TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

At East Side House, our first priority has always been the individuals and communities we serve, and we are especially cognizant that these communities always bear the brunt of public health crises the hardest. 

To best support them, we have taken the following measures: 

• Created the Harvest to Haven program. We are purchasing surplus crops from farmers and distributing them to families in need. To date, over 960,000 pounds of food has been packaged and distributed to families. 
• Kept the learning alive! We distributed at-home learning kits complete with multicultural books and STEM activities. We have also distributed over 700 tablets and hot spots to students and families in an effort to mitigate the digital divide and keep students learning remotely.  
• Conducting friendly remote check-ins with students and families and senior citizens to fight against feelings of isolation, and to assess needs as they develop. 

East Side House has established the COVID-19 COMMUNITY RESPONSE FUND to allow us to continue to provide these essential services and prepare to serve families evolving needs in the coming weeks and months. 

As the needs in our community shifted amid the COVID-19 pandemic, our program alum saw another opportunity to give back. Through our #HarvestToHaven program, which is run by our ESH alum, we have been able to feed 5,000 people weekly. Special thanks to our friends Hellmann's and #FarmstoFoodBanks for being key supporters of this program, and to all those who continue to make this possible. Shout out to @hm.tv, another talented ESH alum, for an awesome video highlighting our work! See our work in action in the video below.