In September of 2020, Assistance League of Indianapolis participated in ACTION!Week, a “call to action” by National Assistance League to address needs in our individual communities. Our chapter responded by initiating a food, hygiene, and cleaning supplies drive for 100 economically disadvantaged families at two local elementary schools (50 families per school). Members shopped from provided lists of groceries and supplies (totaling approximately $15 per person) and dropped their donations off at the chapter office. In addition, the ACTION!Week planning committee bought paper products in bulk. All the groceries and supplies were put into cloth shopping bags provided by a local radio station, WIBC. Each family received 3 shopping bags each. The donations were picked up from the chapter office by the school district, where they were taken back to the schools and distributed to the students’ families.
The school administrators and social workers were thrilled for this partnership and the generosity shared with their school communities, as were the thankful families. After staying in touch with our school contacts and understanding that food insecurity remains a problem for a large portion of their student populations, the ACTION!Week planning committee recommended that we repeat this service project once again before the end of the school year, just prior to Spring Break in March 2021. This was approved by the Board and membership.
Assistance League of Indianapolis members were even more generous with their donations for “ACTION!Week #2”. Enough food and money were donated to again provide 100 families with three shopping bags each of groceries, cleaning and hygiene supplies, and paper products, as well as to supply the two school social workers with $100 each in grocery store gift cards to use in emergency situations at their discretion ($200 total).
The value of the groceries and supplies given to the community of ACTION!Weeks #1 and #2 totaled over $7000. Due to the generosity of our members, no chapter funds were used to finance this project.
