Safe Space Commissary Delivers More Than Food
You’ll find Safe Space Commissary in an unassuming looking church (which has a long history) basement in the historic, tightly-knit Ville neighborhood in northwest St. Louis city, next to Sumner High School. When the pandemic hit, Melanie Forbis of Safe Space realized this newly formed after school program, through The Ville Community Development Foundation, needed to evolve. They knew [...]
16 Million Strong and Counting
The heat -- and the humidity -- have settled in across the Midwest. Except for that, it’s a far cry from a typical summer full of outdoor festivals, summer camps, swimming, Cardinals baseball, stay-cations to the top of the Arch, Six Flags, the zoo, and the multitudes of other activities found across St. Louis and the surrounding region. Instead, people [...]
Feeding Hope During a Pandemic
A meal provides hope, but how do you provide hope in the midst of a global pandemic? There is no playbook for something like Covid-19. Suddenly, a number of our employees were working from home. Many days my daughter had to join me in the office. For weeks, it felt like each day brought more questions than answers. Throughout these [...]
Needing Help For The First Time
As families try to remain stable, the Foodbank’s mobile distributions provide food and supplies in their community. Volunteers place items directly in their trunks in a no-contact model to keep everyone safe. Families like Jenny’s try to stay positive while waiting for normalcy to return to their lives. She tries to make sense of it to her two children, ages [...]
Providing Food, Hope, and Stability
March 16, 2020, started with a food distribution in Pine Lawn, Mo. where we distributed more than 25,000 meals for local families. Standing in the parking lot of the Skate King that day, you could feel the tension in the air. The coronavirus was coming to our region. There was already one confirmed case in St. Louis County. It was [...]
Volunteers Are All Heart
One of the main ingredients in the success of St. Louis Area Foodbank and the hundreds of food pantries we work with are the volunteers. We’re not aware of even one food bank or pantry that is able to keep their doors open without the aid of volunteers. In fact, some pantries are all-volunteer led. From the onset of the [...]
Better Family Life | Making Connecting to Resources More Palatable
In 15 weeks, Better Family Life (BFL) has hosted 16 Mobile Markets - either at their base on Page Blvd. or partnering with neighborhood churches in underserved communities across St. Louis. Since 1983, Better Family Life has been working to stabilize inner-city neighborhoods by building strong families and vibrant communities through hope, comprehensive services, and meaningful opportunities. Like a majority [...]
The Need for Food Assistance Across the Region is Skyrocketing
In a typical year, St. Louis Area Foodbank distributes tens of thousands of pounds of food every single day across the bi-state region. Add in the COVID-19 pandemic and an unemployment crisis, the amount of food assistance needed has grown substantially. From March through May 2020, the amount of food we distributed increased by more than 3.2 million pounds compared [...]
Sharing More than Food
Everyday St. Louis Area Foodbank empowers people with food and hope across the bi-state region. We’ve partnered with more than 60 new groups (adding to the more than 550 partners we already work with) since the pandemic struck in March. From March through May 2020, the amount of food we distributed increased by more than 3.2 million pounds compared to [...]
Butterfly Haven Swoops in During Time of Need
Simply stated, Butterfly Haven’s mission is to enrich the lives of children impacted by foster and crisis situations. Families affected by crises such as house fires, mold infestation to domestic violence come to them through recommendations. Transformation However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the small, all-volunteer organization knew they had to transform during this time to continue helping families however [...]