We opened registration for our Thanksgiving Basket Drive Monday, Oct. 17, and before our Turkey Hotline opened midday, we already had a thousand people registered for a basket. By that evening, we had almost 3,000 families registered to receive holiday groceries.

3,000 families in one day. That's more than we've ever seen before on the first day of registration.

It's pretty clear: Families are struggling. And they need our help.

Inflation has driven up the cost of, well, everything. And that's on top of the stress of coming out of a pandemic. Families are having to choose between paying bills and buying groceries. (Thank goodness for food pantries like ours that are here to help them fill some of those gaps.)

For many, a big holiday meal simply isn't in their budget. But it can be, with help from neighbors like you. Check out our Thanksgiving Basket page to learn more about how you can help.

Together, we can bring a little comfort to thousands of neighbors in our community this holiday season.

With gratitude,

With so many ways to help our Thanksgiving Basket Drive, it can be hard to know where to start.

How about a food drive? You can host one at your child's school, your workplace, in your neighborhood, or through a club or place of worship. We rely on food donations as much as monetary donations to provide 4,000 Dane County families with everything they need to make a Thanksgiving meal at home.

Our Fit Youth Initiative (FYI) winter sports camps and skills clinics are open for registration! These camps and clinics are a great way for your child to develop new skills, build on existing skills and learn to be part of a team.

Clinics and camps are $60 each, and scholarships are available. Learn more and register your child here.

Two weeks ago, our middle school youth made their annual trip to the haunted forest at Schuster's Farm.

They had a blast spending time together, even if their eyes were closed for most of it 🤣

Our preschool and 4K program have a number of wonderful partners from the community who come in to enrich our already wonderful programming. One of those partners, FoodWIse, stops by every week to do a healthy eating and cooking activity with our youngest learners.

On Oct. 13, they got the kiddos to take a big bite out of apples in a couple of different forms for the Great Apple Crunch. The kids loved trying dried and fresh apples, and making their own apple "donut" with apple slices, sun butter and dried cranberry "sprinkles."

Thank you, FoodWIse!

Attending Saturday's sold-out Wisconsin volleyball game against Minnesota? Bring canned goods/non-perishable foods and monetary donations and help us Stuff the Field House with items for our Thanksgiving Basket Drive! Cash, PayPal and food donations will be accepted at the entrance.

And don't forget your costume. You may see a couple of turkeys at the entrance!

Step into Working Draft's "Inverse Reality" on Friday night for the brewery's first Halloween Party!

They'll be tapping their collaboration beer Inverse Reality Black IPA while also raising money for our Thanksgiving Basket Drive.

The party is happening Oct. 28, 6-11pm.

Once again, our friends at Food Fight are stepping up to help us ensure thousands of families have everything they need to make a Thanksgiving meal at home.

Starting Monday, Oct. 31, and running until Nov. 20, you can make a donation to our Thanksgiving Basket Drive when you dine in or order online from Monty's, Bar Corallini and Tex Tubb's.

Now that's a pretty good excuse to let someone else do the cooking!

Find even more events supporting our Thanksgiving Basket Drive here!

The Goodman Center has some of the best benefits in town – no joke. In addition to an incredible health care plan (better than what some much bigger businesses in town offer, we've been told by our staff) and generous retirement matching, Goodman also offers more than 5 weeks of paid time off in your first year, free childcare for kids in preschool and attending Lowell or Emerson elementary schools, and more.

Two talented and generous local photographers volunteered their time to capture our kids and youth for school picture day and senior photos.

Ilana of ilana natasha photography came back for the third year in a row to snap photos of our preschool and elementary kiddos. Not only does Ilana make school photos fun (Say "spaghetti!" instead of "cheese!"), she's also super patient with our kids, taking the time to make sure they're comfortable.

Angie of Four Lakes Photo dedicated a whole day to snapping photos of some of our graduating seniors. The youth were so excited to work with a professional photographer, and the final photos are stunning. We're so proud of our students and all they've achieved, and these photos are a celebration of those accomplishments and this major milestone.

Generous partnerships like these make such a difference in our community. Thank you, Ilana and Angie!

The Little Free Museum, organized and updated by local artist Sarah Stankey, has been updated with a new exhibit!

Stop by the museum next to the splash pad to learn all about single-use plastics, and pick up a zine with instructions on how to turn an old T-shirt into a bag.

Our food pantry is open three days a week to anyone who needs it.

Interested in helping our food pantry serve our community? Check out our list of most-needed items.

The Fritz Food Pantry will be closed the week of Nov. 21 so our staff can support our Thanksgiving Basket Drive and get some much-needed rest over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Questions? Contact Francesca at francesca@goodmancenter.org or 608-204-8049.

Plymouth UCC is going above and beyond to support our youngest learners here at Goodman. Read more about how they're building community here.

Have your own #BeTheGoodMSN story? Share it with us here.

Now more than ever, we need to come together as a community to support one another. Thank you your kindness, generosity and compassion. Together, we can bring a little comfort to our neighbors who need it most. 

P.S. We have a new and improved online donation system that's incredibly secure, but we are still working out a few functionality kinks. If you make a gift and notice something amiss, please let us know by emailing amie@goodmancenter.org. Thank you!

608.241.1574 | info@goodmancenter.org | goodmancenter.org

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