KAN's impact in 2025: More than 2 1/2 tons of food distributed to Kennett families

This represents more than 25000 individual servings.

As described in an earlier post, KAN strives to build on the wonderful network of volunteer organizations in Kennett to help people like Margot - whose more significant disabilities makes competitive employment much more challenging - to have a meaningful impact in critical areas of need. We can now report on one such area: getting foods to families struggling to make sends meet. Margot and other adults like her distributed more than 5000 pounds of food through the Little Free Pantry (LFP) at the Kennett YMCA and the Kennett Area Community Services (KACS). And we expect to do even more in 2026! This is in addition to our other work, including distributing more than 12000 books through the Pop Up Lending Libraries.

Margot has been volunteering at KACS for almost three years. Some of this work involves assembling bags of products. Margot began by helping to break 10-, 30-, and 50 lb bags of rice (and now beans) into bags with two cups each, saving 10-20 cents/pound. Ellie, Jacob, and Laura - KAN's other young adults - now help by bagging and sealing these products while Margot labels these. Margot also helps by assembling bags with 1lb of potatoes and 1lb of onions for each, for delivery by KACS to shuts-ins along with other foods.

Much of Margot's work involves helping with deliveries, which creates multiple opportunities to help. To bag potatoes for KACS, for example, Margot must carry crates (like those pictured right) from KACS to our van and then from our van into KAN's house at 123 N Willow. And once bagged, she must carry crates from KAN to the van, and then from the van into KACS. Each stage might require carrying a crate weighing up to 20-25lbs over a distance up to 150' over curbs and up slopes. This provides invaluable opportunities for exercise, a challenge we discussed at length in our recently published review addressing exercise in people with profound levels of disability. This activity goes a long way to meeting the US Department of Health's recommendations for weekly muscle strengthening activities.

Part of this work often also involves carving each task into steps and getting creative with the kinds of support needed. Consider how we might ensure that bags of rice, beans, potatoes and onions contain the prescribed amount. We might test out different adaptations to help our KAN volunteers accurately measure out two cups of rice and beans. We are starting to explore how they might be able weigh out a pound of potatoes and onions.

Margot's jig for filling potatoes

All of this must take into account each person's areas of difficulty, strength, and interests. For example, we have learned that Margot lacks the coordination to hold a paper bag open with one hand while using the other to drop a potato and onion inside. We also learned that simply propping an open bag on a tabletop does not work because a misplaced potato can cause the bag to collapse or topple over. So we fashioned a black plastic insert to hold the bag open and then placed it in a box to keep it steady (see picture). And we have learned that more complex movements - even just lifting a potato or a cup of rice over an obstacle - are especially challenging for Margot and others, so we designed attachments that allow bags to be filled at a lower height. But once Margot starts to empty a bin, she become determined to complete the task!!! This helps us to be confident that she usually just needs help to get started

These tasks help keep Margot moving while introducing just the right level of challenge to keep each day interesting. The bonus? If we plan this right, we can scale this up to have a real impact on our community and our partner organizations. So whenever possible we aim to take responsibility for managing an entire task. At the end of 2025, for example, we realized that we were bagging almost 40% of the potatoes and onions - about 105 bags - of the 210 bags KACS needed to complete monthly deliveries to families and still had room in our schedule. So our goal for 2026 is to take charge of all of the bagging needed to free KACS staff and volunteers up to complete other tasks. Over a 12 month period, this will involve moving 5000 lbs of potatoes and onions alone!