“We just can’t make ends meet anymore.”

The family standing in HCM’s food pantry had never been there before.

There were five of them: two working parents and three children. They were doing everything they could to keep up, but somewhere between groceries, bills, and the ordinary costs of raising a family, the numbers just stopped working. And for the first time, they needed help putting food on the table.

Tiffany Murphy, who works in HCM’s Individual and Family Assistance Program, helped them through the process and gathered their food order. When she was finished, the mother broke down and cried.

She was relieved. Her family had food. For one moment, at least, there was one less thing to worry about.

That is what HCM’s food pantry looks like every day.

Last year, 7,414 people received food through our pantry. We already know that number will grow this year. Our fiscal year began during the federal government shutdown and the freezing of SNAP benefits, and we saw the impact almost immediately as more families came through our doors.

Meanwhile, there is less food flowing into the system. Dare to Care, our partner for USDA food, has received 2 million fewer pounds of federal food than it had at this point last year. Across Dare to Care’s service area, more than 203,000 people are experiencing food insecurity, including roughly one in five children.

Those are big numbers. But I don’t share them because I think the sky is falling. I share them because we know what happens when this community understands what our neighbors are facing.

People show up. We see it all the time. Neighbors bring bags of groceries to our door. Congregations organize food drives. Volunteers stock the shelves. Businesses lend a hand. Donors give what they can. That is how HCM has always worked. Community takes care of community.

We need food. We also need what makes the pantry possible.

Right now, one of the easiest ways to help is to donate food.

Protein-rich items like canned chicken and tuna, hearty soups, canned pasta, and pasta sauce with meat are especially useful. And some things most of us probably think of as ordinary pantry staples, like cooking oil, flour, and sugar, can feel like luxuries when every dollar in the grocery budget matters.

Those donations go directly onto our shelves and into the homes of our neighbors. But we also want to be transparent about something: food alone doesn’t operate a food pantry.

There has to be a place for families to come. There have to be people like Tiffany there to welcome them, organize food, connect them with resources, answer questions, and help make what can be an uncomfortable experience feel a little less frightening. And there has to be an HCM that is strong enough to keep doing all of that tomorrow. 

That is why, even while we are asking our community to help stock the pantry, we are also preparing for our biggest fundraising day of the year.

Give for Good Louisville

On September 10, hundreds of nonprofits across Louisville and Southern Indiana will participate in Give for Good Louisville, our region’s annual community-wide day of giving through the Community Foundation of Louisville.

For 24 hours, thousands of people will give to organizations they care about. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes and incentives will also be available throughout the day, giving participating nonprofits opportunities to turn community enthusiasm into even more support.

HCM has set a goal of raising $45,000 in those 24 hours.

And before Give for Good has even begun, people who believe in this work have already stepped forward with more than $15,000 in matching gifts and challenges, creating opportunities for gifts made that day to go even further.

There is something about the whole idea that feels very HCM to me. Give for Good only works because thousands of people decide to participate together. And community is what we do best.

That is why our theme this year is:

WE ARE THE SAFETY NET.

Not HCM is the safety net. We are. Every person reading this right now.

HCM can have a food pantry. Dare to Care can deliver USDA food. A donor can write a check. A volunteer can stock a shelf. A neighbor can bring in a bag of canned goods.

None of those things, by themselves, are the safety net. The safety net is what happens when we connect them. It is all of us deciding that when one of our neighbors reaches a moment when they simply cannot do it alone, there will be something there to catch them.

That is also why we’re asking for two things right now.

If you can donate food, please donate food. We need it.

And if you can make a gift during Give for Good, please do that too. We need that just as much.

One puts food on the shelves today. The other helps make sure HCM can keep those shelves, and all of the work surrounding them, available tomorrow. They aren’t competing asks. They are two pieces of the same safety net. And we have every reason to believe our community will respond, because we’ve watched you do it over and over again.

You bring food. You give. You volunteer. You tell your friends. You show up.

Tiffany said something when she told me about that family of five that has stuck with me. She said she has realized that the work she does every day is “not a chore, but a gift.” I think she’s right. And because this community keeps showing up for one another, it is a gift we get to keep giving.

We are the safety net.