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Every summer, the pattern changes. The pattern of volunteerism changes, as does the pattern of demand for our services, as well as the pattern for giving. This summer was no exception.
While in some years, the need for food decreases with hotter weather, the trend that we have been seeing for over a year at Feast of Justice continued. That is, the steep demand for our services. In addition, the city of Philadelphia has been seeing a changing landscape around access to benefits with some city-wide service partners closing their doors. As a result, this summer saw anxiety from our guests, including high numbers of appointment requests while also registering 100-200 new families each month–straining our operations systems and personnel.
Yet, God gave us what we needed. This summer, when we saw the traditional “break” starting for many of our seasoned volunteers, after a lot of outreach to local schools, community organizations, and through word-of-mouth, we also saw an incredible influx of high-school aged volunteers, including 12 students who completed our Youth Leadership Development Program. Most days, we thankfully had more-than-enough hands on deck! Additionally, the end of the summer brought three new Americorps VISTA members to join us for a full year of service to expand our capacity as an organization.
Yet, perhaps even more inspiring has been your support. Early in the year, we were contacted by a faithful family who wanted to ensure that they could support us in our biggest needs. They were inspired to partner on a summer campaign with a dollar-for-dollar matching challenge of up to $5,000. As shown below, we are happy to report that your generosity helped us to easily complete that challenge.
So, through a summer of change–some expected and much unexpected, God showed up. Through your prayers, through your partnerships, through your advocacy, through your volunteerism, through your generosity, YOU showed up. And the community was made stronger by it. We thank God for you–for all of the ways in which we work together to bring about a stronger, healthier, and more just community.
In partnership,
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