In This Month's Update

•Remembering Walter Mills

•Our Current Needs

•Thank You Dogwood Health Trust

• Back To School Clothing Drive

•Join IAM in the 40th Annual Hunger Walk

• Thank You, Zachary!

•IAM's Current Volunteer Needs

This month, IAM celebrates the life and dedicated service of our friend and super volunteer, Walter Mills who passed away on July 5th at age 89.

Walter volunteered at IAM for the last 24 years of his long and very productive life. He inspired us every day with his positive attitude and selfless concern for our neighbors in need. Walter was also a friend to everyone he met. All of us at IAM are profoundly grateful that he shared so much of his time with us and we were truly blessed by his presence.

Thank you, Walter. We will miss you and promise to honor your memory by continuing to serve the neighbors you worked so hard to help for all those years. 

Read more about Walter's amazing life of service here.

Our Pantry and Clothing Needs for August

IAM gratefully acknowledges the receipt of a generous grant from Dogwood Health Trust. The grant will fund critical capacity building in the face of the ever-increasing demand for crisis services in Henderson County. 

Specifically, the grant will provide funding for rent assistance, the purchase of a new delivery van, and support for two staff positions. Rent assistance is key to helping prevent further homelessness in Henderson County as our neighbors face the twin challenges of economic disruption caused by the pandemic and skyrocketing housing costs. The new van will facilitate IAM’s ability to pick up and deliver food and clothing donations. 

Dogwood Health Trust is a private foundation based in Asheville, North Carolina with the sole purpose of dramatically improving the health and wellbeing of all people and communities of 18 counties and the Qualla Boundary in Western North Carolina. To learn more, visit www.dht.org.

IAM has been awarded $20,000 by Henderson County to support our crisis service programs. The funds will be used to further the mission of IAM to assist members of our community experiencing crisis with basic needs, in an atmosphere of compassion and respect. 

IAM provides crisis assistance with a range of essential items and services including food for a week for each family member, clothing, linens, personal hygiene supplies, heat and utility bills, rent and mortgage payments, medications, pet food, and other basic needs. Our services are available for Henderson County residents.

IAM is grateful for the continued support of Henderson County.

The Henderson Country Hunger Coalition will be holding its 40th Annual Hunger Walk Saturday, September 17th at Jackson Park. IAM invites all of our volunteers and friends in the community to join us as we celebrate and support this vital initiative to help our neighbors in need. 

We are particularly excited this year to be walking in person after two years of “virtual walks” due to COVID. Walkers may choose between a 1 Mile Fun Run or a 5 Mile Walk through Jackson Park. A limited number of T-shirts will be distributed at the Walk on a first come first serve basis.

IAM is incredibly grateful for the support from Hunger Coalition to assist with our food purchasing. We truly could not meet the food requests we receive each year without them! Thank you, Hunger Coalition!

To support our wonderful Henderson County students, IAM will be providing school clothes - one new outfit and up to five gentle used outfits - for neighbors in need preparing their children for a new school year. Click on the button below to see what items and sizes would be most helpful. We especially need sneakers and blue jeans of all sizes.

You can help us make this event a great success by donating new and gently used children’s clothing from now until August 26th. IAM will be distributing clothes from August 22nd to September 1st. In addition to clothing, kids will receive goodie bags and we will have a free drawing for six backpacks filled with school supplies. Parents will also receive discount coupons to be used at our IAM Thrift Store.

Please donate to IAM’s Back to School Clothing Drive and help us help our students get off to a great start in the new school year!

Are you looking for a way to give back to our community? Consider joining IAM as a volunteer. Volunteers typically work one four-hour shift per week and we have a number of different opportunities to fit your skills, physical ability, and interests.  

Current needs include:

• File Managers: Monday Mornings and Thursday Afternoons
• Delivery Drivers
• Clothing Sorters
• Thrift Store Volunteers

Fill out our Volunteer Application and learn more about volunteering at IAM here. Thank you!

A huge "Thank you!" to Zachary Cone, age 12, who celebrated his birthday by collecting 22 sets of sheets, 8 sets of towels, 13 pillows, and 4 blankets to donate to IAM's Clothing Assistance Department! Zachary, shown here with his mom Kirsten and younger brother Xavier, has been donated to various organizations since he was 5 years old. We are humbled that he selected IAM as the recipient this year.

Zachary was selected in 2019 as the Youth Philanthropist of the Year of the Association of Fundraising Professionals of Western NC. It's easy to see why! Thank you, Zachary!

• $5,000 & up: Provide vital support for service programs: food, financial assistance with rent, utility bills and gasoline vouchers, clothing and linens, personal hygiene and cleaning items and more 
• $2,500: Purchase enough food to feed 100 adults and children for a week 
• $1,000: Provide the security deposit on a new apartment for a single mother struggling to keep her three young children safe, fed, and succeeding in school 
• $500: Pay an elderly veteran's utility bill to keep his lights on and the heat on when it’s freezing outside 
• $250: Purchase 25 cases of diapers for new mothers struggling to make ends meet 
• $100: Provide a “Back-to School” new clothing and shoes kit for three elementary students 
• $50: Provide bed linens for a family setting up their new apartment $25 Feed a neighbor in need for a week