It was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who called us to action saying, “Everyone can be great because everybody can serve.” Each of us has this greatness inside. We need your power of service to stop the bigger hunger crisis in America. Dr. King found it unacceptable for there to be hunger. He said, “Why should there be hunger and deprivation in any land, in any city, at any table, when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life?
Using Dr. King’s example on fighting hunger in our own small towns in January 2022, Helping Hands forms Family-to-Family . With shortages at U.S. grocery stores growing more acute in recent weeks as new problems like the fast-spreading omicron variant and severe weather have piled on to the supply chain struggles and labor shortages that have plagued retailers since the coronavirus pandemic began, we continue to see a great need.
Often, families relying on food banks encounter difficulty making ends meet by the end of the third week of each month. At Helping Hands, we want to lift up individuals and families who are experiencing food insecurity. Individual recipients and volunteers at food pantries say even a small increase makes a big impact for people experiencing food insecurity.
OVERVIEW OF FAMILY-TO-FAMILY
Each month, one family sponsors another family with a monthly contribution. Recipient families are vetted, and groceries and basic necessities are provided by one Family to another Family. Or, volunteers can form a local Cluster of families to collect items monthly and offer to another family in need, which means you don’t have to do it alone. Local Cluster Groups may also be (teams, schoolmates, scouts, etc.) and may include five to 10 (or more) families. It’s suggested that someone with strong organizational skills lead the “group” initiative.
Sponsoring a family can be a meaningful way to teach empathy and caring because providing life’s necessities is such a concrete way to give. It is also a great multigenerational activity for grandparents and grandkids to do together. Kids can help shop for the food, pack the box, draw a picture for their family or write a letter.
What is involved in sponsoring a family? We have three family donation programs and each is slightly different.
Option 1. Individuals or Families can Cyber-Sponsor a Family in Need. Sponsoring a family in need is easy with a monthly donation that helps defray the cost of groceries. Family-to-Family matches families and encourages ongoing communication through letters. The recipients can receive notes of encouragement when they pick up their package. Here’s how to get started:
Step 1: Choose a family:
Choose a family you’d like to help for a period of three, six, nine or twelve months. Contact us @[email protected] to ask for a list of recipient families (families are labeled A-Z). Complete your donation by sending a check or Venmo. All it takes is a minimum donation of about $50 that will pay for five to seven meals worth of groceries for the sponsored family every month. All funds are used for food and basic necessities requested by the sponsored family.
Step 2: Volunteers will shop with your donation.
Option 2. A family or groups of families start a F2F cluster together in supporting the family-to-family food program.
You may sponsor a family on your own or join one of the existing sponsors. You will need one (or more) other committed families plus yours to start a new F2F Cluster that will shop for, pack and provide monthly essential items, as well as including notes of encouragement to make a personal connection. Here are the basic steps:
Option 3. Gift Card Sponsorship
Sponsor families begin a gift card train within their own family or with a cluster of families or groups. A gift card train is one of the best ways to organize immediate support from anywhere and allows recipients to use as needed. Sponsor families purchase gift cards to grocery stores, drug stores, clothing & shoe stores, etc., and donate it. Helping Hands will provide the gift cards to families who have not been sponsored or who have an immediate urgent need and do not have a sponsor or resources to pay for their basic needs.
Support your Family in Other Ways:
Additional participation may include sending your sponsored family a monthly drive item (a non-food necessity like winter wear, gas card, local pool fee, team membership) or you send a new or gently used children’s book each month to the family you’re sponsoring. This helps to promote literacy and helps the family build a mini home library.
Inspire others to lend a Helping Hand. KEEP UP THE GOOD!
Remember, whether you’ve got five minutes, five hours or five days, you can make a positive impact in your community. And if you have more time, consider organizing another service activity, finding local opportunities and posting your events on Helping Hands, NJ Facebook and Instagram pages.
Monthly Cost - Approximately $250 per month per family.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is Family-to-Family?
Family-to-Family is a local hunger relief program that provides needy families with basic life necessities during difficult times. Their mission is to connect families with more to families with much less.
How do you find families to sponsor?
We base the sponsor families from local families who have reached out to Helping Hands for relief assistance since the inception of Covid-19, March 2020. We also research the specific needs of the some of our families through conversations with them, local school officials, food pantry directors, non-profits or other outreach workers who have detailed knowledge of the needs in the Chatham area.
How do you decide which families need the most help?
Helping Hands volunteers identify families for sponsorship. Families are vetted with a minimal questionnaire. We ask for # of adults and children in the home, address, employment status, monthly food expenses, other basic necessities. We do not ask for income or whether they are eligible for food stamps, or meet other specific criteria established by state social services organizations.
How do I sponsor a family if I don’t live near a drop-off location and don’t want to start my own cluster?
Sign up for the online Cyber-Sponsorship program to sponsor a family. 100% of your donation is used to purchase groceries and other essential items for the family you choose.
What are the ways to donate funds to Family-to-Family?
See below for ways to send a monthly sponsorship to the family you choose.
Using Dr. King’s example on fighting hunger in our own small towns in January 2022, Helping Hands forms Family-to-Family . With shortages at U.S. grocery stores growing more acute in recent weeks as new problems like the fast-spreading omicron variant and severe weather have piled on to the supply chain struggles and labor shortages that have plagued retailers since the coronavirus pandemic began, we continue to see a great need.
Often, families relying on food banks encounter difficulty making ends meet by the end of the third week of each month. At Helping Hands, we want to lift up individuals and families who are experiencing food insecurity. Individual recipients and volunteers at food pantries say even a small increase makes a big impact for people experiencing food insecurity.
OVERVIEW OF FAMILY-TO-FAMILY
Each month, one family sponsors another family with a monthly contribution. Recipient families are vetted, and groceries and basic necessities are provided by one Family to another Family. Or, volunteers can form a local Cluster of families to collect items monthly and offer to another family in need, which means you don’t have to do it alone. Local Cluster Groups may also be (teams, schoolmates, scouts, etc.) and may include five to 10 (or more) families. It’s suggested that someone with strong organizational skills lead the “group” initiative.
Sponsoring a family can be a meaningful way to teach empathy and caring because providing life’s necessities is such a concrete way to give. It is also a great multigenerational activity for grandparents and grandkids to do together. Kids can help shop for the food, pack the box, draw a picture for their family or write a letter.
What is involved in sponsoring a family? We have three family donation programs and each is slightly different.
Option 1. Individuals or Families can Cyber-Sponsor a Family in Need. Sponsoring a family in need is easy with a monthly donation that helps defray the cost of groceries. Family-to-Family matches families and encourages ongoing communication through letters. The recipients can receive notes of encouragement when they pick up their package. Here’s how to get started:
Step 1: Choose a family:
Choose a family you’d like to help for a period of three, six, nine or twelve months. Contact us @[email protected] to ask for a list of recipient families (families are labeled A-Z). Complete your donation by sending a check or Venmo. All it takes is a minimum donation of about $50 that will pay for five to seven meals worth of groceries for the sponsored family every month. All funds are used for food and basic necessities requested by the sponsored family.
Step 2: Volunteers will shop with your donation.
Option 2. A family or groups of families start a F2F cluster together in supporting the family-to-family food program.
You may sponsor a family on your own or join one of the existing sponsors. You will need one (or more) other committed families plus yours to start a new F2F Cluster that will shop for, pack and provide monthly essential items, as well as including notes of encouragement to make a personal connection. Here are the basic steps:
- Contact Helping Hands at [email protected] and ask for the list of available (unsponsored) families who have submitted an application.
- Select which family you’d like to sponsor and email it to us. When you respond, let us know if your sponsorship is for 3, 6, 9 or 12 months. Let us know if you are open to being paired with a cluster of families. Sponsor families and/or clusters of families will be named Family 1, 2, 3, etc., where recipient families are named, Family A, B, C, etc.
- Establish a monthly drop-off date and location (like the coordinator’s house or a HH location). Usually the third week of the month is when families in need are struggling to make ends meet.
- Go shopping! Family-to-Family provides a shopping list which is prepared by the recipient family and reviewed by Helping Hands prior to posting. The sponsor families pack groceries and other basic life necessities for their recipient family every month. Involve children and grandchildren so they learn the importance of giving to those who are less fortunate.
- Sponsor families share the responsibility of delivering the bags to the coordinator family’s designated drop off address or to HH designated locations. Develop a more personal connection by including a letter or photo in each delivery. Donors should label the bags clearly with the sponsor family’s number and the recipient family’s name letter, please do not tie bags.
Option 3. Gift Card Sponsorship
Sponsor families begin a gift card train within their own family or with a cluster of families or groups. A gift card train is one of the best ways to organize immediate support from anywhere and allows recipients to use as needed. Sponsor families purchase gift cards to grocery stores, drug stores, clothing & shoe stores, etc., and donate it. Helping Hands will provide the gift cards to families who have not been sponsored or who have an immediate urgent need and do not have a sponsor or resources to pay for their basic needs.
Support your Family in Other Ways:
Additional participation may include sending your sponsored family a monthly drive item (a non-food necessity like winter wear, gas card, local pool fee, team membership) or you send a new or gently used children’s book each month to the family you’re sponsoring. This helps to promote literacy and helps the family build a mini home library.
Inspire others to lend a Helping Hand. KEEP UP THE GOOD!
Remember, whether you’ve got five minutes, five hours or five days, you can make a positive impact in your community. And if you have more time, consider organizing another service activity, finding local opportunities and posting your events on Helping Hands, NJ Facebook and Instagram pages.
Monthly Cost - Approximately $250 per month per family.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is Family-to-Family?
Family-to-Family is a local hunger relief program that provides needy families with basic life necessities during difficult times. Their mission is to connect families with more to families with much less.
How do you find families to sponsor?
We base the sponsor families from local families who have reached out to Helping Hands for relief assistance since the inception of Covid-19, March 2020. We also research the specific needs of the some of our families through conversations with them, local school officials, food pantry directors, non-profits or other outreach workers who have detailed knowledge of the needs in the Chatham area.
How do you decide which families need the most help?
Helping Hands volunteers identify families for sponsorship. Families are vetted with a minimal questionnaire. We ask for # of adults and children in the home, address, employment status, monthly food expenses, other basic necessities. We do not ask for income or whether they are eligible for food stamps, or meet other specific criteria established by state social services organizations.
How do I sponsor a family if I don’t live near a drop-off location and don’t want to start my own cluster?
Sign up for the online Cyber-Sponsorship program to sponsor a family. 100% of your donation is used to purchase groceries and other essential items for the family you choose.
What are the ways to donate funds to Family-to-Family?
See below for ways to send a monthly sponsorship to the family you choose.
Donate
Helping Hands distributes essential items through our growing network of individuals and partner organizations.
Helping Hands distributes essential items through our growing network of individuals and partner organizations.
Venmo @JoannCarroll - 201-988-9070
Checks
- Make out to Helping Hands of Chatham or directly to Shoprite of Chatham for grocery gift cards
- Mail to 14 Red Road, Chatham, NJ 07928.
Helping Hands, NJ is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit charitable organization
Thank you for your continued support of our work and mission. We invite you to visit us and learn more about our commitment to the community.
Our doors are open to anyone in need.
Your volunteer team at Helping Hands
Helping Hands, NJ - Chatham, NJ 07928
[email protected] | 201-988-9070
Link Tree - https://linktr.ee/helpinghandsofchatham
Helping Hands distributes essential items through our large and growing network of individuals and partner organizations throughout New Jersey.
Our doors are open to anyone in need.
Your volunteer team at Helping Hands
Helping Hands, NJ - Chatham, NJ 07928
[email protected] | 201-988-9070
Link Tree - https://linktr.ee/helpinghandsofchatham
Helping Hands distributes essential items through our large and growing network of individuals and partner organizations throughout New Jersey.