Nourishing Neighbors Gift Card Program: Impact Stories

Hello, I am a single mother of a amazing brilliant 4 year old boy who has a disabilty with develomental delay in the areas of social and emational behaivors, I'm currently trying to find all of the best resources for him to thrive especially in school because he really loves learning. I'm sharing my story today because right now im in a serious moment of need, we are currently trying to relocated to a new home where we are more comfortable and in a better and cleaner living environment. For some time iit was hard for me to get a good paying job that not only aligne with my schedule but my son's as well. After recently starting my new job I was ran off the road one evening heading home. that incident caused me to pay out of pocket to fix all repairs, buy parts, as well as pay the mechanic out of pocket all because I wasn't insured during the time of the accient and the person ran off. After a whole month while being repaired I finally got my car back, I tried to get my car insured again and was scammed out off $400 for car insurance nothing was never reported to MVA which now has me in some serious problems with them to pay insurance lapse all while still trying to find insurance covrage. It just feels like I can't get out of playing catch up I keep falling behind and scraping in order to make ends meet for my son and I daily. I just wish to I can get a few items for my son just in time for Christmas.

I am a single parent with a child who are facing Mental Health Challenges My daughter was in the hospital May 8,2022 which was on Mother's Day. I had experience disrespect from my job due to my maltreatment. They knew my daughter was in the hospital and they treated me really bad which caused me to take time off myself. I was suffering from stress and anxiety. I had to seek medical care. I was on a medical leave from Aug 2022- 11/2022. I had to get back to work and my job did not follow the protocol for my return. I've been unemployed a little over a year. I'm going so many financial hardship that I'm having time paying my credit card bills and other necessities. I just feel like people like me that are going through hardship should seek help and see if any resource is available. 

This is very important to me an my family we been stressed overwhelmed an hurting trying to keep meals on table for our family 

The Community Food Pantry of Murrieta would like  to thank you for your gift cards donation.     Nourishing Neighbors was very generous with all the $50 gift cards.   They were distributed and appreciated by more than 500 families we serve in the area.    God Bless you!!!

Hello from the SLO Food Bank! We distributed the gift cards through our Agency Partner Network, and they shared the following comments:

ALF Food Pantry in Atascadero, CA  12/16/2022: 
ALF Food Pantry completed its distribution of the subject gift cards. The 110 cards were distributed to ALF clients with four or more family members. The total number of people served was 587. ALF, and our clients, are very appreciative of the opportunity to participate in the distribution. 

Wilshire Community Services in San Luis Obispo, CA 

12/2/2022:
Just wanted to share that I have received 2 calls today from clients who have received the grocery gift cards. They were super excited and one of them even cried. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to share these with our clients 😉 

12/15/2022: 
Hi! Just wanted to share that I took my clt to Vons to spend her holiday giftcard. She was so thrilled – she got to pick items she never would be able to afford. She got to get a few special things from the deli (hot fried chicken, 7-layer dip, and a side salad!) and some fancy yogurt that she never sees at Food 4 Less. She called afterwards and left the nicest voicemail saying how much she appreciated the giftcard and picking out “gourmet groceries”! She said the giftcard provided a week’s worth of groceries for her. Very nice gift and much appreciated by my client, thank you!! 
  
 
12/28/2022 
Email from Jessica forwarding voicemail from a client thanking Wilshire & SLO Food Bank for the gift cards. 

Voicemail Transcription: Hi Jessica, this is Sandra/Della Kamm. I live in Creekside Mobile home parks and I’m one of the folks that you’re helping with the food delivery with the food bank and I just wanted to I got the letter and the gift card for groceries at the store and I just wanted to say thank you so much for that it was just so loving and thoughtful of you and the folks that put it together I know it takes a whole time the folks at the stores at Wilshire and the food bank and all the people sponsoring it and put it all together. And it means a lot and it means a lot to me to be helped. It’s going to make a difference for my Christmas and it does make a difference in my life. I just really appreciate you and I hope that you are having a fun time off and you have a nice holiday and my phone number if you wanna call me when you’re back is xxx xxx xxxx. And once again thank you very much for being excellent at your job. bye 

Legacy Church in Atascadero, CA  3/7/2023: 
From Kyle Feavel: “I had many of the recipients cry it meant so much to them” 

Five Cities Christian Women in Grover Beach, CA  3/7/2023: 
From Marlene Jeung:  
I can tell you that the gift cards brought many of our clients to tears of gratitude.   Comments were all the way from disbelief that turned to many thanks when we convinced them this was for real, to too many comments to count from clients saying the card would make all the difference in the world for their family Christmas dinner.    

Just FYI, snce the pantry had just gotten a very generous donation from a local foundation, our board decided to purchase $50 gift cards from Smart and Final which is one of our biggest rescue stores and the Arroyo Grande Grocery Outlet that always does a summer fundraiser giving us 2,000- 3,000 credit at the store.  We order and buy food from the Grocery Outlet and when our credit is over, we  buy more from them.   The thing I like the most is that the owner, Michael, delivers the food to the pantry!    We were able to buy 100 cards which enables us to give almost all of our regular clients a gift certificate.  Some of our singe clients were not able to get them.  If Von's had not do the From the Heart Gift Card Program, we would never have thought to do this.  I was just happy we had the finances to do this last year. 
 
Children and the Country Life in San Miguel, CA  3/9/2023: 
Good afternoon  - The impact was magical ✨  
The gift cards went to farm-working families in the community.  Some of these underserved members weren’t going to have a Holiday meals due to financial burdens.  
Many of them work in your local grapevines & heavy physical labor jobs.  
 
Along with cards given out during the food pantry distribution.  
 
The stories told when asked a handful of families, 
Was the to purchase turkeys or ham  for their holiday events. 
This might seem like an easy task, but for under poverty families, its a luxury. 
☺️ 
Along with the possibility of Holiday ethnic foods to prepare with the  
help of selected  
groceries stores.  
(Example Tamales)  
 
One thing is for sure  they were all extremely stoked,  
 extremely grateful to what Slo Food Bank is providing words cannot say enough. 
☺️ 
The cards were like purchasing a Christmas gift of joy for each family,   & allowing them to select what they needed  
from the store to prepare the holiday meals. 
 
An enormous, thank you from those a 100 families & from humbly myself Alma Moreno. 
Thank you to all the donors that made this possible. 
🤲🙏🏼🤲 
 
 

Thank you so much for allowing us to participate in your 2022 Campaing. We were able to bless over 100 families with grocery support.  We spent two days inside of local Albertsons looking for families who had more family members than items in their baskets. The smiles and tears that came as we instructed to go back and get what they needed was a reward that we prayer to never forget. 

Rev. Kelcey A. West

Senior Pastor

Nehemiah MInistries Christian Church

The Phoenix Police Foundation(PPF) would like to thank Albertsons and Safeway Foundation and Nourishing Neighbors for the gift cards.  

The PPF teamed up with Phoenix Police Department Officers, and we contacted people we knew needed a little help.  We handed out Albertsons Safeway gift cards and used the cards to build care bags.  

Thank you again for making a difference in our communities. 

A huge THANK YOU on behalf of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica and our Club Members and their families. The continued generosity and support provided by Albertson's Companies Foundation and the Nourishing Neighbors program is instrumental in making the holidays brighter for our most deserving families. Food insecurity is unfortunately far too common. Your investment helps bridge the gap. All of our families are incredibly grateful and I wanted to share a note of thanks we received from a parent who benefited from the Nourishing Neighbors gift cards.

The Safeway gift card program has been able to posatively impact the families of Fort Morgan, CO.  We are a rual community where everyone knows each other.  This can make food insucuritiesmore difficult because people try to hide thier needs.  With the gift card, it empowers the family to get the items they need, when they need them.

A few families that were impacted were a family that needed gas to get to Denver for medicaltreatments.  A single Dad who is struggling to raise 5 kids on his own.  A domectic violence family thati trying to get back on their feet.

It does not seem like a lot but the act of kindness to be ableto help folks meet their basic needs is a powerful tool.  Thank you for helping our community, it is much appreciated.

The Nourishing Neighbors Holiday Gift Card Program made a wonderful positive impact on hundreds of families in our rural, isolated mountain community in Colorado. The brilliance of giving gift cards allows families to be the experts of their own lives during the holiday season.  It also gives the dignity of choice for families who are struggling to make do.  One mother of four teenagers was tearfully thankful for the holiday giftcard so that they could have gas money to go visit their grandparents.     Another elderly guest was grateful to use the gift card to give small gifts to her grandchildren and share a holiday meal.  The surprise and appreciation recipients showed to our volunteers and staff was momentous.  What joy this program brought to ALL... givers and receivers. Thank you for brightening the holidays for our neighbors! 

When we feed people all the time, we can get used to it and miss how much it really means.  Over the holidays, Sparrow House Ministries in Lamar, CO was able to bless many families with the gift cards- unexpectedly to them, disguised inside a Christmas card.  The amount of gratitude expressed by the families over the following weeks was amazing - they truly appreciated the extra help to go purchase what the pantry wasn't able to provide.  One mom expressed that her son was so happy and in tears that she was going to be able to send a lunch with him to school.  We love that the name of the program is Nourishing Neighbors because it is often about so much more than the food it provides - it is nourishment to the soul- a restoration of dignity.

On behalf of Sparrow House Ministries - a heartfelt thank you!!

We were so honored to take part in the Nourishing Neighbors program. We were able to share gift cards with many people in need. The comment we heard most often was how the recipient was grateful to be able to purchase their own food to celebrate their family traditions and the food they like instead of being given food based on other traditions. One person mentioned how empowering it was to allow them to provide for their family and their needs. Thank you for allowing us to be part of this program. (Smoky Hill United Methodist Church)

I work at a local food bank in a rural community and we had to shut down due to covid outbreak among staff members. A few of our clients said that the gift card we gave out helped them get through our two week closure. 

The gift card allowed me to purchase extra food for my child that has a very specific diet due to food allergies. 

The gift card was a godsend to our families that use our food bank. Many of them were moved to tears by the generosity. 

The gift card allowed me to purchase food for my family that has a very strict diet due to food allergies. 

I run a food bank in Tracy, CA. We serve low-income families and depend heavily on donations from organizations and businesses. We utilize the Nourishing Neighbors program to purchase nutrient-dense food and give out gift cards to our clients. We are very grateful for this program!

On bahalf of the Lander Care & Share Food Bank in Lander, Wyoming, I want to express our sincere gratitude to Noirishing Neighbors for the gift cards you provided.  They have absolutely impacted our community, and have allowed our clients to choose their foods from our local Safeway.  There is a lot of dignity in choice, and that is what you have given the families we work with.  Thank you again,

Stacy Stebner

Executive Director, Lander Care & Share Food Bank

We serve over 220 senior clients food each and every month.  With the receiving of the Nourishing Neighbors Holiday Gift Card Program we thought utilizing some of the cards in December would be a great gift.  So in December we had holiday cards signed by staff and enclosed a $50.00 gift card for each senior client we serve.  Every senior client was so touched by generosity and especially at Christmas time.  This gave each of them the opportunity to purchase extra items they may need.  Our seniors budgets are so tight these days it is heartbreaking hearing how they struggle.  We hope that these cards made the difference for each and everyone of them for a bit of time.  Elko F.I.S.H. wanted each of them to know that we care about them.  

Thank you to the Nourishing Neighbors Program for making this possible for our community!

There is a wife and husband that have been coming in to use the pantry for the past couple of months.  They do not speak a word of English; we usually try to communicate to them through google translate.  They are Ukrainian and I believe came here to seek refuge, their names are Olena and Vasyl*.  We signed them up for holiday help – I don’t believe they knew what it meant but they did know that they had to come and pick it up on a certain day.  When I handed her the gift card for Thanksgiving, she broke down crying. I went around the table to hug her, and I cried. She expressed that they can’t work, and it meant so much to her. She called her husband in the lobby and it was very emotional. Both she and her husband are very sweet, they are trying very hard to adjust to life here.

-Heather Hole Strout

Executive Director

MLK Community Center

Newport, RI