Greetings!

Hi, everyone! This newsletter is the first one being created by me, Andrew, the new Outreach Director. If you have any suggestions, recommendations, or ideas for future newsletters, please feel free to reach out to me here.

We are in full swing for the Holiday season here at MCUM! Last weekend we successfully finished our second annual Merry Market! This year, the Merry Market was able to help our community in the following ways:

  • $26,212 in gifts were given out

  • 643 individuals (158 households) received gifts

  • 100% of recipients Monroe County residents, with 83% being City of Bloomington residents

We still have one more day of the Merry Market on Tuesday, December 20th, from 5-7pm. This night will be for anyone who wants to attend, no signup required!

We are so grateful for all of our supporters and volunteers! During the Merry Market weekend, MCUM had 44 volunteers with a total of 299 volunteer hours! We are still in need of donations for the last day of the Merry Market on December 20th. Items for kids 9-16 years old are the most needed! CLICK HERE for our Amazon List.

A huge thank you to everyone, and all the local businesses, who played a part in making the Merry Market-and the whole holiday season-a success for the community!

Here are a few things this year's Merry Market shoppers are saying...

"I think the girls will love everything they received this year. Every volunteer made us feel welcome and without having us feel bad for needing the help. I got laid off my job just a few weeks ago, which we was already struggling. But the kind hearts of the people who donated and all the volunteers, this will still be a good Christmas for the kids. Thank you all so much!"

"absolutely love picking the gifts for my children! I think they are going to be most excited about the fuzzy socks, blanket, and Nintendo games. This year has been really hard with the price of groceries and gas and other expenses so it helped tremendously to have a few gifts to give them!"

"This helped my family tremendously! My kiddos will have such big smiles on their faces when they open gifts christmas morning! The volunteers were amazing, and lets not even talk about the starbucks coffee!!"

It's because of your support we are able to make this happen for these families!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!!


All the best,

Andrew R.
Outreach Director

P.S. If you are planning to donate any items to the pantry, Compass, Merry Market or closet items listed to the right, please do so from 8a-4p Monday-Friday. Thank you!
Quick Links
Needs List
Food Pantry
  • Helper Meals
  • Cereal
  • Volunteers- Fridays 12-2 & 2-4 Email Andy

Cleaning Closet
  • Dish Soap
  • Laundry Detergent

Compass
  • Markers
  • Glue Sticks
  • New packages of construction paper

Volunteers
  • Painting classrooms at Compass on 12/27. Contact Andy here for more information
Community Engagement Spotlight
We are excited to announce a donation to MCUM received from Bell Trace Assisted Living Community. The residents spent weeks making Christmas and Holiday decorations, then held a bizarre to sell the items. The Holiday Bizarre raised a total of $1,623.00 for MCUM. The residents picked the charity themselves, and we are so excited they chose MCUM! A big thank you to the residents & staff of the Bell Trace community for their donation, and all of their hard work!!
MCUM would like to highlight the students of Tri-North YES Club for holding a food drive and volunteering in our food pantry! Several of the students also volunteered at our Merry Market and have signed up for future volunteer opportunities! A big thanks to those students! It's inspiring to see the younger generation stepping up to the help their community.


Use your change, to make a change, and RoundUp!
We have partnered with RoundUp App, which will allow supporters to opt-in to donate change from their credit card purchases to MCUM. Other nonprofits using this App similar in size to MCUM generate about $3,000 of extra revenue each month - that's the equivalent of funding the Puffin room for one month!

When asked, more than 45% of people round up to support organizations. We are hoping one of those people will be you!
How you can make a difference...
As we prepare to wrap up 2022 here is how you can help MCUM finish the year strong!

  • December 27th, volunteers are needed to paint five classrooms at Compass contact Andy here, if interested

  • Donations for kids 9-16 for the last day of the Merry Market

  • Donations for our end of the year campaign

  • Click here to like our Facebook page!





Annual Campaign Update
The annual end of year campaign for MCUM is also wrapping up. As of today, we have 90% of our $110,000 goal. We still need to raise $11,000 by December 31. We know we can reach this because of our generous supporters like you! Please help us reach our goal by donating today! Everything helps! Click here to donate


Thank You for your support!


827 West 14th Court
Bloomington, IN 47404
812-339-3429