“I keep thinking about you and how you made my daughter’s birthday so special. She rides her bike every day and really enjoys it. Thanks so much for remembering us. God bless you.” – message from mom of My Birthday Matters recipient
If you’d like to brighten a child’s birthday, just visit the SignUp Genius link for our My Birthday Matters program.
NEXT DONATION DRIVE IS APRIL 20!
Our next monthly Donation Drive is Sat., April 20, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at our Marietta warehouse. Email brenda@simpleneedsga.orgfor the address or if you have any questions.
If you can’t make it on April 20 (Passover), we’ll have drives next month on May 4 and May 18. Mark your calendars!
Top needs are:
BRAND NEW: men’s underwear sizes med and large, markers (box of 10-12), kitchen garbage cans, mops and brooms, board books and chapter books for tween boys, Amazon Fire 7 tablets and cases, light bulbs, stuffed dogs for older kids, Spiderman toys ($20-$30 range).
NEW OR GENTLY USED: TVs (cable-ready and not too large/heavy), candles, microwaves, toasters, irons, ironing boards, crock pots, DVD players, vacuums, bath rugs Furniture such as kitchen tables, mattresses and box springs, dressers/chest of drawers, bookshelves, armchairs.
One of the goals for our furniture clients is for them to not spend too many nights sleeping on the floor. We do not receive enough donations of mattresses and box springs, so we often need to purchase them.We welcome financial contributions toward the purchase of those. Donate here.
Additional donor resources:
SNGA client Amazon Wish List
Our updated list of client needs
List of small household items SNGA clients are offered
AN INSPIRING KSU DAY OF SERVICE AT SNGA!
For many years now, the fantastic student volunteers at Kennesaw State University have chosen volunteer at Simple Needs GA for their annual Day of Service.
They did it again on March 23, as a total of 41 volunteers made the trek to our Marietta warehouse. [Watch our YouTube video]. “It was a great group who worked really hard,” said SNGA founder Brenda Rhodes. “They assembled bags of toiletries (our Comfort Kits), made no-sew blankets for our My Birthday Matters program and sorted donations, among other projects.”
Thanks to Dr. Sairagul Matikeeva-Kinney, the Academic Program Specialist, Honors College, Office of the Dean, for acting as lead for the team, which included KSU Honors and Presidents Emerging Global Scholars (PEGS) students.
“We truly enjoyed having KSU out with us once again,” Brenda said. “We love that these amazing students truly care about their community.”
THANKS TO ST. ANDREW UMC!
More gratitude goes to the women’s group at St. Andrew United Methodist Church, 3455 Canton Rd., for inviting Brenda to speak on April 8 and donating lots of much-deeded items for our clients.
Women’s group member Carol Haisten learned of SNGA’s work last fall at our open house. “I was so impressed with your program and the impact it is having on the community, especially to our families in Family Promise,” she said, referring to the nonprofit that seeks to transform the lives of homeless families.
Members of the women’s group donated pillows, mops, brooms, men’s socks, trashcans, shopping bags, educational supplies, baking pans and cleaning utensils to SNGA. “Another member learned her company matches monetary donations, and so her donation was doubled,” Carol said. “Brenda’s presentation was very well received and many expressed a desire to volunteer and/or donate in the future.”
“It was a joy getting to meet Carol, her group and others from St. Andrew,” Brenda said. “We can’t thank them enough!”
PICTURED: Brenda and dedicated SNGA volunteer Lisa at St. Andrew.
RECENT BLOG POSTS AT SIMPLENEEDSGA.ORG
If you didn’t see them, check out our recent blog posts on Holly Britt’s awesome new children’s book and community-giving project, The Incredible Little Happy, and the fantastic support Simple Needs GA has received of late from Christ Lutheran Church. Gracias to Holly and the congregation at Christ Lutheran for their generous support of Simple Needs GA!
SOME MORE HEARTFELT SHOUT-OUTS…
We wish we could thank all of our donors and volunteers in the newsletter every month, but time is short and we inevitably fall short on this task, too! Here are a few, but by no means all, who have helped out lately. Be sure to “like” our Facebook pageto follow the latest at Simple Needs GA.
On March 16, three groups volunteered: Little Helpers (underwear/sock drive), Delta Sigma, and a small group from KSU led by Matthew Weese.
Thanks to Belinda Vogel and the Chattahoochee Plantation Women’s Club for running an appliance drive in March and inviting Brenda to speak to the group on March 15. They also made financial donations and provided gift cards for our clients!
Shout out to Tran Smith’s son Jackson and all of his peeps at Crabapple Middle School. They collected socks and underwear for Simple Needs GA at their winter concert! You can read more about Tran and her awesome family in our blog post about Little Helpers.
Due West United Methodist Church in Marietta (PICTURED) held a service project; members made no-sew blankets for our My Birthday Matters children after church. Casa Montessori school in Marietta invited Brenda to speak to one of their classes, who made and donated 20 blankets. The Smyrna Rotary Club was also kind enough to invite Brenda to speak at its lunch meeting on April 9. Thanks so much!
Lastly, thanks to Family Promise of Cobb for the awesome donation of cots for our clients! “ We can use them in lieu of or in addition to air mattresses as temporary bedding for our furniture clients,” Brenda said. “They’ve already come in handy for one family.”
WE NEED HELP WITH OUR FURNITURE PROGRAM!
Of Simple Needs GA’s seven programs, Simple Household Needs is by far the most challenging as a result of the complex logistics—and heavy lifting—involved in providing furniture to people in need.
However, our volunteers love being a part of Simple Household Needs despite the challenges. They feel tremendous satisfaction in seeing how this program helps our clients cope with severe challenges such as coming out of homelessness, escaping from domestic violence or recovering from devastating fires. We cannot thank our volunteers enough and are deeply grateful to those who donate furniture and household items to the program as well.
We need much more help for this challenging program. If you have any interest in contributing to Simple Household Needs, we would love it if you could join us! Just email brenda@simpleneedsga.org.
As an aside, we should mention that Simple Household Needs is expensive, too: We spend about $22,000 a year on things such as truck rentals, labor and buying mattresses and box springs when our donated supply runs out. If you would like to make a financial contribution to Simple Household Needs, just visit this link for more info: https://simpleneedsgablog.com/donate/financial-support/
RECURRING DONATIONS – BE PART OF OUR SIMPLY CARING PROGRAM
If you regularly make donations to Simple Needs GA (or would like to!), we’d love it if you would consider making your donation automatically recur each month. Just go to SimpleNeedsGA.org, click one of the “donate” buttons and then check “make this donation recurring (monthly).”
You can use your credit card or a PayPal account for these donations. However, if you plan to routinely donate online to SNGA, you might consider signing up for a PayPal Giving Fund account. PayPal Giving Fund charges no fees to enrolled charities, so all of your donations will go to SNGA!
Of course, you could also just mail a monthly check to:
Simple Needs GA
P.O. Box 670265
Marietta, GA 30066
THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF PEOPLE IN NEED!
Simple Needs GA 