Photo courtesy of Washington for Justice.

The Washington for Justice organization wants to express their gratitude to those who helped make their inaugural holiday meal kit program an overwhelming success this December.

The group which formed last year hoped they could help Washington County families who had a difficult 2020, with the expectation of gathering around two dozen Midwestern and Latino-style meal kits. Washington for Justice Communications Director Bethany Glinsmann says they eventually collected enough community donations to provide 63 kits, “When our director Meredith Henderson had the idea for the meal kits, we were all really excited about it, and to see it grow into an event that was larger than we could have anticipated was really great. So I was really proud of our community for being generous and helping our fellow community members in a time of need. And seeing all the boxes of food there that morning when we were assembling everything was just really incredible.”

Glinsmann adds that the community raised over $3,000 for this effort, and the group hopes to use excess funds for similar outreach projects in the future. The meal kits were delivered to some families and distributed outside the Mills Seed Building in Washington on December 21st, and Glinsmann mentions they were approached that day by some residents who weren’t aware of the program, so she hopes that next year they can possibly have some extra kits made in that case. The program was also made possible with the help of La Morenita Mexican Store, Fareway, and Hy-Vee in Washington.