The Neighborhood House, at the Paul Wellstone Center, is near my late grandparent's home. It is located in a very diverse community rich with culture from many groups. It is also a very poor community.
The Neighborhood House offers many things to the community, including a stage, food shelf, book shelf, a gym and many activities and events for children.
I organized food drives in 2009, 2010 & 2012 for them. In 2010 & 2012, I also organized a school-wide book drive at my schools for The Neighborhood House Book Shelf, located at the Paul Wellstone Center on St. Paul's West Side. In 2013, I recruited donors to participate in their "Cruise for a Cause" event down the Mississippi River!
In 2009, at the Children's Talent Show/Fundraiser I put on for Polar Bears International, I also had a food barrel brought in from The Neighborhood House. Part of the cost of admission was a non-perishable food item. We collected over 220 pounds of food, which was enough to feed 15 families of 4 for an entire MONTH!
In 2010, I was scheduled to perform in a Talent Music Showcase for Oryon Media Artists. I arranged to have a food barrel brought in, and asked the showcase organizers to promote the event. We collected 90 pounds of food and raised $100 in donations! Craig Damon, Owner of Oryon Media, plans to have the food barrel back for future events and is planning to donate all proceeds from an upcoming Talent Music Showcase! Thanks, Craig, and all of Oryon Media Artists! I'm proud to be part of their group!!!
At the 2012 Children's Talent Show/Fundraiser, I had part of the admission be TWO non-perishable food items, and when our guests bought their tickets, they could select the food shelf as the organization their monetary ticket donation would benefit, if they desired. We collected nearly 200 pounds of food and almost $150 for the food shelf at this event!
If you would like to donate to The Neighborhood House, or bring donations for their food shelf, this is their link:
http://neighb.org/
My mom said I couldn't buy even one more book until I weeded out all of the books I had outgrown. Wow - I had a pile of them! I thought other kids in my school might also have books they no longer needed, and that there was probably an organization that could use them.
I called around, and it turned out that The Neighborhood House, located in the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Community Center in St. Paul, had a need for children's books in the 3 to 8 year range.
I organized a school-wide book drive at my elementary school for them. We ended up with TWO entire TRUNK LOADS of children's books!
The Neighborhood House Book Shelf was very happy to get the books!
In 2011, I organized another book drive at my school for them and the St. Paul Boy's and Girl's Club.
After the barrels of food were collected at the food drives, the food was brought here - to The Neighborhood House Food Shelf. The food is placed neatly on the shelves so that families can easily find the food they need.
With the bad economy, the food shelf usage is at record highs. Unfortunately, they haven't had enough donations to keep up with the increased demand.
Copyright 2010 Michelle Bergh's Community Service Page. All rights reserved.