Every year, we hear from families about how meaningful their Thanksgiving Basket is to them. I wish you could be here during distribution – it's three days of pure joy from those receiving the baskets as well as the volunteers helping pack and load them into cars. So, this year, with the rising cost of groceries, can you imagine how those "baskets" of holiday groceries are going to matter even more?

For the last 34 years, Thanksgiving Baskets have happened with our community. Thousands of people sign up to receive a basket, and thousands chip in to volunteer, host a food drive or donate money. This year, for the first time in a long time, the cost of a basket has gone up – from $70 to $80 – but we're not reducing the number of families we plan to serve. With your help, 4,000 Dane County families (more than 25,000 adults and children) will have everything they need to make a Thanksgiving meal at home.

Check out our Thanksgiving homepage to learn more about how you can get involved.

With gratitude,

P.S. Be sure to read the story just below this letter. I'd love to see you at my upcoming Community Chat, happening in person on Oct. 12!

EVENTS

The financial climate is a challenge for everyone these days, and for our neighbors who are struggling financially, making ends meet has become impossible. The Goodman Center needs your help more than ever, but we know things aren't easy for you either.

Join us for Strategic Philanthropy: Unique Strategies for Tax-Efficient Giving, led by Resonant Capital Advisors. This second workshop in our Love & Legacy series will focus on financial planning and giving strategies during market uncertainty and volatility.

The financial climate is a challenge for everyone these days, and for our neighbors who are struggling financially, making ends meet has become impossible. The Goodman Center needs your help more than ever, but we know things aren't easy for you either.

Join us for Strategic Philanthropy: Unique Strategies for Tax-Efficient Giving, led by Resonant Capital Advisors. This second workshop in our Love & Legacy series will focus on financial planning and giving strategies during market uncertainty and volatility.

Recently, our Older Adult Manager Gayle visited the preschool Blue House and told the kids about all the wonderful things done in the program down the hall.

Gayle read them a story, took them to the herb garden and gave them a tour of the room where our seniors eat lunch Monday through Friday. She also shared all about the fun activities our Older Adult Program hosts all week long.

The kids had a blast learning about another vibrant Goodman Center community. Thank you, Gayle, for the great day!

Happy Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month! From Sept. 15-Oct. 15, we celebrate and acknowledge the history, culture and contributions of Americans who can trace their family tree to any of the over 20 unique countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

To celebrate, two of our kiddos, Sofia and Nixzaliz, wore beautiful dresses that are traditional to their family's native country, Mexico. The two had originally worn the dresses at Madison's Viva Mexico Festival and were excited to share this part of their culture with their school family.

Thank you, Sofia and Nixzaliz!

In September, Girls Inc. of Greater Madison Leadership & Advocacy Specialist Jade Koenigs and Goodman CEO Letesha Nelson travelled to Washington, D.C., to attend a national Girls Inc. conference on advocacy. For three days, Girls Inc. staff from all over the United States and Canada joined to present on the issues vital to the success of the girls and nonbinary youth they lead.

Jade and Letesha also spent time discussing innovative ways for nonprofits like Goodman to become advocates for the specific needs of their communities and connecting those new methods to Goodman's Madison community.

Tuesday afternoon, our Older Adult program hosted an open house, giving our seniors the opportunity to try out one of the many activities this program offers, taste test some dishes from our lunch menu, and join together in community and fun. It was a group effort, as both internal and external partners helped pull off the event.

Older adults had the chance to try out line dancing and Zumba, led by our generous fitness instructors. They also nibbled on a few lunch samples prepared by the Goodman program kitchen while playing games and getting to know our program leaders Gayle and Abby as well as each other.

Thank you to everyone who came out and to all those who chipped in to make the event a success!

Is your weekly menu planning getting a little...repetitive? Our virtual cooking class for ages 50+ may just be the thing to inject some new life into your eating. Let's Cook Together is a six-week cooking class that you can join from the comfort of your own kitchen.

Every week, you'll learn a new recipe with a community of cooks who are interested in expanding their culinary repertoire. We'll send the recipe in advance so you have time to plan and prep, and then you get to cook with an excited group of participants. Classes are taught by UW students – all skill levels are encouraged to sign up.

Want to join for the class and company but not cook? We'd love to have you!

Classes start Wednesday, Oct. 12. To sign up, contact Older Adult Program Manager Gayle at gayle@goodmancenter.org or at 608-204-8032. 

The Goodman Center has some of the best benefits in town – no joke. In addition to an incredible health care plan (better than what some much bigger businesses in town offer, we've been told by our staff) and retirement matching, Goodman also offers more than five weeks of paid time off in your first year, free childcare for kids in preschool and attending Lowell or Emerson elementary schools, and more.

Our food pantry is open three days a week to anyone who needs it.

Interested in helping our food pantry serve our community? Check out our list of most-needed items.

Questions? Contact Francesca at francesca@goodmancenter.org or 608-204-8049.

A group of volunteers from Old National Bank came out during the bank's Better Together Days and took on some super-helpful tasks.

A few assembled furniture for our Older Adult program, while others gave our classrooms a good cleaning. Still more were outside weeding our grounds.

Thank you, Old National Bank! We are truly Better Together! 

P.S. We have a new and improved online donation system that's incredibly secure, but we are still working out a few functionality kinks. If you make a gift and notice something amiss, please let us know by emailing amie@goodmancenter.org. Thank you!

608.241.1574 | info@goodmancenter.org | goodmancenter.org

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