Blog Archives - So What Else Inc

Key Bridge Collapse Baltimore Baby Formula Drive

So What Else to Support Struggling Dock Workers in the Aftermath of the Key Bridge Collapse

April 11, 2024/in Blog/by Tori Nefflen

So What Else is proudly working with the International Longshoreman Union Local #333 to help support the over 1,200 dock workers living in Dundalk, MD, who have lost their jobs due to the tragic Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore. These hard-working individuals are receiving little to no unemployment while they wait for the port to reopen and need urgent assistance to help support their families amidst this tragedy.

In addition to providing vital necessities recovered through our Food Rescue Bank, So What Else is hosting a Formula Drive to collect donations of baby formula, a costly staple many dock workers are struggling to afford right now, throughout the month of April. Interested individuals can donate unused formula or purchase formula on behalf of a family and drop it off at our flagship pantry at 4924 Wyaconda Rd, North Bethesda, MD, every weekday from 10:00am to 4:00pm.

Not local to the area but would still like to support the drive? Purchase formula online from sites such as Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc. and ship directly to our pantry at 4924 Wyaconda Rd, North Bethesda, MD. All donations will be delivered directly to dock workers and their families in the coming weeks.

We appreciate any and all support you can lend our Baltimore community during this difficult time, thank you.

Finding a Home for Misfit Food: How Strategic Partnerships and Programs Help to Maximize the Utility of Recovered Foods

April 8, 2024/in Blog/by Tori Nefflen

A pallet of rambutans, a gallon of syrup, a 50-pound box of frozen solid chicken legs – like most food rescue operations, sometimes it’s a struggle to find helpful uses for the various food items we receive. Sourcing nearly all of our food via recovery means we have little to no control over the types of items we’re given, and because we want to maintain positive relationships with our food suppliers we seldom turn down a pick-up, regardless of what’s in it. However, this can make it difficult to adequately support our underserved clients if items aren’t compatible with or accessible to them.

For example, imagine we receive a large pick-up of frozen turkeys from a local meat supplier. While many might see a free turkey as a luxury, clients living in shelters without access to a kitchen would not have the means to store or prepare a large bird. Or imagine that a company specializing in bulk items for restaurant kitchens sends us a truck full of 40-pound buckets of pickles. While this might be useful for a family driving by with a van, for a single individual walking 3 miles to get to our distribution, they wouldn’t be able to carry such a large item, let alone get enough use out of it to be worth the arduous trek to get it home.

Factors like kitchen access, familiarity with food items, capacity to consume items before expiration, storage capacity at home, ability to carry large food items, access to a car, ability to cook, distance, and reliable access to gas and/or electricity often determine what foods individual clients can or cannot make use of, resulting in some items piling up without any clients to take them. So to ensure food goes where it will have the greatest impact, we’ve made it our mission to find creative uses and partnerships for otherwise “unusable” or “unwanted” food items.

One organization helping to give “undesirable” food a new life is Shepherd’s Table, an incredible kitchen in Silver Spring, MD. Taking in large, bulk items from So What Else, Shepherd’s Table can create hot meals for unhoused community members in their large production kitchen, taking huge boxes our clients previously couldn’t use and making accessible meals with them in turn. Shepherd’s Table is also currently running a 12-week culinary skills class where community members can learn the skills needed to work in a restaurant kitchen. Now So What Else food items are helping to train the next generation of chefs, instead of piling up in our warehouse.

Shepherd’s Table Kitchen in Silver Spring, MD

In addition to Shepherd’s Table, the So What Else Food Rescue Bank partners with several other kitchens across the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan region that serve unhoused clients- the perfect recipients for many of the “unloved” items we receive. Rather than give a five-gallon bucket of soy sauce, or a 50-lb bag of rice, or a 20-lb box of soup stock to a single family that couldn’t store nor use them before expiring, we’re able to deliver these items to professional kitchens, supporting the creation of hundreds, sometimes thousands of ready-to-eat meals for families.

Bulk food delivered to Shepherd’s Table by So What Else

Item familiarity and the ability to cook are also interrelated factors affecting our ability to distribute recovered food items, particularly those sourced from international grocery stores. Picture a local Korean grocery store sending us a large load of seaweed soups, but the labels are entirely in Korean. Not only are the ingredients in the soups unfamiliar to clients, many of whom have never eaten seaweed but likewise, without being able to fully read the labels, many clients opt to leave those items in favor of items they know and feel comfortable with. Or imagine a grocery store sending us a large box of Yucca. To some clients, this is not only an item they’ve never tried, but also one they’re unsure of how to prepare, especially if they aren’t comfortable cooking.

To ensure these items are not wasted, So What Else works with targeted partnerships to distribute products to the communities most familiar with them. Working with Korean, Hispanic, and African organizations and churches, we can provide immigrant and asylum-seeking communities with much-needed resources, while keeping food out of landfills. Further, when possible, So What Else is proud to spearhead initiatives to educate clients on unfamiliar foods and the best ways to use them, such as through the Tasty Thursdays cooking demonstration, hosted by Chef Eli in Baltimore, MD, which teaches clients at The Food Project how to use and prepare the recovered food items they’re receiving.

Food recovery isn’t always easy, especially when the items we receive aren’t the traditional, packaged products clients can find on grocery store shelves. By finding creative solutions to best allocate resources, the So What Else Food Rescue Bank can ensure no item goes to waste, reducing carbon emissions from food decomposition, all while keeping communities fed and recovery partners happy.

So What Else Launches Bold New Vision for the Future of the Food Program

April 3, 2024/in Blog/by Tori Nefflen

For Immediate Release

April 3, 2024

SO WHAT ELSE LAUNCHES BOLD NEW VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF THE FOOD PROGRAM

Today, the So What Else Emergency Hunger Relief Food Program is excited to announce it has officially rebranded as the ‘So What Else Food Rescue Bank’. Moving forward, all food program chapters and operations, including the Montgomery County, Baltimore, and DC food programs, as well as the Montgomery County Food Recovery Operation, will now fall under the ‘So What Else Food Rescue Bank’ umbrella.

So What Else began the food program after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with its original intent being a temporary, emergency program to provide food to youth programming participants suffering from hunger as a result of pandemic unemployment. However, in the years since, the program has scaled up considerably, rescuing 68 million pounds of food and becoming a permanent fixture within the organization and the surrounding community. So What Else felt that the program’s name should reflect this change, settling on a title that would make it easier for clients and supporters to identify the organization’s mission and work both online and out in the field.

With this change, So What Else will begin incorporating a new ‘Food Rescue Bank’ logo in promotional materials related to the program, including team shirts, fliers, online content, and So What Else’s fleet of trucks and vans. However, the program’s operations will largely remain the same, serving food via home deliveries, mobile distributions, brick-and-mortar pantries, and partner pick-ups and deliveries, with the Food Rescue Bank’s flagship location remaining in North Bethesda, MD, and two additional chapters located in Baltimore, MD, and Washington, DC. The Food Rescue Bank will also continue to recover and distribute non-food items, including clothing, diapers, furniture, cleaning supplies, and homegoods. The Food Rescue Bank will continue to accept donations of any of these items and more at any of its current locations.

New So What Else Food Rescue Bank Logo

So What Else is looking forward to this bold next step in the program’s development and unveiling the new materials and program designs over the next few months. To learn more about the program, click here.

The Power of Partnership: Faster Alone, But Further Together

March 15, 2024/in Blog/by Tori Nefflen

At So What Else, we’ve always believed that collaborative solutions are the key to moving the needle and making lasting changes. Since our founding in 2009, we’ve maintained the core philosophy that we don’t want to “reinvent the wheel.” There are plenty of other nonprofits, NGOs, community organizations, and government initiatives doing incredible work. The world doesn’t need another iteration of the same program; it needs an organization to fill in the gaps, amplify work that’s already being done, create partnerships that mutually uplift one another, and ask charities already committed to this work, “So what else can we do to help?”.

From our youth programs to our food giveaways and even our volunteer projects, our partnerships are at the center of every initiative we embark on. Every ounce of food sourced, every diaper distributed, every classroom filled, and every day of service held is the result of the hundreds of partners working together around the shared mission and values of So What Else.

Our numbered partnerships often take many different forms. Take our partnership with the Educational Sustainability Mobilization Program at EssentialNow. Committed to addressing poverty and preventing displacement for Maryland and DC residents, the EssentialNow team, led by Eneshal Miller, worked with our staff to distribute free computers at our North Bethesda Pantry every single week for over a month. In a digital era where access to technology is vital for day-to-day necessities and professional opportunities, Eneshal’s support will have a lasting impact on our clients, many of whom have never and would never own their own computer. By distributing computers in our pantry, EssentialNow could reach more clients in more locations, expanding the scope and reach of its impact. By hosting EssentialNow in our pantry, So What Else could offer new resources to struggling clients. By partnering with organizations in this way, So What Else has been able to offer dozens of additional resources and services to our clients, including vaccine clinics, haircuts, blood pressure testing, and more.

We don’t just work with organizations to provide clientele for their resources; So What Else also works with groups to mutually uplift both of our client bases, which can be seen in our partnership with the Personal Care Foundation, for example. Committed to improving the physical and mental health of survivors of domestic violence and their children, the Personal Care team now shares space with us in our North Bethesda Pantry, providing hygiene kits to So What Else clients who have suffered from domestic abuse while bringing out Personal Care clients in need of food and clothing to our pantry. In doing so, we’re able to better support one another’s clients with resources the other lacks, creating stronger, more resilient client communities.

Hygiene item giveaway with the Personal Care Foundation

Sometimes our partnerships take the form of operational support, creating better, more robust programs for all parties involved. For example, in 2023, the So What Else Baltimore Food Program began partnering with Love and Cornbread, a group working to improve food equity and health outcomes in underserved areas of Baltimore City by providing delicious, ready-to-eat meals and immediate access to healthcare services. By working together, So What Else could provide Love and Cornbread with free, recovered produce, dramatically reducing the cost of food they had to purchase to create hot meals. In return, Love and Cornbread could create additional, ready-to-eat meals for So What Else food distributions where clients had limited access to electricity and a kitchen, limiting their ability to cook with our recovered grocery items. Since the partnership’s implementation, both programs have been a success, allowing Love and Cornbread to scale up their work while making food more accessible to So What Else clients.

Distributing hot meals in front of EastView Communities with Love and Cornbread

While these are only three out of many partnerships, they highlight the critical value of working together. Giving back isn’t a zero-sum game. We have more to gain by taking the time to work in tandem than by competing with one another for limited resources. We wouldn’t be the organization we are today without the care and support of the many groups that support us. And to all of our partners, EssentialNow, the Personal Care Foundation, Love and Cornbread, and the many hundreds we have not named, thank you for believing in us and putting your energy into our movement.

Tackling Hunger in Baltimore City: The So What Else Baltimore Food Program

February 29, 2024/in Blog, Impact/by Tori Nefflen

The So What Else Baltimore Food Program was born out of critical necessity. While hunger exists across the many DMV locations So What Else serves, Baltimore has been and continues to be one of the most deeply food-insecure regions in our program.

Twice as many households are food insecure in Baltimore when compared to the state of Maryland as a whole (St. Vincent De Paul Baltimore). While a significant amount of food resources and funding are allocated to Baltimore each year, it’s evident these resources have only put a dent in the city’s unmet needs, with the Maryland Food Bank’s Hunger Map reporting that over 49,350,000 pounds of food would be needed to entirely eradicate hunger in Baltimore (Maryland Food Bank). Just a glance at the Maryland Hunger Map, and it’s clear Baltimore and its surrounding counties suffer from some of the highest concentrations of hunger hotspots in the state.

Map of ALICE Hunger Hotspots by region (Source: Maryland Food Bank)

Map of ALICE Hunger Hotspots by county (Source: Maryland Food Bank)

To explain why Baltimore uniquely suffers from ongoing and pervasive hunger, we can look at the historical landscape the city is situated in. Baltimore was one of the first cities in America to institutionalize segregation, enacting a law to codify years of discriminatory practices in 1910. While eventually the law was overturned due to unconstitutionality, it was followed by a series of redlining practices by banks in the 1930s, which led to the subsequent divestment and underdevelopment of Baltimore’s predominantly black neighborhoods (Baltimore Hunger Project). Combined with blockbusting, and later, gentrification, these discriminatory policies are directly correlated with food insecurity, inequitable food access, and food desertification in Baltimore (National Low Income Housing Coalition). Compare any map of food insecurity in Baltimore with a map of historic redlining, and it’s clear that the two are intertwined.

Map of current food deserts or “Healthy Food Priority Areas” in Baltimore City (Source: Baltimore City)

Map of historic redlining in Baltimore (Source: ABC 2 News)

Today, 146,000 Baltimore residents reside inside a food desert, which is over a quarter of the population of the city as a whole (Baltimore Sun). However, some sources believe the percentage of residents affected by food deserts is much higher due to Baltimore’s car dependency and lack of public transportation. In a 2018 report, Morgan State University researchers found that as many as 42% of residents live in a food desert when vehicle access is considered (Morgan State University).

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the issue, resulting in an unprecedented increase in food insecurity from 18% to 21.7% as of 2021 (Baltimore City). In a city already suffering from systemic hunger, the aftermath of COVID was devastating. And while public health and economic conditions have improved in the years since, national inflation levels for grocery staples have only continued to worsen, with 2023 seeing a 4.3% increase in grocery prices from 2022, which saw an 11.4% increase in prices from the year before that (Baltimore Fishbowl). Yet despite these conditions, many local, state, and national food assistance programs, including the SNAP benefits program, have either seen major cutbacks or ended altogether, leaving vulnerable Baltimore residents to fend for themselves in the aftermath (Reuters).

So What Else Baltimore neighborhood food distribution during COVID lockdown in 2020

It’s within this context that the So What Else Baltimore Food Program was founded in 2020. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and looming hunger crisis, So What Else Baltimore jumped into action, transitioning a small youth programming team into a food recovery and distribution network. Sourcing food from several businesses, including Sudanos, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and more, the newly created Baltimore branch of the So What Else Emergency Hunger Relief Program developed a coalition of nonprofits, churches, and schools across the city to distribute millions of pounds of food.

So What Else Baltimore food distribution in front of City Place on the Avenue Apartments during 2020

By developing a largely mobile distribution model, So What Else Baltimore could bypass historic food and transportation deserts and deliver food to at-risk zip codes directly, bridging systemic access barriers. By rescuing edible food slated for landfills, whether due to company policy or excess supply, the team could keep the cost of sourcing that food low, allowing the program to rapidly scale up to meet the needs of the community.

Today, So What Else Baltimore hosts over 28 food distributions, community deliveries, and ad-hoc drop-offs in all four corners of Baltimore and beyond. On average, the team serves over 242,790 lbs of food a quarter to over 87,000 clients*, making So What Else one of the largest food providers in the city. While the program is primarily focused on serving West Baltimore, there are distribution locations in Hamilton, Highlandtown, Downtown, and beyond.

Map and schedule of So What Else Baltimore food distributions

Food insecurity in Baltimore cannot be solved by any one organization alone. That’s why So What Else Baltimore’s success lies in collaborative hunger solutions with partnering organizations. It takes time to build community trust and client rapport, and by working with dozens of organizations that have a demonstrated need and years of community relationship-building, the team can quickly and equitably allocate resources to Baltimore residents.

So What Else Baltimore distribution with Comité Latino de Baltimore, the Esperanza Center, and the Salem United Methodist Church in 2023

In addition to So What Else Baltimore’s Mobile Distribution Program, as of 2023, the chapter also opened their first brick-and-mortar pantry, located in the heart of southwest Baltimore, an area plagued by redlining and food desertification. Providing other household essentials, including clothing, furniture, diapers, hygiene kits, and more, the program has been a huge success since its opening.

A community grab-and-go shelf at the So What Else Baltimore Resource Center

Despite these feats, there’s much left to be done in order to entirely eradicate hunger in Baltimore. While nonprofits like So What Else are making strides, the food insecurity crisis is vast and deeply embedded, the result of decades long policy decisions and social norms. Without increased government, business and community support, the status quo will likely continue.

Hunger isn’t always a glamorous or news-catching crisis, but it’s one with far-reaching effects for the people suffering from it. Join us in our battle to end food insecurity and food scarcity in Baltimore by supporting our organization today. All of us can make a difference if only we work together.

So What Else Baltimore clients receiving food during a “Back to School Night” event

To learn more about the Baltimore Food Program click here. To volunteer with So What Else Baltimore, sign-up here.

To make a donation to So What Else food programs click here.

Sources:

https://www.vincentbaltimore.org/what-we-do/hunger/#:~:text=One%20in%20eight%20people%20in,left%20school%20the%20day%20before.

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/fe4fdacfd20b46c08dac240ca8dd6192

https://www.baltimorehungerproject.org/blog/segregation-and-hunger-in-baltimore/

https://nlihc.org/resource/new-study-explores-connections-between-housing-discrimination-and-food-access

https://planning.baltimorecity.gov/baltimore-food-policy-initiative/food-environment

https://www.wmar2news.com/infocus/taking-a-closer-look-at-baltimores-map-past-and-present

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2022/09/01/east-and-west-baltimore-are-beset-by-food-deserts-heres-how-the-city-is-trying-to-change-that/

https://www.morgan.edu/Documents/ACADEMIA/CENTERS/NTC/Chavis%20Final%20Post.pdf

https://arp.baltimorecity.gov/news/newsletters/2023-03-23-arpa-insight-stories-food-insecurity#:~:text=In%20October%202021%2C%20Feeding%20America,rate%20was%20estimated%20at%2033%25.

https://baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/with-the-new-academic-year-underway-how-are-baltimore-schools-and-families-coping-with-food-inflation/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-food-benefits-poor-shrink-pandemic-provisions-end-2023-02-16/

*Note on So What Else metrics: quarterly data is calculated on a repeating basis. Many individual clients are recurring users, meaning the total number of unique individuals served is likely lower.

Supporting Healthy Babies and Healthy Families: An Overview of So What Else’s Baby Pantry Services

February 21, 2024/in Blog/by Tori Nefflen

As a resource provider, So What Else feels that it is critically important that we take a whole-family approach to the support we provide our clients. That’s why in 2020, So What Else expanded support to underserved families by providing diapers, baby food, nursing pads, and formula, free of charge. In addition to our core mission to provide hunger relief to food-insecure communities, we believe every family deserves access to basic necessities, and by providing expensive infant items to those struggling the most, So What Else can help to ensure happier, healthier babies and their families.

Since implementing our baby pantry in 2020, we’ve scaled operations considerably. In 2023 alone, we provided over $320,000 worth of baby items to over 3,000 families across Baltimore, Montgomery County, DC, Frederick County, PG County, and Virginia. All of this is possible due to our extensive network of partners including the wonderful team at the Greater DC Diaper Bank. We’re especially proud to have distributed over 765,000 diapers last year, a staple resource that has become increasingly expensive due to inflation and supply chain issues, improving access and easing critical financial decisions for our clients.

In expanding our infant resource services, over 4,000 infants were able to receive the care they need to grow up strong and healthy, creating a positive foundation for the next generation of leaders, change makers, and advocates. To learn more about So What Else’s work to support local families in 2023, see the data below. Thank you to our supporters and the Greater DC Diaper Bank for making this program possible. We could not have done it without you.

Learn More About the So What Else Home Delivery Program

January 26, 2024/in Blog/by Tori Nefflen

When you think of the So What Else hunger relief program, you probably picture long lines at a food distribution and crowds of people carrying large boxes filled to the brim with food. But did you know we also serve the community through a robust home delivery program, almost entirely powered by volunteers?

Immediately after we began our hunger relief operation in 2020, we recognized there was a real need to connect clients with disabilities and insufficient transportation to more accessible hunger solutions. Every day, food insecure individuals reached out to us looking for help, but were unable to leave their homes. We didn’t think it fair to deny them access to our free food resources just because they couldn’t drive to a pantry or wait in a line or carry a heavy box. And thus our Home Delivery Program was born!

Today the Home Delivery Program serves over 600 families every single week. Dozens of volunteers work with our hunger relief team to prepare bags filled with all the groceries a family would need. Then, our superb team of volunteer drivers fill their cars with bags and hand deliver them to families across Montgomery County and beyond!

Our program is a lifeline for the families that need it. As one client wrote to us, “We have no transportation, income, or food stamps and were starving before we connected with So What Else’s delivery program. Now we are thankful to have food for ourselves and also help pick up food for others”.

However, as gas prices continue to climb, it’s been harder and harder to find committed volunteers willing to use their personal vehicle to make home deliveries. Every day new families reach out to us in hopes of being added to the list, but without an influx of new volunteers, we’re forced to put them on a waiting list.

If you’re interested in volunteering with the So What Else home delivery program, please reach out to Megan at (240)-705-4345, or Emmanuel at (301)-613-6459.

We Must Take a Stand

January 12, 2024/in Blog, Impact/by raeeichner

Our nonprofit, So What Else (SWE), is the largest food distributor in Montgomery County, and yet we may lose the ability to fully provide for our clients because of a financial deficit at year-end caused by worsening inflation, increased demand for services, and a lack of funding from the Montgomery County Government for our food program.

Since the onset of the pandemic, SWE has distributed 35 million free meals in Montgomery County in less than four years. In late 2021, after our work began attracting attention, the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) approached us and asked us to help feed the County HUBS, a partnership of eight community-based organizations and DHHS, because they could not continue to buy food for them as federal Covid-19 funds ran out. We immediately began feeding the HUBS throughout the county, and all we requested in return was modest support from Montgomery County to help offset these costs.

However, since July of 2023, we have received no financial support from the county for our services, totaling 4.5 million meals in a six-month span, while likewise receiving no answer on 2024 support after an appropriation was denied and the grants process for nonprofit awards was delayed with no announcement in sight. As a result, we are now in grave danger of having to deny critical, lifesaving access to hunger relief for our thousands of clients due to a $250,000 dollar budget deficit.

The County has a $7 billion budget. All we are asking for is $360,000 to supplement the millions of dollars we are already raising in order to ensure their constituents, their HUBS, can continue to receive the food access they desperately need. As prices continue to rise in grocery stores and demand for food across the county continues to grow, we are being pushed beyond our current capacity and financial means and cannot continue to operate without significant cutbacks posed to hurt our clients, staff, and volunteers.

So we are calling all individuals, all community organizations, local businesses, and supporters, both former and current, to please join us in taking a stand to fight for food access in our county. Donate at the bottom of this page, petition your county representatives to financially support our work, and share this message far and wide. All donations will be matched up to $150,000 and are vitally needed. Every single dollar counts.

We cannot bridge the gap without you, and we cannot afford to wait. Thank you.

Donate Today & Help Us Bridge the Gap: https://sowhatelse.salsalabs.org/bridgethegap/index.html

Sign the Petition: https://chng.it/yPMN5HvdDg

Thank you for making this Thanksgiving our most successful yet!

December 11, 2023/in Blog, Impact/by raeeichner

Coming into November, we were unsure if we’d be able to meet the demands of our clients. It’s been a tough year for nonprofits, and So What Else is no exception. With 10,000 families relying on our Montgomery County, DC, and Baltimore teams to provide them with the poultry and produce they needed for Thanksgiving, we had our work cut out for us.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of our staff and volunteers, the many organizations and community members that hosted food drives on our behalf, and the hundreds of supporters that donated over $17,000 to our Thanksgiving Giveback, we were able to meet the challenge head-on and give our clients the Thanksgiving they deserve. Here are some of the highlights:

In Baltimore, we distributed 770 chickens to families in need and supported 16 food distributions across the city with produce and other holiday items, the largest of which fed over 1,000 people! One of our wonderful partners, Rev. Dr. Sheila Davis, shared, “Thank you so much for your generous donation of fruits, vegetables, and bread to our Empowerment Temple AME Church. It was a huge success, and it blessed so many people. God bless So What Else Inc. for the great work you do to help those in need.”

Our Washington, D.C. team was also able to distribute 800 chickens throughout the community! We were also able to distribute 800 chickens across 10 sites in Washington, DC!

The impact didn’t stop there! Across Montgomery County, we gave out nearly 2,000 chickens to families in need. While we weren’t able to purchase poultry for every client, we worked our hardest to ensure everyone could put food on their table for the holiday. When combined with other recovered food and donations, we were able to feed a total of 4,000 families in North Bethesda, Gaithersburg, and neighboring communities.

None of this would have been possible without the support of each and every one of you. From our donors to our partners to our volunteers and our sponsors, our So What Else community is what enables us to move mountains for the families we serve. Thanksgiving may be over, but the winter holidays are right around the corner. We will need your help once again to continue supporting families moving into December. Get involved in our Holiday Hearts of Gratitude movement by going to https://sowhatelse.salsalabs.org/2023holidayheartsofgratitude. Thank you, and happy holidays!

A Full Circle Moment: Daryl’s Story

November 9, 2023/in Blog, Impact/by raeeichner

Daryl’s life didn’t start off easy. Growing up in the Wingate community of Washington, DC, he often recalls there being rampant violence in his neighborhood growing up. His mother, hoping to give him a better way, enrolled him in a So What Else youth program, and while she couldn’t have known it then, this soon became one of the major themes of Daryl’s life – and his family’s.

You see, Daryl isn’t just one of our former students. He’s also a former volunteer and current employee, spending nearly his entire life involved with So What Else in one capacity or another. As time went on, many of his family members became involved in the So What Else movement, with many of them still working as So What Else staff members today.

Years ago, after aging out of the program, Daryl made the decision to come back to volunteer, feeling that it “put him in a better mindset” and “added positivity” to his life. So when he was given the opportunity to work for So What Else as a paid teacher, he couldn’t resist. “So What Else showed me a lot,” shared Daryl. “Teaching is hard, but I like that I can pay it forward and be a good role model for today’s kids.”

At So What Else, our youth programs don’t just end when our students age out. By offering positive, productive opportunities to teens and young adults, we give our students the ability to grow with us and give back to the organization they’ve known since childhood. In doing so, we’re creating an intergenerational community of students, volunteers, teachers, and supporters working together to address the root causes of violence and create a better future for all.

Yesterday’s students are today’s teachers and mentors. When you support So What Else, you’re supporting the creation of productive outlets for young people living in the communities we serve. “I have no idea what I’d be doing if I wasn’t working at So What Else,” said Daryl, reflecting on his life. And we’re glad he’s here working with us.