November 2025 Letter to Volunteers

Dear Wonderful Volunteers,

As many of you know, the government shutdown has exacerbated food insecurity for many. The number of clients who come to Aunt Dot’s Place is steadily rising. There has been a 22 percent increase in clients since last year. In October, we had 303 visits. Fortunately, our community has been responding with generosity. Donations of goods and money are up, and we have many new people wanting to volunteer. One woman came in on a Saturday morning and wrote us a check for $1,000, and other community members went shopping for us, and brought wonderful items that we needed. We’ve also received a huge number of bags of canned goods from Market 32. (Also, we have received $155,399 in grants this year.)

This is heartwarming but also entails a lot of work for us as volunteers. We, of course, weigh all the food donations, label them, and stock the shelves. Extra floaters are coming in to handle the donations and keep the shelves stocked. Kaki has been working overtime, directing teams of volunteers that come, and all shifts are working longer hours to handle the increased flow of clients.

Our volunteer/donor appreciation night was well attended. Board members gave tours to donors who had never been to Aunt Dot’s Place. The Fundraising Committee did a wonderful job planning this event, arranging for the food and decorating the annex. Some checks were written to support us that night. We appreciate all our volunteers!

Some volunteer groups that have assisted us this month are volunteers from Keurig, Prolytix and 15 high school students from Mount Mansfield High School, who brought over 181 pounds of food when they came to work with us. We have many food drives happening this month, including a cub scout drive organized by our Board Member Jon Ophardt.

As for outreach, Kaki and I were filmed by Channel 3 News this month. I will be visiting Ace Hardware in Essex this Saturday with Board member Aimee Cronin and next week with Board Member Any Boudreaux. They are doing a Change Round Up for us this month which is very exciting as it raises money but also reminds their customers of the work we do. I will also be taking part in a panel for students at Saint Michael’s College this Monday.

In other news, we have several board member openings. If you have experience in fundraising or marketing, that would be helpful, but it’s not required. Please consider volunteering for the board, if you can. Contact Kaki for more information. If I can do it, believe me, you can do this!

Also, I have been shopping for some individuals that don’t have a car, who can’t access our services at Aunt Dot’s Place. I do this shopping/ delivery on an “as needed basis”. I sign in for a client at the beginning of a shift, shop for the client, pick up milk if they need it, and then deliver the food.  I will be organizing a small group for this and will send out emails which you can respond to when you are available. Contact me at sue@auntdotsplace.com if you want to be in this email group.

Here are our October statistics:
Purchased Food (Cost):

Purchased Food (Pounds):

Donations from Organizations (Pounds):

Donations from Grocery Stores (Pounds):

Sincerely,
Sue Miyamoto
Board President