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Stocking the Pantry has evolved over the years.
It started in 2010, when my Christmas stockings started to become “a thing”. I decided they needed to give goodness as well as goodies. You can follow the history below:

Christmas 2010

All these Christmas Stockings going out to give goodies, but what if they could give goodness as well?
I pledged $1.50 from each stocking purchase to fight hunger and empower others. Exactly Heifer International’s mission. I hoped to maybe provide a lamb or a hive of bees. But by the time 2010 stockings were done, we (as in all my stocking families and I) provided a water buffalo, hive of bees and a grove of trees! Wow!

Christmas 2011

Thought if one person could do all that last year, what if more were involved. I reached out to the Kansas City Etsy team to see if others would join my efforts. YES! But as a group, they wanted to fight hunger locally through Harvesters, our local food pantry.
Stocking the Pantry was born!

Christmas 2012 —

I am sooo very thrilled to announce our annual giving from Christmas Stockings Sales 2012 – $1227.50! Yes, that’s 491 Christmas stockings during the 2012 holidays. Every stocking sold includes a $2.50 contribution to a worthy cause. In 2012 we fed (and educated) the hungry through Harvesters – the food bank located in Kansas City that services NW Missouri and NE Kansas. Through amazing leveraging, they are able to provide 5 meals for every dollar donated. Quick Math: My amazing customers provided 6,137 meals! U.N.B.E.L.I.E.V.A.B.L.E!

Christmas 2013 —

I just had the truly joy-filled task of writing a check to Harvesters for $3,307.50. Yep, that is 1,323 stockings (and yes, I’m exhausted). An anonymous donor matched that check, so we are now at $6615. And after Harvester’s works their leveraging magic turning every dollar into 5 meals, the final is 33,075 meals!

Christmas 2014—

963 stockings! That’s $2,407.50 for Harvesters, the renowned Kansas City based food bank. And with Harvester’s downright magical leveraging, that results in 7,222 meals. What a rockin’ bunch of customers. Hugs to each of you!

Christmas 2015 —

Christmas 2015 is “a wrap”!
Best ending to 2015 possible — 17,553 meals for the hungry!!!! Stockings ordered totaled 999 on Dec. 30.
My goal was 900. I was thrilled, but …. 999, really?
Then 2 hours later, Shelly returned for one more stocking.
YES! a cool, even 1,000 = $2,500 donation to Harvesters.org. Jane Dolan, the amazing Southern Calligraphy artist that does all the name tags I show, pledged .25 per tag and then doubled it. An anonymous donor at Harvesters doubled these checks and with their amazing leveraging that equals 17,553 meals!!! Woo Hoo!
Thanks to every single one of my “stocking families” for making this possible.

Christmas 2016—

1103 Stockings for 2016!
It was my great honor and privilege to write a check to Kansas City’s food bank network, Harvesters for $2757.50. Due to Harvesters amazing management and leveraging, this means 16,545 meals for the hungry in NW MO and NE KS.
Many,many thanks to all my wonderful stocking families!

Christmas 2017—

2017 was an amazing but trying year for us personally. We purchased a “potentially fabulous” 1960 lake house 100 miles away and began long distance renovations in Oct (yes, right when “the season” is in full bloom). My studio time was greatly impacted and I just couldn’t produce as much this year — 898 stockings. So happy to have Jane as my partner in S-the-P. Her tags jumped to a whopping 1335.
So $2.50 x 898 for the stockings PLUS .50 x 1335 for the name tags = $2912.50. Again, an anonymous donor doubled that and with Harvesters leveraging, our amazing customers produced 17,475 meals.
Happy dances all around!

Christmas 2018—

14,016 meals provided!!!
Such a special part of the holiday season! Thanks to all who purchased stocking tags and stockings this holiday season! $1775.00 from the sale of the stockings, plus $561.00 from the name tag purchases from Southern Calligraphy was donated to Harvesters – The Community Food Network. Together, with a dollar for dollar match, we provided 14,016 meals.

Christmas 2019—

So very grateful to sit down on New Year’s Eve to triple check the stocking counts and then call Harvesters with our donation. Add together $2.50 for every stocking sold on Etsy, .75 for every South House stocking sold on Wayfair and .50 for every name tag sold through Southern Calligraphy and you have donations totaling $1917.50. Again we were blessed with an anonymous matching donation!!! In total we are thrilled to know that our efforts netted 11,505 meals for the hungry in Northeast KS and Northwest MO.

Christmas 2020—

Again, the joy both Jane and I experience on New Year’s Eve is so very hard to adequately express! We triple check the numbers and then submit our donations to  Harvesters. Add together $2.50 for every stocking sold and .50 for every name tag sold through Southern Calligraphy and you have donations totaling $3462. Again we were blessed with a matching donation, Peter and Veronica Mallouk of Creative Planning, Inc.!!!

So that means $6,924 was made possible by all our customers! Harvesters is absolutely magical in their leveraging netting 3 meals out of every dollar donated. In total we are thrilled to know that our efforts brought 20,773  meals to the hungry in Northeast KS and Northwest MO.

Christmas 2021—

The highlight of the stocking side of my business continues to be making our Stocking the Pantry donation on New Years Eve. Just as before $2.50 from every stocking purchase and .50 of every name tag sale goes to this campaign to help feed the hungry in NW Missouri and NE Kansas. We contribute to the renowned Harvesters the KC arm of the Feed America network. the donations from 2021 totaled $3,448.OO. Once again Peter and Veronica Mallouk of Creative Planning, Inc. matched our donations!

Harvesters is known for their incredible leveraging of turning every dollar into three meals. So together we provided 20,688 meals!!!

For a little perspective that would feed almost 19 people 3 meals a day for an entire year!!!!

Christmas 2022—

2022 brought an additional 10,785 meals for our hungry neighbors.

Yes, we are thrilled with this, but still disappointed when we see that the price of food and transportation has hit the Feed America network hard. Their money just doesn’t go as far even though there are even more families needing help.

It’s a stark reminder to take care of each other and help wherever we can. Thank you one and all!

Would you like to join me in this mission? Do you make and/or sell anything that could be considered a stocking stuffer? Would you be willing to pledge a contribution based on your sales? Please reach out to me and we can talk further.

2 Comments

  1. AJ

    What a great project! Sometimes we forget that we don’t have to give one large gift to help others. This project shows what small amounts over time can add up too!

    Reply

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