More Than A Decade of Service
For more than a decade Nourish 282 has served the community of St. Anthony/New Brighton ISD 282. We were able to serve because of our amazingly generous community. Thank you for everything.
October will be our last month of service.
Dear Community,
Due to some unforeseen last-minute changes, Nourish 282 will no longer be holding its annual Free Store.
However, in a beautiful turn of events, a large donation came to us providing exactly what was needed to provide every student enrolled with a $100 gift card, empowering families to choose their own outerwear.
As we approach our final month of service and our last distribution, please know that we’ve taken every step possible to make this transition as smooth as possible for the families we support. In addition to the usual monthly stipend, we are providing a large grocery store gift card bonus and now additional support for outerwear. We will also be sharing a list of additional resources to help families moving forward.
Although this isn’t the way we envisioned our journey ending, we find comfort in knowing this change offers families the dignity of self-choice.
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for helping us love and care for all families in our community.
In gratitude,
Your Nourish Team
Thank You
We have some big news here at Nourish 282, and I'm afraid it isn't the best kind of news. October 2024 will be our last month of service; we are going to wind down our programming. We will finish as we began, with the Free Store.
For eleven years Sara McGrath, Sue Kalenze, Sarah Crowson, and I (along with you and hundreds of other volunteers!) have volunteered to keep Nourish 282 thriving. For almost two years, we have talked through just about every plan for sustainability that we could think of. Without an obvious succession plan, it just is not sustainable to continue.
To say we are grateful to have served alongside our community for more than a decade is an understatement. The people we have met, the life lessons we have learned, the things we have learned about ourselves, our community, and each other are all priceless. None of this would have been possible without your unending dedication and support. Whether you volunteered, donated monetarily, your business partnered with us, or you spoke kindly of our work, we honor you today.
This decision did not come quickly, lightly, or without thinking about how
it would impact the families we serve and the community. This decision was incredibly difficult to arrive at and it will be emotional as we move into
our last months of service.
To our clients, you have allowed us into your lives and you have trusted us.
Your joys and celebrations were ours too. Your strife and
hardship were also felt by us. You helped us to continuously grow and pivot
to provide the most we could to assist you and your family. You were our greatest teachers. Our love and gratitude for you is bountiful. We understand that
there may be questions, we are still trying to work out some of the details
but let us know if we can answer questions right away.
Most importantly, we want to thank you all. Thank you for trusting us, advocating for us, for volunteering and donating, time and time again. Your love for this community sustained us, you are the spirit of Nourish 282.
With love and immense gratitude,
Julie Pierce
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Sarah Crowson
Assistant Director
Sara McGrath
Co-Founder and Board Member
Sue Kalenze
CFO and Board Member
Lorie Haddad
Pantry Lead and Board Member
Michele Bentz
Board Member
