A letter from Keith Adams, our Executive Director, about Kickstart Kindness, our month-long fundraising campaign that includes a matching opportunity!!

During these past couple years your kindness and generosity have helped  thousands of our neighbors. Because of you thousands of children and families did not go to bed hungry! They received  nutritious food as they worked hard dealing with the daily struggles compounded by the pandemic. Thank you for being a hero of kindness for so many!

Together we took some bold action in 2020 & 2021. We expanded our network of food pantry programs across Union County. We doubled the number of Cupboard Allies delivering friendship and groceries. We restarted and expanded our economic empowerment programs. It has paid off. Folks throughout the county are receiving needed food, supportive relationships, and training to rise out of poverty! 

But we can’t let the momentum of this small revolution of kindness slow down! We need to continue the bold action! That is why some friends have created the $30,000 Kickstart Kindness Challenge Match.

Here’s how the $30,000 Kickstart Kindness Match works: 

• Donate $25, your donation plus the $25 match is $50 toward the Kickstart Kindness cause! Donating $100 plus the $100 match; it equals $200! Simple … But there’s more.
• Set up a monthly $25 donation to be triple matched! The match will be $75! Now the donation is $100. A $100 recurring donation becomes $400 in April! This will really help kick the cause into high gear!!

That’s right in April your generous special donation will be matched, and your monthly donation will be triple matched. We only have till the end of the month to get the whole $30,000! 

Three areas will be expanded because of your generous recurring or special Kickstart Kindness donation in April. Pantries, supportive relationships, and families getting ahead!

Pantries: Although food insecurity has declined since the crisis days of 2020, the need is possibly greater today. Food insecurity and poverty have deepened especially for those unable to qualify for food stamps or other government safety net programs. We see it in our pantries. The average repeat visit rate in 2019 & 2020 were both around 4 times per individual served. But in 2021, the average repeat visit rate skyrocketed to 12 times per individual served. For these folks we have become a life-line. In March we just opened a new monthly Marshville neighborhood pantry expanding to 10 traditional pantry outreach locations. And, we are looking for an additional site. 

Supportive Friendships: Relationship building is a keystone of Common Heart’s Common Cupboard. We are continuing to expand Cupboard Ally grocery deliveries. This legacy program began with four friends in 2006. It’s now based in Marshville and Indian Trail with over 80 teams building friendships and delivering groceries! The largest number of new Ally volunteers ever (25 teams) recently began to visit neighbors experiencing food insecurity and poverty. We have another 15 teams in training now.

Getting Ahead Workgroups: The food pantries help stabilize a family experiencing food insecurity and the instability of poverty. Some of the families helped by our pantries gain just enough stability to wonder what it takes to rise out of poverty. These folks begin the journey to self-sufficiency through a Getting Ahead 18-session investigation of poverty. But it’s just the start. In 2021,  we not only returned to in-person training, we added 6 months of life coaching and our Emergency Savings Incentive Program. ESIP offers graduates of Getting Ahead a $500 emergency savings account for completing courses, volunteering, and goals. This year we are increasing our Stability and Growth Workshops offering to train GA Graduates in budgeting, hidden rules of the workplace, negotiation skills, and strategies to reduce relational drama and accomplish their future story. 

Food for today, supportive relationships, and power to achieve a new self-sufficient future for a neighbor’s family! That is what your Kickstart Kindness recurring donation or special donation will make possible. 

• A $25 donation will still provide a week’s worth of groceries delivered to a family locally.  Matched will provide for 2 week’s worth of food. And a monthly donation will not only do it every month, but in April will provide a whole month of groceries!
• A $100 donation will provide a Money & Me financial literacy Stability and Growth workshop for a family leader. 
• A monthly donation of $100 with triple matching will provide 6 months of life coaching, an emergency savings account, and every Stability and Growth workshop currently provided!
• A $300 donation will underwrite a mobile or neighborhood pantry providing groceries for up to 150 local families. Doubled, it will also underwrite a local weekly evening pantry. 
• A monthly $300 donation will provide groceries, Getting Ahead workgroup, and all our follow up programs for one of the 60 families served in our Economic Empowerment programing!

Regardless of your donation level, large or small, you will have a huge impact during this Kickstart Kindness campaign. Help us get the full match and donate today online at Donate.CommonHeart.org or by sending a check in the envelope provided.  

Thank you so much for your partnership as this small revolution of kindness continues to expand throughout our community.

Keith Adams

Executive Director 

Common Heart