April 13, 2020
Hello my CtK family,
I hope this finds you all healthy. Although we are all doing what is asked by isolating ourselves, CtK is still doing great things for our community. Just last week, our Executive Council approved two mission grants, totaling $12,500. Read below to learn how our money will help feed our community.
Clay Food Pantry, $5,000:
Clay Food Pantry serves a diverse community, welcoming anyone living in St. Joseph County. The pantry is normally open every Monday (12:00 – 3:00 pm) and every Thursday (9:00 am – 12:00 noon). They recently added an additional time on Thursday evenings from 5:00 – 7:00 pm in order to serve more people during this time of increased unemployment.
In addition to the food pantry service, for the past two years, Clay and CtK have partnered together a spring break food program for children. Food insecure kids receive a bag filled with simple and nutritious food items that are easy to prepare. The food will feed two children for one week. Many of you contributed to this by donating food and/or money. Due to Coronavirus, 325 bags were distributed to children the last day the South Bend schools were open. Since then, we distributed another 250 bags and plan to continue this endeavor on a bi-weekly basis until the end of the school year.
If you are interested in filling these bags or delivering them to the schools, please contact me at
connection@ctkluth.com
.
The grant will contribute to the food bags as well as to feeding those who come to the pantry.
Cultivate Culinary, $7,500:
Cultivate Culinary rescues food from local businesses, processes this food to create frozen, healthy meals and distributes these meals to local food insecure children. They are committed to producing at least 3,600 meals each week to serve 600 at-risk elementary students and their families through the Covid-19 crisis.
Cultivate Culinary is partnering with dozens of organizations, churches, and businesses to rescue and prepare thousands of pounds of food. The community involvement and logistics support system are strong, but they need a good supply of rescued food and enough funding to make this happen. Their monthly operating costs are currently around $50,000, and with their Taste of Hope fundraiser pushed back until August, they are relying on the generosity of people and organizations to make sure they can continue to provide nutritious food to those in need.
CtK is committed to helping organizations doing good in our community. If you are affiliated with an organization doing just that, please encourage them to fill out a grant application, which can be found at the CtK website.
God’s peace,
Jill Harms
