Valley. Handcrafted bowls will be available for purchase for $5 and a variety of soups will also be available to fill these bowls and your stomach. Proceeds benefit Friends of Mascoma Foundation. This exciting event was very popular and successful last year; come pick out your bowl at Canaan Elementary School before checking out all of the Christmas in Canaan festivities.

Update on our Friends Feeding Foodie Campaign

As you may know, we are smack dab in the middle of our Friends Feeding Foodie crowdfunding campaign. This campaign is a brand new kind of fundraising and outreach effort for the Friends of Mascoma Foundation. We are pleased to report we have surpassed our goal of $5,000 and are well on our way to reaching our stretch goal of $10,000. So far we have raised $8,500 with the help of 39 donors! We had two matching opportunities from Holly West and Kate Plumley Stewart and AJ Stewart. Both matches incentivized donors and the matches were fulfilled in just a few days time. Our local emergency service organizations stepped up and we received funding from the Canaan Firefighters Association, the Enfield Fast Squad, and the Enfield Firefighters Association. Many local businesses have also shown their support by donating directly to the campaign or by providing rewards including, State Farm Insurance Agent Michael Estrada, Stearns Septic Service, Proctor’s General Store, Jake’s Market and Deli, Marshall’s Garage, Co-op Food Stores, Whaleback Mountain, Shaker Valley Auto and Tire, Upper Valley Line-X and Dyer's Welding & Fabrication, and MTD.

Did we mention the rewards? There are so many GREAT rewards left! Head over to http://c-fund.us/nwf to learn about and contribute to our Friends Feeding Foodie campaign. We have $480 in matching funds left to raise—don’t leave money on the table! Thank you Steve and Jane Plumley for sponsoring our latest match opportunity. On Giving Tuesday we are challenging the community to donate in $5 increments in that 24 hour period—Five Dollars for Friends Feeding Foodie—any amount given in $5 increments will be matched up to $500 from another private donor.

No gift is too small and every dollar gets us closer to our goal! If you have already given—thank you! If not, there is still time. We also hope you will share the information about our campaign with someone else who might be interested in supporting our efforts! Thank you to Vital Communities and The Local Crowd for selecting us for this wonderful opportunity.

Reusable Bag Chock Full Of Goodies!

A $50 donation gets you this bag!

We are thankful for our many community partners

November is our busiest month. We are so appreciative and thankful to be the recipient of generous donations of resources, as well as being able to help out others. This is a list of awesome happenings right here in the Mascoma Valley:

*** Received 120 17 lb. turkeys from the NH Food Bank that we distributed to the MVRHS National Honor Society: 50 family food boxes and 60 to the Ecumenical Ingathering.

*** We supplied over 2500 # of food to the National Honor Society food boxes.

*** We supplies over 4000# of food to the Mascoma Valley Firefighters and EMS for their Toy and Food Giveaway December 14. (100 boxes of food are ready to give away.)

*** We received generous contributions from:

• Grafton County Farm

• DHMC Outpatient Rehab

• Canaan Elementary School Staff

• Bar Harbor Bank and Trust in Enfield

• Food leftover from the Mascoma Valley Ecumenical Council Thanksgiving Ingathering

• KDR Fitness

• Canaan Community Thanksgiving Dinner (603 Bakery & Cafe)

• Lots of anonymous bags of food left for us to find! You secret donors are awesome!

While delivering turkeys to the Thanksgiving Ingathering, we even had a live turkey show up to support our Feed Foodie campaign and to thank BSA Troop 44 and volunteers for their commitment to feeding our community.

Yes, we are a kind and caring community! Thank you!

Warm Clothing Giveaway

Our Annual Warm Clothing Giveaway took place on October 12 at the Canaan Fire Hall. We thank all of our clothing donors that helped us re-home some very gently worn and clean clothing to our Mascoma Community families as well as the Canaan Fire Department for permitting the use of their space.

Volunteers, Sara Dunkerton and Kaylee Felix had warm smiles ready for all of our community shoppers!

Thanks to our volunteers for their time and efforts to help our Mascoma Community receive resources.

Pictured are Kyra Martin, Kaylee Felix, Blake Howard , Jerusha Nelson Howard, Liz Rizzo, Beth Felix, Peggy Vincent and Francesca Diggs. Want to be a Volunteer with any of our programs or events? Please email us at info@friendsofmascoma.org.

Work out at KDR Fitness and support Friends of Mascoma this Saturday November 2nd!

Join KDR Fitness for their 🐉💪 FREE charity WORK OUT!

Sign up for their Hungry Dragon! 🐉💪

Details👇
- Free charity work out to benefit local food pantries
- Please bring 5 non-perishable food items and $15
- $15 covers custom event t-shirt
- 90 minute work out with the goal to burn 1000 calories(optional) in 90 minutes.
- First male and female to burn 1000 calories are our NEW DRAGON'S!
- You MUST have a polar H7 or H10 heart rate monitor and polar account for accurate calorie tracking. You can participate without it, but they are needed if you want to track.

Email welcome@kdrfitness.com if your interested, make sure to include your name and t-shirt size! Hope to see you there!