Save the Date Volunteers!!

Please register,
www.mtvolunteerday.eventbrite.com

City Paper: Best Of Poll

Every year the City Paper does a Best Of 2010 Poll. With over 10,000 volunteers, several driverse volunteer opportunities and a Presidential visit, I think Martha's Table may be the best place to volunteer in DC.

Now we have to prove it to City Paper readers.

Click on this Link- City Paper: Best of Poll and scroll down to "People and Places" only a few options are available but if you click on the "34 more", you will see "Best Place to Volunteer"
Vote for Martha's Table today!

The Holiday Season at Martha's Table

The Holiday Season is a very special time of year at Martha's Table. The community is focused on helping those in need over the holidays. Even in these rough economic times, we have had an overwhelming amount of support with people contacting us to volunteer and donate in unique ways.
Local neighbors and businesses have helped in many different ways this year and holiday season. 1000's of volunteers have volunteered their time. Staff from PricewaterhouseCoopers volunteer at Martha's Table every Thursday and really helped out during our Winter Holiday Community Dinner and Pantry Thursday's this year. Many individuals have energized their offices to coordinate food drives for Martha's Table's emergency food services. Schools and churches have been collecting hats, gloves, scarves and coats for our clothing distribution center, Martha's Outfitters. Many families are volunteering in their homes by making peanut butter & jelly sandwiches or meat & cheese sandwiches and bringing them into Martha's Table.

Our Children's programs are also celebrating this holiday season. Just last night they performed a play, Christmas Around the World, for their Christmas Pageant.

Recently, Office of Human Resources Management, Benefits, Medical and Worklife Division came to Martha's Table with gifts for all the children in our Daycare program. Pictured above, the children are having an early Christmas thanks to all the generous staff.

The Washington Post put out an article today, highlighting corporations that stepped up to help the neediest in a rough 2009. Note the photo: a longtime volunteer, Linda, sorts linens in Martha's Outfitters.
The Washington Post

We thank everyone who has participated in helping the community this year. Even though so many have generously donated we still need help. We are always in need of non-perishable food items. There is a list posted on our website in the wishlist section. wwwmarthastable.org

We are also in need of volunteer drivers for McKenna's Wagon. Every evening, McKenna's Wagon rolls out to 3 different locations around DC. We could not do this without the help of our dedicated volunteer drivers. Drivers must make a 6 month commitment and have a valid drivers license. The vans leave at 5pm and return around 6:30.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer driver, please contact:
Kimberly Lyons
Development and Volunteer Manager
Martha's Table
202.328.6608 x 232
klyons@marthastable.org

This Saturday, First Ever U St. Festival

The festival will include performances by tons of artist, press conference with Jim Graham, rededication of 14th and V St. to Langston Hughes Way, Food Vendors from U St area businesses, and a Children's Festival at Harrison Recreation Center.

Martha's Table will be a part of this festive event on 14th and V St this Saturday, September 19th, from 12:30 to 5 pm.

The teens have created several photo albums capturing varying aspects of the U Street scene: fashion, black businesses, architecture, art and style.
Also, they created several art pieces in celebration of the festival including graphic designs and original paintings. The teen program anticipates setting up a display festival to show our works during Saturday's proceedings.

Our Elementary program will be performing on Langston Hughes Way (14th and V St. NW) between 4:15 and 4:30.

Hope to see you there. We are also very proud of the 6o plus Martha's Table volunteers that will be working hard during the festival. Let a volutneer know they are doing a good job, they will be easy to spot in their Martha's Table aprons.

Martha's Table School Yard Garden

This past week Martha's Table volunteers and kids have been hard at work making sure our school yard garden is under way for this years harvest season.

As you see in the two slide-shows below, our volunteers are making sure all of the garden plots are put together with care. After all, these gardens will help feed the children in our programs as well as folks that receive food from our mobile soup kitchen, McKenna's Wagon.







The best part is that the kids from our daycare program got their hands dirty. Children from our pre-school classrooms helped our volunteer and garden engineer, Bobby, plant:

• Marigolds - they act as a natural bug repelant
• Tomato vines
• Russian kale
• Red bell peppers
• and the very speical bean sprouts that started as seeds and planted in plastic cups by the children in our pre-school (please see previous post in May, Planting Seeds!)

Enjoy the photos and feel free to stop by anytime to see the garden in the Martha's Table school yard.

National Volunteer Week - Thank You Volunteers!

Our volunteer program is the backbone of Martha's Table. In the early years, almost 30 years ago, Martha's Table was run entirely by volunteers. Now, they are still a very large part of what we do here at Martha's Table everyday, and are essential to allowing our programs to run smoothly.

Our Food program provides 1200 meals daily on McKenna's Wagon. This is possible through dedicated schools, churches, businesses and community members that come to Martha's Table every morning at 10am. The volunteers help prepare peanut butter and jelly and meat and cheese sandwiches, and they chop vegetables for the soup, all to go out on McKenna's Wagon. In the evening, a new set of volunteers gear up to go out on McKenna's Wagon's vans, and serve over 1200 meals, 65 gallons of soup and hot tea. In 2008, volunteers helped prepare and serve over 500,000 sandwiches for McKenna's Wagon!

Martha's Outfitters, our community thrift store and clothing distribution center relies heavily on committed volunteers. They help take in donations and sort clothing for the store. Every Wednesday and Friday, volunteers help referrals from partner shelters and organizations find things that they need for free. They often go the extra mile - recently a volunteer created a data system to check in referrals more efficiently and track relationships with partner organizations more effectively.

Our Child Development Center is a great place for volunteers to come and spend quality time with our kids ranging in age from 4 months to 4 years old. Volunteers often enjoy reading to the kids, helping them with arts & crafts, going on field trips, helping the teachers feed them lunch, etc.

Volunteering for Martha's Table is not just about service and helping those in need, it is also about education. Martha's Table takes pride in educating our volunteers about poverty, hunger, homelessness and education. These are issues that Martha's Table faces everyday. Our volunteers understand what Martha's Table does and the difference their service makes. Martha's Table volunteers become our greatest advocates and help us build a stronger community. Over 10,000 volunteers served their community through Martha's Table in 2008!

Thank you, volunteers, for helping us make Washington, DC a better place for at-risk children, youth and families.

Martha's Table Hearts Community Dinners

Martha's Table held our 29^th Annual Easter Community Dinner this past Sunday and was met with gorgeous weather, eager diners and hard-working volunteers. On Saturday afternoon, we converted our regular food preparation work space and our Daycare playground into festive dining rooms where folks could enjoy their homemade dinner.

All of the food was homemade; on the menu was:
o baked chicken,
o ham,
o macaroni and cheese,
o sweet potatoes,
o mashed potatoes,
o green beans and salad,
o and an assortment of cakes and pies (whew!).

Everyone enjoyed their dinner and ate their fill; there were many requests for second and thirds!

A BIG “Thank You!” to all of our amazing donors and volunteers who enthusiastically answered our calls for support and help.

We hope to see you at the next Community Dinner!

This week at Martha's Outfitters

Caitlin Welch, our dedicated intern from The Washington Center helps out with the referral process @ Martha's Outfitters twice a week. Martha's Outfitters opens its doors to clients from partner organizations on Wednesdays and Fridays from 10-12pm. These individuals receive free assistance from Martha's Outfitters, which could include clothing for an upcoming job interview, blankets for their new born baby, or household items. Caitlin shares her story below.

"While helping out with referrals one day at Martha's Outfitters, I happened to notice that a woman had been wondering around the store for about an hour and was struggling to find clothing. I asked if she needed help and she gladly accepted my offer. She described what kinds of items she was looking for and as we discussed her desires, I got to know a little bit about who she was as a person. The woman had just gotten out of prison and in order to get back on her feet, needed an outfit for a job interview. She explained how she had searched and searched, but wasn't sure what kinds of items looked nice together. I found a skirt and professional, yet feminine jacket that I thought would suit her well. After she tried on the outfit and looked at herself in the mirror, a huge smile came across her face along with a sigh of relief because it was exactly what she was looking for. The woman was so grateful to have her new and well fitting job-interview outfit that she gave me a big hug and thanked me for helping her."