Faith to move mountains

WE thank you. We THANK you. We thank YOU! To everyone who donated food or money as a response to our recent plea on behalf of our financially challenged families and bare food pantry shelves, we at Middleton Outreach Ministry extend our deepest gratitude. The response was wonderful and certainly helped put some food on our very bare shelves. Your continued support of MOM is greatly valued.

One set of good neighbors—the Northlake Neighborhood—I would like to hold up as an example: Northlake rallied to fill MOM's Food Pantry with almost half a ton of food and cash, in one 48-hour window of opportunity afforded them by one of their own, Nancy Domanski.

Nancy had read my story, “A Tale of Two Middletons,” in the Middleton Times-Tribune and was so “dismayed” by what she read, she wanted to do something. But not sure what exactly to do, at first, she consulted with her daughter, who is majoring in Social Policy at Northwestern University. There she received a word of encouragement, “Mom, if you are passionate about something, you need to share why you are passionate with others. If they share your passion, then you need to give them a plan of action. Be sure to tell them the result of your plan, if everyone takes action.”

And so Nancy wrote a very personal cover letter, copied the MTT article on the back, delivered that flyer to 270 homes on a Monday, invited a response by Wednesday, asking for either “eight food items or $10.” She didn’t have to wait that long. By Tuesday, food was piling up in her garage.

She was startled, as we were at MOM, that one block captain could raise 2400 food items and $1000. But, as she says of this story, “It’s not about me, it’s about our good neighbors at Northlake.” To which I must add, kudos to both.

This story illustrates what one person or one company can do, and shows that others will readily follow and give, if only shown the way. Kromrey Middle School also demonstrated the “power of one” with its PhyEd staff leading almost 400 kids in their annual Fun Walk, which netted a $1909 donation for MOM last week. Another good neighbor, who likewise is a good corporate example, has been M & I Bank-Middleton, which just concluded a timely food drive that also helps fills our bare shelves.

If you, too, want to be a block captain and conduct a food drive in your neck of the woods or department at work, check out www.mompop.org/volunteering.php.

Last month it was the prospect of empty food shelves and hungry families that confronted me and moved so many of you to action. This month our faith is once again asked to move mountains—this time mountains of clothes. What you see pictured here are the piles of clothes that have been generously donated over a 3-week period.

It takes a mountain of faith to move a mountain of clothes, but we believe it can happen, especially with caring neighbors like you. The MOM Distribution Center is extremely blessed to have so many thoughtful families donate their gently used clothing, but unfortunately we don’t have enough volunteers to sort through it as quickly as it comes in.

This means it takes longer for our clients to get the great clothing that has been donated. Middleton Outreach Ministry needs your help in getting this clothing out of our loading dock area and into our Clothing Closet for families to choose from each month.

A group of 13 United Methodists tackled this pile of clothing on a Saturday and “moved the mountain” significantly. But continuous help is needed. Although we are in need of regular volunteers, one-time volunteers are always appreciated. Especially in the Clothing Closet.

If you—or a group of your friends, family or service club—would like to help out, please contact Carole Klopp, the MOM Volunteer Coordinator, at 826-3409.

Kim Grafenauer, MOM’s Distribution Center Manager, contributed to this story.

© 2005 Middleton Outreach Ministry

Site design and maintenance donated by Liberty Professional Services, LLC
Hosting donated by TDS Metrocom