Help our neighbor
**Look for opportunities for people with IDD to help now!**​
Help children get books to read
Help to collect, label, sort, and catalogue books for Southern Chester County, and restock Kennett's Pop Up Lending Libraries - read more. ***
Help families get food they need
Re-package rice to stretch donations, re-stock our Little Free Pantries, deliver food to families (including produce we package) - read more. ***
Other ways we help Kennett families
Leading efforts to assemble pre-packed bags of groceries to help tide Kennett families over the holidays while schools are closed - read more. ***
Help Kennett's children get books to read
Together with
Join Margot in helping to help maintain AHHAH's Pop Up Lending Libraries (PULLs) scattered across Southern Chester County. Click here to read how she does it!
Collect donated books
A drive led by Kennett High School seniors netted hundreds of new children's books, and we are always happy to take books dropped off at KAN.
Label donated books
Each book donated gets an AHHAH label. Over the past year, Margot and students from CCIU's Transitional Living Program have helped to label books.
Opportunities available Click here to learn more
Catalogue donated books
We now house AHHAH's books for various sites, and will explore if tracking the number and kind of books taken from PULLs could help in future planning - check back later!
Re-stock Kennett's 13 PULLs
Margot now restocks all 13 of the PULLs in the Borough of Kennett Square at least monthly, and often by pulling a handcart of using her adapted cargo bike - read more here.
Help Kennett families get food they need
Together with
Bag needed items
One of the ways that KACS can distribute so much food so efficiently (more than 800,000 lbs last year) is by buying items in bulk and re-packaging them into family-sized quantities. Margot does her part of helping to break down large bags of rice into 1lb bags - 1000lbs and counting! She also helps to prepare 2lb bags of potatoes and onions, and now helps to assemble a healthy recipe option we created, consisting of organic oatmeal, seeds and raisins. Opportunities available - click here to learn more!
Restock the Little Free Pantries
One of the ways that KACS makes food freely available is through Little Free Pantries (3 of which are in Kennett). Each Pantry is stocked with a wide variety of snack and meal options - from cereal to soup to rice to beans to noodles... you name it! These pantries are restocked every weekday, and Margot has been restocking 2 of these pantries (at the Kennett YMCA and the Church of the Advent once a week for more than 18 months, using her adapted electric cargo bike whenever possible.
Deliver food directly to families
KACS also delivers food on a monthly schedule to scores of households across the region. For example, KACS does door-to-door deliveries to almost 60 individual households. We have begun to help here, dropping off a healthy supply of fresh and canned goods to 2 households in Kennett. KACS also distributes food monthly to seniors at local centers, and we will soon begin to help with deliveries to almost 2 dozen households at the Red Clay Manor. Read more here!
Prepare emergency boxes
KACS also offers a range of emergency assistance services, including emergency housing, food, and financial support. In addition to food shoppers can select at KACS, can take from a Little Free Pantry, or receive via a monthly delivery, KACS also provides prepackaged boxes via The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). TEFAPs provide food quickly and easily to families in need. Margot hopes to soon help pack TEFAP boxes at KACS. Check back later for updates!
Other ways we help Kennett
Pack bags for the Winter Pantry
KAN is assembling pre-packed bags of pantry items to give away to Kennett families over the winter break, to help tide them over while schools are closed. Bags will be given out as part of a drive hosted by the Kennett Library - read more here! We have raised $2000 so far (enough to assemble about 80 bags) but hope to raise about $3000 more (enough for another 120 bags). Opportunities available - click here to learn more about how your special education classroom or your young person with developmental disabilities can help!
