NO KIDS GO HUNGRY-DOLLAR MATCH CAMPAIGN
NOVEMBER 1st-JANUARY 30th.
Our VERY SPECIAL anonymous donor has been SO MOVED by a recent $10K donation to Twelve Basket Food Pantry that he is wanting to continue by matching dollar to dollar donations.
We have a special donor who has very graciously offered to MATCH all donations that we can raise in this campaign, up to $10,000. So for every dollar you can donate, we get another dollar TOTALLY FREE!!
Please donate whatever you can, and SHARE this with all of your friends and family so we can reach our goal and get the entire $10,000. This campaign starts November 1, 2023 through January 31, 2024
Every little bit helps, and every share is a possibility of at least one more donation!! Even if you can’t donate, SHARE, SHARE, SHARE!!
Share with employers to do an email blast.
All donations will be applied to “NO KIDS GO HUNGRY” with every day expenses.
Donations can be accepted by:
Mail to: Twelve Baskets Food Pantry
NO KIDS GO HUNGRY
10332 Portage Rd.
Portage, MI 49002
Website: www.twelve-baskets.org
PAYPAL
For questions, please contact the Twelve Baskets Fundraising Team:
Romona Czuk Czukr@comcast.net
Danielle Wedel wedeld@1stsource.com
Category: Newsletter
2022 Year in Review
Dear Friends of Twelve Baskets,
What a year 2022 has been. Throughout 2021 and 2022 we set and reset goals for Twelve Baskets. Our faith and prayers kept us going and our biggest goal set was to purchase the building nextdoor.
In October we completed the purchase of the property at 10330 Portage Rd, along with having a new roof put on three weeks later. The company we chose were wonderful to work with, they quoted a fair price and then discounted it as their part in helping us, along with a 20 year guarantee. Their work was superb. We feel very blessed because the previous owner and the roofing company stuck to their word for three years on the price. Without them, we would never have been able to reach this milestone. The building is in rough shape, but structurally sound.
Three Reasons for purchasing the building:
• The purchase the property insures that we have a place for our clients to park
• A place to house our three vans (no more theft of catalytic converters)
• Expansion of the Free Store.
Immediate Goals for the Building:
• Expand the Free Store from 960 sq ft to 2700 sq ft.
• Install two new ceiling heaters, we currently don’t have any heat in the new space
• Improve the wiring and add more lighting.
• Install new exterior doors and overhead doors
We are currently looking for Volunteers and Donations for these projects.
Pantry Improvements received in 2022:
• New heavy duty carts for moving boxes around
• New 3 door stainless steel freezer and a 2 door refrigerator (mainly for eggs)
• New stainless steel tables on wheels,
• Two new overhead doors
• Purchased a used van to replace our oldest van
• New pallet jack
• New security system
The first four items were directly donated. The last three were in our budget.
Special Service Provided for the Pantry
• A local church has volunteered to supply 25 families that live in Selinon Apartments on Centre Ave in Portage with food delivery once a month. These families must meet certain qualifications to receive this service.
Special Services Provided at the Free Store:
• If a client is in need of something large that we do not have room for at the Store (such as a Queen Mattress & Box Spring), we put their name in a book along with their phone number. When someone calls and wants to donate that item, we connect client with the donor and vice versa.
Services That Twelve Baskets Provides:
• All families served with food my shop twice a month. We are open the 1st & 3rd Fridays and the 2nd & 4th Saturdays. Clients may pick their own 2 days.
• All families who shop the Free Store may shop whenever we are open. Every Tuesday and the 2nd & 4th Fridays and the 1st & 3rd Saturdays.
• We are continuing to help local pantries with our surplus. The Free Store shares its surplus with other Free Stores in SW Michigan along with some special assistance to the homeless population. Other organizations that receive our surplus are Restored Souls, Animal Rescue, Humane Society, St Joe County Emergency Rescue, and Amanda’s House.
External Ways of Earning Extra Funds:
• Our annual Plant Sale in June was a huge success, thanks to the local greenhouse that donated all the plants and local businesses that donated our door prizes … 100 % of sales went directly to the pantry.
• Grants and private company donations were very good this year, as were the three churches that so faithfully donate throughout the year. Every donation is appreciated beyond words. We would not exist if these donations did not come in.
Other donations:
• Our snow plowing was a total donation, as was the 10 yards of mulch to make the front of the two buildings look nice. Five guys from a local men’s group showed up to spread the mulch. Wow, 45 minutes later the place looked fantastic.
This year we have had some major expenses, especially with our outdoor refrigeration & freezer units. Our vans and the big box truck are old, so there are always expenses that go along with that.
Our numbers have grown almost 100% this year and fortunately the local grocery stores have been able to provide the food needed to maintain our current quantity of items for distribution. In the past we have had challenges with people outside of our area showing up for distribution, so we changed our policy. The last hour of each distribution is now open to those from outside our area. This has made a huge difference and seems to be working very well for everyone.
Twelve Baskets feels very blessed with everything that has happened over this past year. We cannot thank everyone enough for all that you (they) do.
TwelveBaskets10330@gmail.com … Twelve-Basket.org … facebook.com/twelvebasketsmi … 269-532-4912
ANNUAL PLANT AND FLOWER SALE
We’re having our annual plant sale fundraiser on June 5th from 9am-3pm. Mark your calendars, you won’t want to miss this sale!! There will be hanging baskets, landscaping flats, and veggie and herb plants. We will have our yummy bake sale items as well. Such as homemade banana bread and zucchini bread to name a couple. All funds go to helping our communities with “STOMPING OUT HUNGER”.
2020 December Newsletter
Twelve Baskets continues to be very blessed by the many businesses and individuals that support “Stomping Out Hunger” in our community. Oh my gosh! With the help of our valuable volunteers and selfless donors, no household should be left hungry after receiving an overflowing grocery cart of food, personal care, and cleaning products. So many praises are being received from the grateful clients we serve. The pantry’s number of households being served continues to climb each month.
Just in time for the Christmas season, families received fresh farm products from Corey Lake Orchards in Three Rivers and delicious beans from Randall’s in Tekonsha.
Oh wow!! How could the pantry continue to distribute so much food to needy families without the generous donations we receive from our business partners: Fresh Thyme, Walmart, Costco, Meijer, JBS Meats, to name a few.
Most recently Earth Fare selected Twelve Baskets to receive delicious healthy products daily. We are so thankful to have been chosen!
Thank you to Kathy DeMott for the most recent article you wrote in South County News (November 2020)
Twelve Baskets Overflows with Thanksgiving – Kathy and her ladies’ group from Women’s Life Insurance Society also organized a fund raiser to benefit Twelve Baskets and presented us with a generous check.
Advanced Health Pharmacy is currently doing a food drive along with a $DOLLAR for $DOLLAR match.
Meijer-Shaver Rd. has advised us the Holiday Simply Give Campaign that began October 25th is shaping up to be a success for Twelve Baskets. The campaign continues through January 2nd. At the end of this campaign Twelve Baskets will receive Meijer Gift Cards from the Simply Give donations made, to purchase much needed items to ensure that our inventory is fully stocked and ready for each weekly distribution. A special thank you to Meijer Retail Administrative Assistant, Nannette Davis, for your continued efforts to “Stomp Out Hunger” in our community by coordinating communications between Meijer and Twelve Baskets.
Joann Wespinter has been very busy answering the incoming phone calls for the pantry and providing information about Twelve Baskets. She reports that every week calls are coming in from individuals and businesses inquiring as to how they can help.
Food Drives and Monetary Donations help us in very tangible ways. For food drives, the pantry will supply a large barrel and flyers for your event. Twelve Baskets has been the benefactor of several successful food drives. If you know of a local business that would like to host a food drive, please give Joann a call at 269-532-4912.
As food inconsistency continues to rise, here are a few ways that Twelve Baskets can accept monetary donations: Pay Pal, Facebook, Amazon Smile, Spartan Nash, Your Cause (employer matching program) and our website www.twelve-baskets.org.
Personal Checks and Money Orders can also be mailed directly to the Pantry:
Twelve Baskets Food Pantry
10332 Portage Rd
Portage, MI 49002
Other ways to donate and make an impact on your community:
Did you know you can donate appreciated stock to Twelve Baskets?
If you are over age 70-1/2 and have an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), you can process a tax-free gift with a Qualified Charitable Distribution to Twelve Baskets.
Please contact Tami Leffingwell, at Sanford Advisory Services, 269-365-0533 if you have any questions regarding charitable giving.
The Building Campaign
We have outgrown our space and are in negotiations with the owner of the building directly north of us. We have collected 1/5th of our goal of $500,000 needed to purchase, renovate, and move into a space that is 4 times larger than our current building. The larger building will be able to accommodate our volunteers, allowing them to work in a space that is not so crowded and for our clients to safely wait for their turn to shop. Would you please consider donating to this campaign so we can expand our reach to the community?
From the Board
The Board of Directors is very excited to announce and welcome our newest board member, Dan Rapin of Schoolcraft. Dan grew up in Saginaw and graduated from WMU with a degree in engineering. He currently works for Parker Aerospace in Kalamazoo as a research and development engineer in the aerospace hydraulics industry. When Dan is home, he is the family handyman and enjoys being creative with crafts and canvas painting, playing harmonica and banjo, running, and playing disc golf with his son Cody. Dan hopes to leverage his analytical/logical thinking and handyman skills to benefit Twelve Baskets.
We wish to extend our sincerest gratitude to all our corporate partners, volunteers, donors, and community members who have selflessly served and sacrificed this year. 2020 has been extremely difficult for so many on a multitude of levels. Not one person at the pantry is paid for what they do, and Twelve Baskets continues to operate 100% on donations. We feel privileged to be part of such a generous and loving community who have come alongside us in our mission “To lead the fight against hunger in our community by bridging the gap between the need and the excess, while restoring hope, dignity, and self-respect”.
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! We wish you all a very healthy and Happy New Year!
Fall Newsletter 2019
We can’t believe it is fall already!!!
The air is getting cooler and the leaves have begun to change. Here at Twelve Baskets Food Pantry we are up to change and progress too!! Over the summer we were able to purchase a nice walk-in freezer. We are so excited for this freezer because it is allowing us to take on more donations so we can feed more families.
We have had a great summer here at the pantry and out in the community. We have had many local farmers that have donated fresh fruits and veggies, even EGGS! Joe’s Farms in Schoolcraft/Three Rivers, Walther Farms in Three Rivers, and Bailey Farm in Three Rivers just to name a few. We are so thankful for our local farms that donate fresh fruits and veggies every week.
We are so thankful for our monthly donor family that brings us awesome donations every month. Thank you to to Krugh family for your continued support in our mission to STOMP OUT HUNGER right here in our community. We love how your kids are so excited to help out too!!
We also had a fantastic golf and dinner fundraiser September 14th at Indian Run Golf Club. The money we raised is enough to purchase 13,158 pounds of food!!! Wow guys that’s so awesome!! We also had a bunch of nonperishable food and personal care items donated as well. Thank you so much to those who helped make this event a success! Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.
AND A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR HOLE SPONSORS AND OUR DONORS !!
Here at Twelve Baskets Food Pantry we value our volunteers. We had our annual Volunteer Appreciation Picnic at Lakeview Park on Portage Road. Thank you to Taco Bob’s for setting up our dinner and thank you to every volunteer that we have. We couldn’t do it without you. If you would like to become a volunteer, join us during a Tuesday stocking day from 9 am until noon or a Friday stocking day from 10 am until 1 pm. Or come have fun with us during a distribution day and help our families shop our pantry. We have distribution the 1st and 3rd Friday from 4-7 pm and the 2nd and 4th Saturday from 8:30 am until noon !!
HAVE A GREAT FALL Y’ALL!!
SUMMER NEWSLETTER
It has been a busy few months here at Twelve Baskets Food Pantry!!! Great things have been happening. Let me share with you a few awesome highlights in this months newsletter.
We had a great turn out for our plant sale. Lots of flowers and plants were donated from the nurseries around the community. We were able to raise more money this year then any year before!! Thank you to all that made this possible, from the volunteers that set it up to the loyal customers that come back year after year to buy their plants from our fundraiser!!
The Krugh Family continues to be a huge support to our Food Pantry. We love seeing their little guy every month. He really enjoys shopping for items to donate with his parents. Isn’t he adorable !? We think so!! Thank you so much to this family for their continued support in our mission to help STOMP OUT HUNGER right here in our community.
We also had a bittersweet dinner between the board members and our AMAZING foreign exchange students , Maurice and Ruta. We are sad they had to return back to their countries but so blessed that they chose Twelve Baskets Food Pantry for their community service hours. These two kids are so kind and very helpful. They brought the sunshine on rainy days with their infectious smiles and positive attitudes. Even after their required hours were done, they continued on volunteering with us every week!! They will definitely be missed as they are very loved and part of our family now.
Our board member, Heather, lead a mother’s day project for the needy moms that shop at Twelve Baskets Food Pantry. She says “With the grace of the Lord and the amazing community I was able to make 52 bags full of fun pampering stuff for the moms that shop at Twelve Baskets. It was beautiful hearing all the excitement come from the moms when they returned after opening their bags. I feel that moms never take time out for themselves and thought that it would be a great treat for them. I couldn’t have done it without the help of the community and God. Thank you for everyone’s help to make mother’s day special for several moms at the pantry.”
We have been getting lots of goodies from our new pick up from Blain’s. From nuts, chips, candies, and several other nonperishable food items. Thank you so much to Blain’s for your continued support in our mission to STOMP OUT HUNGER. We also picked up a new restaurant!! We now get food from Outback Steak house as well!! How awesome is that ??!! Thank you so much Outback Steakhouse for your support !!
We’ve had several girl scout groups come through volunteering their time and raising money for us. We received several boxes of girl scout cookies from a couple of the groups this past few months. Thank you so much to these hard working, sweet girls. We appreciate when the community groups join together to helping feed the hungry in our community. We also had a group from a dance academy volunteer their time. It is great!! We definitely love these volunteer groups.
We had a great time at Eaton Corp during their employee fun day. Board members Tami and Heather represented Twelve Baskets Food Pantry during their day of fun. The girls set up a fun game inspired by the Bozo Show from their childhood. Instead of buckets they used 12 baskets of different sizes for the employee to try to toss the ping pong ball. The employees had to donate money in order to play. If they won or donated money they got raffle tickets for their chance to win prizes supplied by Eaton. So it was a win win for everyone. They had lots of employees playing their game. It was a lot of fun and we were able to share information about our pantry to the employees and other booths. GREAT DAY!!
We have our ANNUAL GOLF AND DINNER FUNDRAISER coming up this September 14th 2019 at Indian Run Golf Club!! Get registered today to hold your spot. Space is limited. It is $75 per player and that includes golf, lunch at the turn, and dinner with a band for dancing!! If you can’t or don’t like to golf we have a just dinner option just for you!!! For $25 you get an awesome 5 star dinner with dessert and a great time dancing to the band. To get registered and join the fun email board member Heather at mazeheather@yahoo.com and she will get you preregistered for this awesome event. We will have several raffles so be sure to bring a nonperishable food item or personal care item. For each item that you bring you will receive a raffle ticket for your chance to win awesome prizes!!!
Thank you to all of our volunteers that continue to show up and help us during stocking and distributions. If you are looking for something fun and fulfilling to do join us every Tuesday from 10 am until around 1 pm and every Friday from 9 am-1:30 pm for stocking. We also need volunteers to help during distributions too. Distribution day and times are the first and third Friday from 4-7 pm and the 2nd and 4th Saturday from 8:30 am until noon.
Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Stay up to date by checking our website and Facebook page. Continue to share the good news of Twelve Baskets Food Pantry so we can continue on helping those in need in our community.
God Bless
April News!!
It’s Spring Time!!!
What a great month we’ve had here at Twelve Baskets Food Pantry. I want to start out this month by inviting you to our up coming Annual Plant/Garden Sale Fundraiser on Saturday May, 18th from 9 am-3 pm. There will be tons of flowers, bushes, trees, annuals, perennials, soil, and lawn ornaments!!! We will have a yummy bake sale of Robin’s banana bread, cookies, rice crispy treats, and Heather’s Pies!!! We will also be accepting your nonperishable food and personal care donations as well!! For every personal care or food item that you bring to donate, we will give you a raffle ticket for your chance to win some pretty awesome prizes!!
We have had some really awesome donations come our way this past month. We got a whole cart of sliced turkey breasts from Arby’s on Shaver Road in Portage. We also got a cart full of dog and cat food from Paver Pet Supply and The Krugh Family was at it again with a generous back end full of yummy non perishables to donate too!!! We are so blessed for the continued support from our community helping in our mission to STOMP OUT HUNGER in our area.
We also had some giant donations this past month. One being an amazing donation of gift cards from Meijer on Shaver Road, which they had a fantastic sale that we took for granted and used some of those dollars to get those awesomely priced items. And the other big donation was from Pepsi !! A full pallet of orange juice!! Our clients loved that donation for sure!
We also had a bunch of donations from the Schoolcraft UMC !! Such great donations all around to fill the tummies of our neighbors right here in our community!!
We also had the company of The Bridge Church helping us with distribution and The Dream Center who donated lots of Easter Baskets for the young children that came to Twelve Baskets Easter weekend.
So much incredible things are continuing to happen here at Twelve Baskets Food Panty. Our biggest needs this month are personal care products. Mainly laundry soap and shampoo. Thank you for subscribing to our monthly newsletter. We hope to see you at the Annual Plant and Garden Sale Fundraiser this month!!! Take care and God Bless.
March News!!
Awesome things developing here at Twelve Baskets Food Pantry. This past month we had several great things happen. We had the 5th grade classes of Kalamazoo Christian Middle School come and help us stock and unload trucks. We were done in record time!! We appreciated their help. 
Not only did we have these sweet children helping us, we also had this fun FedEx group of volunteers helping us with distribution!!! We loved making new friends with them. It is truly incredible how the community comes together when there is a need. We always welcome new volunteers with open arms.We are blessed every month with volunteers from The Bridge Church and this month Pathfinder Church also sent volunteers.
We have also had some pretty big donations this past month. Meijer on Shaver Road in Portage donated a generous gift card and we used it to stock up on peanut butter since it was on sale for 99 cents a jar!!! We got over 300 jars of peanut butter!!!! Thank you so much Meijer for the awesome gift card just in time for this great sale! We also got a great donation of meat from the Landsdale Family!!! We love getting meat donations. We go through a lot of meat here at Twelve Baskets Food Pantry. Another awesome donation we had this past month is from the Krugh Family. They got us lots of pasta sauce and sloppy joe sauce. These make easy meals for our clients. Thank you so much to The Krugh Family for your continued support in helping STOMP OUT HUNGER in our community.
We also had the Girl Scouts raise money to buy us a new stand up freezer!!! How awesome is that!!!??? Way to go girls!! We greatly appreciate all the work you did to raise the money for this needed freezer for our pantry.
We have some awesome events coming up this year. The two biggest ones are our Annual Plant/Flower Sale located right here at Twelve Baskets Food Pantry May 18th at 9 am and will be open until 3 pm or until we sell out!! Come shop for beautiful flowers and plants that are donated from some of the great greenhouses around town. This year we will also have a bake sale and when you bring an item to donate you will receive a raffle ticket for your chance to win great prizes!
We are looking for more people to join our team of drivers. If you are reliable and able to lift up to 50 pounds and are looking for something to do in our community join our volunteer team!! Must have a valid drivers license and able to lift boxes repeatedly in and out of our vans. For more information on joining our driving team please email us at twelvebaskets10332@gmail.com
Thank you for subscribing to our monthly newsletter where you can stay up to date on what’s new and upcoming here at Twelve Baskets Food Pantry.
February Newsletter
We had so many awesome things that happened at Twelve Baskets Food Pantry this past month!!! I would like to give some recognition to a few big drives and donations. We had Joe from Joe’s Farm donate 1200 dozen eggs!!!! Parker HSD on Miller Road in Kalamazoo had a successful food/personal care item drive that filled TWO of our large tables!!!! Boy Scout Troop 244 delivered us a hefty amount of toilet paper, peanut butter and jelly!!!! Nelson Hardware on Portage Road donated a huge case of toilet paper this past month!! And we got a very generous donation from Meijer on Shaver Road in the form of a gift card!! We have been blessed this past month from our community and we are truly grateful.
Aside from our local food drives, we have had other great things happening as well. Our board member Heather Hall is doing a Mother’s Day Project to show some extra love to the young moms here at Twelve Baskets. She is off to a great start on getting donations. If you would like to help with this project, contact Heather via email at mazeheather@yahoo.com to see what items she is still looking for.
Our secretary Joann has been working away at our free store getting it organized and open during most distributions so we can give a way clothing items, shoes, toys, books, and games just to name a few. If you would like more information on how to donate, volunteer, or shop at our free store contact her via email at twelvebaskets10332@gmail.com. We would love your gently worn clothing items, shoes, coats, toys, games and such. We are so grateful to have that extra space to be able to have this free store.
Did you know that Twelve Baskets Food Pantry has an annual plant sale fundraiser every spring??? Keep a watch on our website, Facebook, and your inboxes for all the information about it!!! If you have things to donate such as bulbs, lawn decorations, seeds, plants, potting soil and other items used in the garden please contact us via our email address and Joann or Romona will get back to you as soon as possible. We have a food drive during this plant sale fundraiser so start gathering up some nonperishable items cause for every item you bring to donate you get a raffle ticket for your chance to win some cool prizes! How cool is that? We will also be having a bake sale that day so come hungry. Last year we had some awesome banana bread made by our board member Robin. It was so yummy and sold out FAST.
Are you retired or have some extra time on your hands? We are looking for a few dedicated, reliable, strong people that want to join our team!! We are looking for drivers that can go to pick up donations from our local stores. Must have a vehicle and a valid drivers license and be able to lift 50 pounds. Contact us via our email address or go to the volunteer section of our website and click on the volunteer driver button.
