June 2026 Letter to Volunteers

Dear Amazing Volunteers,

I’m so amazed that, as the number of people needing our services continues to rise and the price of food goes up, somehow, because of you and our donors, we continue to meet the challenge of supporting our neighbors who face food insecurity. It’s miraculous to me! 

We met our Milk Matters Fundraising campaign, raising $11,000! We have been awarded $20,000 from the Town of Essex, $5000 from National Life, and a Food Bank grant of $1500 for community outreach and survey costs. Thanks to our Executive Director, Kaki MeGeary, for applying for these grants, and to the Development and Marketing Committee, who are also hard at work planning Volunteer Appreciation night, which sounds like it will be in October this year, since November is so busy at Aunt Dot’s Place.

The Governance committee is working on updating and revising our bylaws.

Senior deliveries, run by Fran Kinghorn and her dedicated volunteers, deliver food and personal products to 15-20 households a month across three locations. 

Our Outreach deliveries are now up to 16 households. We make these deliveries to people without means of transportation to Aunt Dot’s Place or who are too ill or immobile to come.  We often get referrals from social workers and also have individuals who call us asking for help. This is not a service that we advertise, but the need is growing. Let me know if you are interested in joining us, especially in the summer when vacations make it difficult to keep all the deliveries going. 

Our outreach event this month is this Sunday, June 14th, at Essex Middle School, hosted by Big, Beautiful Life, which is raising money for families of children with chronic medical conditions and is running a food drive for us that they hope will be significant. If you want a fun community event, please come. There will be crafts, games, races, and dancing! Besides the food they collect for us, we receive any leftover bananas, water bottles, and granola bars that are left over. It starts at 8:15 am and goes till 1:00 pm, though some of us will be there at 7:15 am to help set up. 

Kitty Daly, one of the founders of Aunt Dot’s Place, let the board know some months ago that she would be pulling back from food shelf duties as of July first so she can travel. She has worked very hard to make this a smooth transition, passing off her inventory duties, recruiting and training people to do her food pickups, and purchasing duties. Did you know it was Kitty who organized our shelves when we started in the annex and then supervised the move into the room where our clients shop now? It was Kitty and her organizing skills that made the big yellow posters that match the front, where people shop, and the back, where extra supplies are. Kitty has been an amazing leader and volunteer, and she helped make us who we are today. 

Purchased Food: $19,711

Purchased Food: 12,017 pounds

Donations from Organizations:

Donations from Grocery Stores (Pounds):

Grand Total (Pounds): 23,668 pounds

Sincerely,
Sue Miyamoto
Board Member