We were lucky to catch up with Suellen Daniels recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Suellen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
In 2010, in the middle of a new business venture in the commercial real estate sector, the market crashed and we lost the company.
We had 3 days to figure it out before bills came due. We needed income NOW. While sending out hundreds of resumes we tapped back into skills we’d cultivated along the way and ended up between the two of us with 7 part time jobs. It was crazy. We tracked schedules with multi-colored post-it notes on the kitchen counter.
What we learned wasn’t pretty. We learned that everything we THOUGHT we knew about poverty and being in need wasn’t true for the most part. We didn’t know what services might be available to help, how did we apply, did we qualify, how long did it take to be approved, how did we use the service if we were lucky enough to get it. Sigh. It was a very dark and stressful time.
We’d been solidly middle-class, Worked for decades in the technology field. Attended the same church we’d helped start. Had the same friends, Raised our family. Sent the kids to private school. Suddenly, we were the “nuevo-poor” the newly poor we had no idea how to survive. Sadly we were abandoned by our friends, they didn’t mean to be ugly, they just didn’t know what to do with us. We couldn’t do the fun things we all used to do together. All we had time for was work.
But, along the way we discovered we weren’t alone, others were in similar situations. Be it from a medical crisis that drained all the resources, a job loss, a family situation, the stories were endless the results the same. Families in crisis with children suddenly not knowing if there would be a next meal. School social workers told us, in our uber wealthy county, there were over 9,000 children on free/reduced breakfast and lunch who needed a home delivery of food service because their families didn’t have regular/reliable transportation and there was no public transportation in our county. There are still over 8,000 children in need and still no public transportation 10 years later.
We began doing what we could. Pooling our food with friends, dividing it up and taking it to families the school social workers said needed help the most. Word spread in the community others contacted us asking how they could help. As the volunteers from the community grew, we added more families in need. We currently serve families in 2 counties, both home deliver and a client-choice pantry. We serve about 250 families a week, and provide “break bags” to children during the weeks they are out of school with 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches and 5 healthy snacks.
It was a crazy risk. In the midst of our own personal crisis. It took us 3 years to be able to buy our own groceries again. We know the reality of need – and the long, slow process it takes to regain your footing to do it alone again. It’s a lot like doing a reno project. It always takes twice as long and costs twice as much as you think it should.
Yes, some families make bad choices and end up in trouble, but their children still need to eat and shouldn’t be punished by going hungry for bad choices the adults make. For the most part, out of all of our families we serve a tiny percentage would fall into this category, most are struggling with medical issues, job loss or sudden marital status change. We learned families needed more than food, but that was a great “door-opener” – families often needed additional life skills, and new job skills. But mostly they needed love, relationships and respect.
At a time when we could have just hunkered down and taken care of ourselves we chose to take a risk and sacrifice to help the community surround others with the kind of care we needed. We used our personal experience to build the structure and shape the services the organization offers. We learned the value of personal respect when helping. We learned the need for relationships and support. We learned hands on what it means to “do unto others as you would have them do for you”. We learned how to help others learn how to “love one another”.
Suellen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Fill Ministries, Inc. dba Meals by Grace brings food, hope and transformation to children & families in need, with resources from the community so that children can go to bed happy, not hungry.
We believe it isn’t enough to give a man a fish, or even to teach a man to fish and only help his own family. We believe God created everyone with unique skills, talents and abilities. Learning what those are, accepting them and working to grow them is key. Then those abilities can be leveraged to help not only yourself and your family, but they can be shared with others to help them creating a better community! Let’s teach a man to teach others to fish!
You don’t need a passport to help those in need, and your whole family can participate. They are here, in your back yard. You can make a difference to families and children YOUR children are in school with every day. You can teach your own children the joy of giving, appreciation for their own blessings, and how to help others in a respectful way. You can gather with other excited volunteers to help assemble meals and food to home deliver, or help families shop in the pantry it’s great for individuals, groups, families – anyone with a big heart and a desire to help.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Our story by no means is unique given the times we have just gone through but it is noteworthy! We provide our Sunday home delivery service from out of the Midway United Methodist Church.
When COVID was still just a rumor, early the week of March 13th, 2020 the pastor reached out to me and said they were closing their campus. I have to confess to just about having a heart attack. In over 10 years of continual service we had never missed a single service day. She quickly assured me they were closing the campus FOR US! We were going to have free access to every building, and every space they had to stockpile supplies, food whatever was needed to continue serving those in need and the anticipated influx of new need with this scary strange illness about to hit us all.
I literally closed the door to my office and told everyone I was not to be disturbed until I had worked out a plan to enable us to continue feeding the children and families we were currently serving, add new families to our list, retain as many volunteers to help as possible, and find adequate places to hold and store food in a safe way. Twenty-four hours later we had a plan that we tested and made a few minor tweaks to over the next two weeks. I’m absolutely thrilled to say we never missed a beat. Yes, cars lined up all around all their buildings, and spilled out into the street with volunteers in masks in their cars happy and willing to go do porch-drop deliveries. We went from feeding families just the eleven missing meals – meals their children weren’t getting at school, to delivering all 21 meals to families now stuck at home with no transportation and no school meals at all.
In just the 21 weeks we were completely shut down until the children had the option to go back to school, Meals by Grace provided over 3 MILLION meals to children and families in need. That number is staggering to me. The number could be as high as 6 million if you assume every family we served was with us the entire 21 weeks but some came along later in the summer as situations became more dire. But whether 3 or 6 million it shows an incredible passion and flexibility in our community to pivot from the “old way” to all new plans, processes and procedures to continue feeding those in need. We have a remarkably resilient staff and patient leadership to work with so many people during a time of such fear and confusion and uncertainty. #soproud
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Chosen as the non-profit of the year since 2019, Fill Ministries, Inc (aka Meals by Grace) enjoys a wonderful reputation in the community and is championed as “their cause” by close to 20,000 volunteers and donors every year. And that’s the secret. THEY the community are the organization. The tag line of “by community, for community” says it all – the donors and volunteers are the life blood – the organization would not exist without them.
The relationship between the families we serve and the volunteers who serve them is just that – a relationship. Early on, when Steve and I first lost everything and were in need ourselves we felt so alone. Our friends had moved on with their lives, we were buried in work (seven part-time jobs), and honestly felt so alone and like no one understood us or cared. When we realized there were others struggling just like us we literally decided “not on our watch” and determined to create a community that wrapped those in need in love and respect. Create a relationship that would help them take that next step, stand by them, counsel or advise when appropriate, but as friend to friend. We’d partner and seek collaborative relationships with other organizations in the community that might be able to help too.
We believe it is this acknowledgement and celebration of each person’s assets (their skills, talents, and abilities) that has built the strength in not only our organization, but within our community. It is this strength we use to leverage growth, and it is this positive, sustainability environment that has built the reputation we have today. It is our sole desire that if you were able to “look down” on our organization that you would be unable to determine who was helping, and who was being helped.
Contact Info:
- Website: mealsbygrace.org
- Instagram: instagram.com/mealsbygrace
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064593613587
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/meals-by-grace/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KjLvep-tL8&t=1s