A Small Hand-Plains District

A Small Hand - Plains District will be open, Thursday evening, February 16th

Hours 5 - 7 PM

Please bring your WIC or SNAP documentation and photo id. 

The pantry serves infants in need in the Plains District of Rockingham County -  

 Broadway area school district

Lacey Spring, John C. Myers, Fulks Run, Plains and Linville-Edom Elementary Schools

Also, we now have diapers and wipes available for toddlers to age 2!

We are located at Rader Lutheran Church, 17072 Raders Church Road, Timberville

Please call Bev London for directions and/or additional information 578-3658

Reflections on "Opening Night"

If ever the uneasiness of an "Opening Night" was felt - we felt it.  Would anyone come to our Pantry?  Had we succeeded in getting the word out?  Would we have what they needed?

The evening of the 17th was a whirlwind.  Clearly a quick two hours.  We served 15 babies and their families that night.  We are thankful that we were able to help these folks out and look forward to doing so again on the 15th of December.   Many of them shared with us how they found themselves in need of our help.  A baby that came a little too early - Mom couldn't go back to work as quickly as the family had anticipated; Dad recently lost his job, Mom's hours at her job were cut; Grandma trying to juggle a few extra mouths to feed. . .clearly circumstances beyond their control.

Regardless of how they found their way to us, we are glad that they did.  We hope that they left us feeling a little less alone and a little more certain they would be able to take care of their little one with a little less stress on their limited family resources.

Several of our babies are on more costly formulas, designed especially to help smaller, pre-mature babies "catch up" to their full-term counterparts.  We are working to find an economical source for these formulas.  Please contact us if you aware of such a source.

We left the church Thursday evening a bit more humbled than when we arrived.  We are so blessed.  We appreciate everything you have done to help us get up and running.  We will appreciate any help you can offer us that will help us maintain this much-needed program for the infants in need in the Plains District of Rockingham County.

At the close of the evening we decided we would do our best to offer these families gently used clothing for their infants.  Several of the Moms had asked if we could use the clothes their little one had already out grown.  It only took a little reflection and one volunteer to head up the clothing exchange to make it a "go".  .  .we really are blessed with some great volunteers!

If you know of a family in need residing in the Plains District of Rockingham County (Broadway Area School District) please ask them to contact us prior to the 15th of December to ensure that we have the correct formula in stock for their baby.  This is not a requirement to receive our services, it just makes it a little easier for us to be prepared.   Bev London can be reached at 578-3658 or via email: ashpd.bev@gmail.com.

Opening THIS EVENING!

Our infant pantry will be open this evening from 5 - 7 PM.
Rader Lutheran Church  17072 Raders Church Road, Timberville, VA

We would like to thank everyone that has helped get us to this point, we could not have gotten here without YOU.  We are tweaking some of our paperwork for this evening (the paperwork just seems to keep coming) and hope that our families will have patience with us as we get our feet under us.

Our shelves are pretty well stocked.  Well, that is at least until we see how many families come to see us.  We made a sizeable purchase of formula and baby food this week.  We have in excess of 500 jars of baby food stocked on our shelves!  Between that and formula our check book has taken a hit amounting to $841.08 - we do not have an abundance of formula on hand, and won't until we know what our babies need. 

We have Similac, Enfamil & Parents Choice formulas on hand, with some Isomil (soy) and Similac Sensitive formulas, too.  Neo-sure for a special little girl that decided to arrive a bit early.  We are excited to meet our babies and their families.  Tonight, we will learn their names and see their chubby little cheeks for the first time.  We are excited!

We sincerely thank Edinburg Christian Church for gifting us our first pallet of diapers--those 5011 diapers will help us serve 100+ babies.   Also, would be remiss if we didn't also thank Tracey Veney for her donation of baby wipes and Mt. Grove Church for their generous donation of $500, what a pleasant surprise.  We will use the money wisely to serve our community's babies. 

We ask for your continued good thoughts as we forge ahead with our mission to help serve the little ones in need in our community. 

In the coming weeks we will provide even more information on this site - we've just been busy getting our seemingly endless "to do" list taken care of, thank you for your patience. 

Bev London
Chairman-A Small Hand-Plains District

Off and running . . .

Without a doubt the past week has been a whirlwind.  A week ago we were hoping our first fundraiser, our Longaberger Basket Bingo, would help us raise a major part of the "seed" money we had decided we needed to open our doors.

Saturday came and went, when all was said and done we raised $3,207 at our bingo.  Sunday, still elated from the outcome of our bingo--we had two additional donations, one of $100 and an anonymous donation of $1,500.  When we added those funds to the monies we had collected here and there we had our "seed" money!

The week got better. . .After sharing our good news with Ann McBroom the Executive Director of A Small Hand (Shenandoah County), their church (Edinburg Christian Church) voted unanimously to gift us a pallet of diapers!  Not only do we have "seed" money, but now we have "seed" diapers. 

The folks at Edinburg Christian Church have offered us their encouragement, love and guidance since this past spring when we started to explore opening our own infant pantry.  We knew we had so much to learn, fortunately they've been there, done that.  We're well aware of the fact that our learning curve will be shortened thanks to them.

On Tuesday, October 11th we headed to Edinburg to pickup our gift, the pallet of diapers.  Thanks to Edinburg's local hardware store, C. E. Thompson, the truck that couldn't make it up Center Street in Edinburg was unloaded in their parking lot.  In a matter of minutes we were loaded, hugs exchanged and we were on our way home! 

Where does one put a pallet of diapers they found out they were getting less than 24 hours ago?  Enter Kenny McKenzie of Trans Tech.  Even though diapers are relatively light, this was a pallet of them!  Kenny unloaded our truck and is permitting us to store the diapers at his place in Timberville, just down the road from Rader.

Tonight we'll meet with social services and continue to organize.  Our journey continues . . .