GIVE WHERE YOU LIVE PRESS RELEASE

FIRST PLACE FOOD PANTRY – NOV  2025

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On Thursday evening, November 13th, GWYL members listened to three informative presentations from First Place Food Pantry, the Tipp City Arts Council, and the New Creation Counseling Center. All the presentations were rewarded with member votes, but it was First Place Food Pantry that received the most votes, so they are winners of our November 2025 GWYL grant. 

Susan Walker Hemm is the Executive Director and Donna Wilkerson is the Pantry Operations Manager. The First Place Food Pantry is a choice food pantry independently operated in Troy, Ohio. With more than 50 dedicated volunteers, the pantry serves approximately 10,000 families a year in Miami County Ohio. As a choice pantry, our neighbors in need are able to choose their own food items. This reduces food waste and ensures that clients are able to select foods that fit their dietary needs. Volunteers serve as personal shoppers, helping to select a variety of foods that are fresh and nutritionally balanced. Personal care items, household items, infant care and pet care items are also available. 

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First Place Food Pantry started as an outreach of First United Methodist Church in Troy in 2002.  As the need in our community grew, so did they.  They moved to a larger location.   They are now located at  1100 Wayne St.  Suite 1450 Stouder Center –  Troy, Ohio. As community needs increased, the food pantry became an independent non-profit organization.  They rely solely on community support from private donors, community organizations, churches, businesses and foundations to keep their doors open and provide services. First Place Food Pantry has the Guide Star Platinum Seal of Transparency. Please visit their website to learn more about them: https://troyfoodpantry.org
 

GIVE WHERE YOU LIVE PRESS RELEASE

CONNECTIONS OF TIPP CITY – AUG  2025

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At our May 12th Give Where You Live (GWYL) meeting we awarded our quarterly grant to Connections of Tipp City. Connections provides a welcoming and safe place for middle school and high school youth to grow and socialize through the media of games, conversation, art, and music. Barbara Cooper, Executive Director, Connections of Tipp City, provided the following comments - "Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong? Do you remember what it was like in middle school and early high school when you were trying to figure out who you were and where you fit in? We strive to be a space where kids are accepted and know that they are loved and welcomed. Tipp City has no other place for teens to hang out. We want to be a positive and safe space to allow kids to be themselves and learn how to live in a peaceful community with one another. Through group mission projects, like picking up trash and mulching the walking trail, we also help teens learn to give back to their community."

 

The GWYL grant will help maintain a safe and engaging space for teens to gather after school. Funds will help pay rent, provide wi-fi access, provide games and activities, and ensure that there are at least two adults present when the space is open.

The amount of grant is determined by the number of active GWYL members. Currently, we have some fifty active members. GWYL is a giving circle where each member agrees to attend four meetings a year, and to bring a blank check for $100 to each meeting. GWYL membership entitles members to present their favorite charity in a five minute presentation. Up to three members are chosen at random for the meeting presentations. After the presentations, a five minute Q&A is held and then the vote is taken and the charity with the most votes wins the grant. Pooling our money with others has a far greater impact than individual gifts.
 

GIVE WHERE YOU LIVE PRESS RELEASE

MILTON UNION BULLDOG BAGS – MAY  2025

 

On May 6, 2025, our GWYL meeting was held at Zion Lutheran Church in Tipp City. There, GWYL members listened to three very informative presentations from Child Care Choices, Milton-Union Bulldog Bags, and Partners in Hope. All the presentations were rewarded with member votes, but it was Milton-Union Bulldog Bags that received the most votes, so they are winners of our May 2025 GWYL grant.

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The mission of Milton-Union Bulldog Bags is to provide food for students who need nourishment throughout the weekend.  Becky Garrett, a teacher, started the program in October 2016 by sending bags of food home to about 30 students at Milton-Union Elementary School. This school year, Becky and her Milton-Union High School student crew are sending home bags of food to approximately 200 students in Pre K through the 5th grade. Once a week a group of volunteers gets together at the school, and with the help of high school students, they pack the bags of food. The bags typically include 14 items, such as vegetable cups, crackers, applesauce, fruit cups, snack items, and other non-perishable items. It takes about two hours to pack all the bags and then the food gets passed out on Fridays and then they go home with the students who need them.

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GIVE WHERE YOU LIVE PRESS RELEASE

SAFEHAVEN – FEB  2025

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SafeHaven is a peer support center that provides adults in need of mental health support with educational, social, and vocational services and opportunities in a safe, comfortable, non-judgmental environment. SafeHaven is free and open to any adult with a mental health diagnosis OR without a diagnosis, realizing for the first time support is needed. SafeHaven also serves those with mental illness that are also struggling with addiction.

 

SafeHaven offers a structured day of evidence-based support groups and educational classes, fun and therapeutic activities, free daily meals, free transportation to SafeHaven and back home, field trips, holiday events, and more. All participation during the day is voluntary, while staff provide daily encouragement. Those who receive services are called members and considered a part of the SafeHaven family as we strive to instill coping and living skills, hope, recovery, and improved lives. SafeHaven employs a number of individuals who themselves have experienced mental illness and serve as peer examples that recovery is real. Members become friends and life-long supporters, helping one another to know that no one is alone. You can find out more about SafeHaven by visiting their website: http://www.safehaveninc.com/

Miami County is so fortunate to have them as good neighbors!

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