Good Neighbors, Inc.                                        August 18th, 2024​
The purpose of Good Neighbors is to help families and individuals in times of crisis and need with clothing, emergency food and support.

​The Good Neighbors Organization
​​​

Recent reviews on our Good Neighbors Community Outreach & Food Center and Cuyahoga Falls Good Neighbors Google Business Pages:
"Wonderful place and people."
"Wonderful people, very helpful."
"Great place provided for by community figures giving back to those in need."
"They're wonderful people."
"So blessed for these wonderful people here. Such a great help."
"I was in there years ago. Very grateful for you all. Very rewarding."
"Thank you for all you do for the community!"
"Good neighbors is a wonderful place. Friendly workers, so good for the community. I try to donate about once a month. Thanks to all that work there."

Good Neighbors, Inc. Governing Board:
Jenny Siebert, Kathy Frye, Debi Foss, Wilma McMasters, George Camilletti, Toni Amos, Beth Stalnaker Burch, Susan Reynolds, Bob Roberts, Patricia Stiles, Alberta Veri, Bill Wise. 

    On June 27th, our Thursday volunteers served 94 families and on July 25th they served 84 families during the 3 hours that we were open.
    In July, our food center volunteers gave 1,341 hours to serve more than 1,034 families (3,713 individuals). 
    Continued prayers and get well wishes for volunteers Valerie Lowe Hawks and Dave Gindlesperger. 
    Our condolences and deepest sympathy to past volunteer Barb Matvey Trumbo on the loss of her son Paul Michael Matvey of Stow.
    Thank you to former trustees/volunteers Bob Wilson and Holly Aughenbaugh for their donations and continued support.
    We appreciate Kathy Frye volunteering on Thursdays and then filling in on other days when we are short-staffed.
    IBH Volunteers continue to help unload our trucks when we have large food orders throughout the month.
    Findley CLC and Sam Salem CLC recently held food drives for our food center. Valerie Straw, who coordinates the food drives, reported that 18 schools in Akron held food drives for our food center during the 2023-2024 school year. Robinson CLC held 2 food drives.
    Whole Foods, Giant Eagle, Panera Bread and Westminster Presbyterian Church continue to provide weekly and monthly food donations.
    We are collecting ACME Receipts during their annual Community Cash Back Program that runs from August 1st through February 15th. We appreciate ACME Fresh Market's continued support.
    Valerie Straw and her nephew Tristan Timperio repackage and restock pet food to distribute to clients throughout the week. They  shopped for and distributed school supplies, with funds provided by our food center, to 60 students who visited our food center on August 12th.
    Matthew & Anthony Camilletti pulled out all of the bushes in the front and sides of our central office building and hauled them away. The bushes were overgrown and obstructing the view of our building and security camera.
    In May, Congresswoman Emilia Sykes and her staff were invited by George Camilletti to take a tour of our food center, observe our volunteers serving those in need and discuss food insecurity. We appreciate Ms. Sykes taking the time to see first hand what Good Neighbors does for our community.
    George Camilletti and Bill Wise maintain our food center, office and annex buildings and property.
    George Camilletti, who manages our food center and central office, is busy working on grant writing. Most grants are submitted in the Fall.
    We really appreciate our dedicated food center volunteers working during this hot and humid summer without air-conditioning.
    In April and May, two clients visited our food center and insisted on making financial contributions to show their appreciation for our help throughout the years. We usually do not accept funds from our clients but this was important to them, so we accepted their donations and thanked them for their kindness.
    Returning clients already in our database no longer need a monthly referral. Visits are permitted every 30 days with identification. 
    Our food center is open Monday through Thursday from 12-3 p.m.
We are open every week of the year. We only close for major holidays and when the Akron Public Schools are closed due to inclement weather. 
    Thank you to all of our volunteers and supporters for your generosity and help throughout the year. 

    Happy Birthday to Wilma McMasters who recently celebrated her 90th birthday! She serves as our Thursday food center crew leader, co-manages our Superior-Wooster Clothing Unit and serves as the assistant treasure for our organization. We are grateful for her service and dedication to Good Neighbors and our community.

    Volunteers Jenny Siebert and Deborah Hayden planted flowers around our food center that are donated every year by Sharon Connor and the RIGHT Committee. Jenny plants the flowers around our food center every year.

Cuyahoga Falls Good Neighbors Highlights:
Community:
Bethany United Church of Christ:
We were asked to come to Sunday Service and speak about the Good Neighbors Mission. Ted Mosko took to the pulpit and highlighted our services to the Bethany Community.
Broadman Baptist Church chose CFGN as their Mission for this summer's Vacation Bible School. We were asked to kick off their program with an overview of our services. Janet M and Alice B presented and gave an interactive presentation for both the adults and children. They will be bringing their Missions Collection (of food and toiletries) in mid-August.
ACME Stores - We began collecting receipts for the Acme Stores Annual Cash Back Program. This year the program will run from August 1st, 2024 through February 15th, 2025. Monies received will be used to buy eggs, margarine, cereal and other staple items for our clients.
Donation Drives:
Multiple Local Churches held School Supply Donation Drives.
Holy Family Catholic Church continues to provide us with monthly food and clothing donations. They were very generous with their school supply donations.
HiHo Brewery & Restaurant had a School Supply Donation Drive. They plan to have a Toiletry and Coat Drive for Christmas.
Associated Materials held a School Supply Donation Drive.
Rockwell International in Twinsburg is currently holding a School Supply Donation Drive and will deliver in late August.
School Supply Giveaway:
We packed 450+ backpacks on July 24th, 2024. We are expecting over 500 children again this year. Volunteers Alice B, Dolly B, Linda F, Linda M, and teachers Jen H and Chrissie B helped with the packing. Our Giveaway began on August 1st and will run until August 29th. 
Volunteers:
We have started to implement 6-8 week team meetings on alternating Tuesdays or Thursdays to improve communication.
Our May Team Meeting was led by Doug H. He spoke on Safety. Both at home and while working as volunteers at Good Neighbors. 
Alice B opened our July meeting. We reviewed our January through June 2024 Activity and Financials. 
We will be open for the first two weeks of December. Donation drives will continue on Mondays and Wednesdays. We will return on January 7th, 2025.
New Process:
Requirement Cards - we prepared a card in "Bright Green" to be given to each client so they can review our current requirements (English and Spanish).
Drivers license or current ID, current piece of mail with address, and a clean and clear trunk for groceries and toiletries will be required. 
During August, we will give a card to each client. We will not serve without the requirements after sometime in early September.
Thoughts:
Linda F shared the following:
"Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless." by Sherry Anderson
Unit Information:
For unit updates, please visit our website at cfgoodneighbors.org. 
Open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

    Chris Krinjeck Bolyard manages the Ellet Unit.
    Food, personal care items, clothing, gift cards and monetary donations to purchase food are always needed.
    Thank you to our supporters and volunteers for your help and support.
    Open for donations and client visits on the 2nd & 4th Tuesday of every month from 9:30 - 11:00 a.m.

    Patricia Stiles who manages the Green Unit, reported that drive-thru food distribution is permanently in place. 
    Alberta Veri reported that donations of school supplies and money were collected at the Green Fun Fest Day. We have not completed our school supplies distribution but expect to hand out supplies to over 120 children from more than 80 families.
    We continue to receive donations of fresh vegetables from our neighbors and some of our clients. It's always wonderful to be able to provide this to our clients.
    Our neighbors are very generous in providing us with clothes for our clients. We like to pass on our good fortune to others. We take some of this clothing to the Superior-Wooster Clothing Unit of Good Neighbors. Please let us know if our other Units are in need of additional clothing.
    We continue to support one of our volunteers with items like blankets and towels that aren't suitable to give to clients. She in turn donates them to Noah's Lost Ark Exotic Animal Rescue. 
    Open on Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. until noon. Open the first 4 Wednesdays of the month and closed on the 5th Wednesday. 

    Lee Thomas and Wilma McMasters who manage the Superior-Wooster Clothing Unit, reported that client visits continue to increase especially with students returning to school and needing clothing.
​    Donations of new underclothing, personal care items and baby diapers are always needed.
    We really appreciate Mike T from the Green Good Neighbors Unit for volunteering his time to bring their extra clothing donations to us.
    The Food Center of Good Neighbors donates baby diapers and other supplies to our Unit throughout the year.
​    Open on Tuesdays from 9:30 a.m. until noon. 

    Candy Lorkowski who manages the Tallmadge Unit, thanked the community for their generous support. Two churches donated funds that they raised from their Crop Walk and the Fun Run to help supply food for the summer months, when there is more demand for food with the children being out of school. 
    We have been busy with our back to school distribution. 
    We have several new families needing assistance.
    Thank you to the donors and volunteers who come in even when it's so hot and humid. We are looking forward to cooler weather.
    We are open on Wednesdays from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Thank you to our volunteers and supporters!​

Good Neighbors, Inc. continues to meet all twenty 
BBB Standards for Charitable Accountability.

For additional information and updates,
please visit our website or Facebook page.

good-neighbors.org