In partnership with Big League Impact and Cardinals Care, Crisis Aid’s Community Helping Community Initiative (CHC) is designed to encourage individuals and whole communities to reach out and help others in need, even in the midst of their own.

“Together, we want to change the tide for individuals that have given up, and start a movement of neighbor helping neighbor and community helping community,” said Stephanie Glore, Manager of Donor Relations.

From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Crisis Aid has responded to the needs of the St. Louis community in a very unique way: rather than distribute food directly, they are utilizing local community leaders and influencers that are willing to step out and help those around them. This strategy allows those with the best knowledge about their communities to identify and provide food for those with the greatest need. In three months, and with limited resources, Crisis Aid has fed over 14,000 families and 26,000 children in need.

The CHC Outreach Program is not a food distribution program, but a tool that others can use to help their communities during this time of economic uncertainty. It’s a well-planned chain reaction of engaging people at a grassroots level to respond to the needs of others around them.

Crisis Aid’s goal is to provide a resource (food) to these leaders and influencers so they can reach out and help those around them. This program centers around:

  1. Addressing an individual’s immediate need for food
  2. Engaging the community to help take care of those that need it the most
  3. Providing information on additional resources in the community
  4. Creating a platform for others through social media to encourage those that are hurting

Big League Impact supports the CHC Program as a direct result of the Home Plate Project, done in partnership with Garth Brooks’ Teammates for Kids Foundation and Major League Baseball. The league-wide initiative by all 30 MLB clubs and over 50 Major League players will provide more than 4 million meals to students and families, fighting hunger in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

If you would like to learn more, or to support the Community Helping Community Outreach Program, please visit https://www.crisisaid.org/.