In recognition for his work with the My Neighbor in Need(MNIN) program, which is sponsored by Montana Farmers Union, Dave Snuggs of Great Falls was awarded the the Spirit of Montana Award by Congressman Greg Gianforte.
My Student in Need, a division of My Neighbor in Need, begins its 6th-year of service, on Tuesday, August 27. “Today we celebrate our 6th year of providing hope to our students in need,” said Dave Snuggs, Founder of My Neighbor in Need. “We stand ready to answer the call for help from any teacher or school administrator in our network of over 160 schools in 31 cities.”
At the start of the 2018/2019 school year, My Student in Need is now available in throughout Montana and in nine cities in Wisconsin. “It is hard to imagine that what started out as an idea written on a dinner napkin in 2013 continues to help thousands of students in need,” Snuggs said.
At the end of the 2016/2017 school year, My Student in Need had completed a total of 2,578 need fulfillments.
The website and system are the creation of Great Falls resident, Dave Snuggs, and through a partnership with numerous school districts, allows for selected School Teacher/Administrators to submit a request for help with a specific need, such as school supplies, clothing, lunch money, etc. for their Students in Need. Need requests are posted live on the website where anyone in the world can review them and offer help to fulfill the request in an anonymous setting. The only information provided to the staff at My Student in Need by the School Administrator is the age, gender, grade, school and the details of the need request.
The original My Student in Need and My Neighbor in Need systems were developed by Tom Penwell of Tom’s Web Designs in 2012. 406 Marketing and Design, designed and manages both www.myneighborineed.org and www.mystudentinneed.org websites and current systems. www.mystudentinneed.org is available for free to any school wishing to help their students.
www.myneighborineed.org a revolutionary and proprietary website that provides local citizens a way to ask for help from their community and a way for the community to give back has formed a strategic alliance with Saint Vincent De Paul, Great Falls.
Created by Great Falls resident, Dave Snuggs, and launched on March 20, 2012, My Neighbor in Need has completed over 9,900 need fulfillments. “Although we are very close to completing 10,000 need fulfillments, the requests for help show no signs of slowing down,” Snuggs said. “When someone is need, time is critical. We needed to create a new system that would Help More People, Faster so we asked ourselves what other social service organization best mirrors our mission and beliefs while having the capacity to Help More People – Faster. The answer was easy…. Saint Vincent De Paul.”
The strategic alliance will allow both organizations to continue to operate independently, each focused on their own specific mission and goals, however Saint Vincent De Paul will help to fulfill need requests submitted directly by My Neighbor in Need.
Effective October 9, when My Neighbor in Need has a verified and approved need request for a bed, couch or other piece of furniture or equipment, they will immediately call Saint Vincent De Paul and if that item is available, the neighbor in need will receive a voucher for that specific item. The item will be held for that person at Saint Vincent De Paul. “The neighbor in need could literally leave our office with a voucher for a bed, drive to Saint Vincent De Paul and pick-up their bed and be off the cold floor that same day, Snuggs said. “By eliminating the hours, we would spend each day driving, we now can spend that time vetting more need requests and together, we (My Neighbor in Need and Saint Vincent De Paul) can Help More People – Faster!”
If at any time the needed item is not available at Saint Vincent De Paul, or if it is a financial need request such as assistance with purchasing a bus pass, car repair, fuel-only gift card, etc., then the need request would be posted on www.myneighborinneed.org in hopes that an anonymous donor would contact My Neighbor in Need and offer to help fulfill that need.
My Neighbor in Need, My Student in Need, the Community Coat Closet and the Free Pet Food Pantry will continue to operate inside Times Square; however with the launch of the new strategic alliance, the thrift store will be closed. “Having Saint Vincent De Paul help us to fulfill non-financial needs means we can eliminate the costs associated with operating a thrift store and use that money to Help More People – Faster.”
My Neighbor in Need is at 525 Central Ave #M5A Great Falls, MT 59401. (406) 750-2542.
Saint Vincent De Paul is located at 426 Central Ave West, Great Falls, MT 59404. (406) 761-0111.
Both organizations are 501c3, tax exempt, non-profit organizations.
Great Falls, MT: My Student in Need, a division of My Neighbor in Need, begins its 5th-year of service, on Wednesday, August 30. “Today is the first day of school and it is no coincidence that today begins our 5th year of service,” said Dave Snuggs, Founder of My Neighbor in Need. “Once again, thanks to the community’s kindness, we are ready to answer the call for help.”
At the start of the 2017/2018 school year, My Student in Need is now available in 161 schools in 29 cities. “It is hard to imagine that what started out as an idea written on a dinner napkin in 2013 is now available to help thousands of students in need throughout Montana,” Snuggs said.
At the end of the 2015/2016 school year, My Student in Need had completed a total of 2,138 need fulfillments.
The website and system is the creation of Great Falls resident, Dave Snuggs, and through a partnership with numerous school districts throughout Montana, allows for selected School Teacher/Administrators to submit a request for help with a specific need, such as school supplies, clothing, lunch money, etc. for their Students in Need. Need requests are posted live on the website where anyone in the world can review them and offer help to fulfill the request in an anonymous setting. The only information provided to the staff at My Student in Need by the School Administrator is the age, gender, grade, school and the details of the need request.
Once the need request has been received by the staff at My Student in Need, the request is posted live on the website where anyone in the world can offer to help fulfill that need. The donor and the Student in Need – never meet.
The original My Student in Need and My Neighbor in Need systems were developed by Tom Penwell of Tom’s Web Designs in 2012. 406 Marketing and Design, designed and manages both www.myneighborineed.org and www.mystudentinneed.org websites and current systems. www.mystudentinneed.org is available for free to any school wishing to help their Students.
On Monday, “My Neighbor In Need” in Great Falls celebrated five years of helping people, as well as two new partnerships.
The program is teaming up with Leadership Great Falls and Mergenthaler Transfer & Storage.
My Neighbor In Need lets people register a need on its website, and enables people to fulfill the need anonymously through donated goods or services, or money.
Dave Snuggs, who created the program, says the idea to provide the service came to him many years ago before the right computer program was available.
Snuggs explained, “I’m working back in North Carolina, and I have an employee that has needs of things, and I started thinking, what if there was a way to ask for help, and he says, ‘How do you ask for help?’ It was a pride issue. And I thought, what if there’s a way you could privately ask for help.”
www.myneighborineed.org a revolutionary and proprietary website system that provides local citizens a way to ask for help from their community and a way for the community to give back is celebrating their 5-year anniversary.
Created by Great Falls resident, Dave Snuggs, and launched on March 20, 2012, My Neighbor in Need has completed almost 9,000 need fulfillments. “Today we celebrate the power of kindness and generosity that is alive in our backyard! And today, we once again demonstrate that it does not take a lot to do a lot,” Snuggs said. “What started out as the simple idea of anonymous giving has grown into a movement encompassing other social services needed by members of the community including www.mystudentinneed.org, the free Pet Food Pantry and the Give What You Can Community Thrift Store.”
In five years, My Neighbor in Need has received over 11,000 requests for help and has fulfilled 81% of those requests. “I originally hoped that we would be able to fulfill about 200 needs per year. I never thought that we would fulfill 1,800 needs each year! On average, we fulfill about eight needs each day,” Snuggs said. “Although the website has been instrumental in connecting those in need with those willing to help, without the community supporting the mission of My Neighbor in Need, we would simply just be a website. I want to thank our sponsors, community partners, volunteers and most of all the caring individuals and organizations who every day wake up and make the choice to help a neighbor in need. Their compassion and dedication is without measure.”
www.myneighborinneed.org developed by Tom Penwell of Tom’s Web Designs, allows for anyone to ask for help with a specific need whether the need is for themselves or for someone else in their community by simply going to the website and completing the Request a Need form and clicking submit. If a person does not have access to the website to complete the form, they may call (406) 750-2542 and the form can be completed over the phone. In addition, the Request for a Need form can be completed inside the My Neighbor in Need office located inside Times Square at 525 Central Ave – Downtown Great Falls. My Neighbor in Need/My Student in Need is a 501c3, tax exempt, non-profit organization. Operational costs are underwritten by sponsorship from Montana Farmers Union, contributions from our Partners in Dignity, and general donations from individuals.
“I thought (the program) was interesting because there’s a whole lot of need in Belgrade and a lot of awesome people who want to help but don’t know how.”
Nearly 130 Belgrade students are homeless and far more struggle to obtain basic essentials like notebooks and pencils, socks or jeans.
Nicole Grafel has piles of backpacks, clothing and school supplies in her office to hand out to those kids whose families can’t quite make ends meet. The new homeless liaison and curriculum assistant for the district said people frequently drop off donations to help kids in need.
When low-income families are presented with the items, she said their reactions are both similar and simple.
Kimberly Yam
Associate Editor, Good News, The Huffington Post
This organization in Montana is helping meet the needs of underprivileged students discreetly and respectfully.
My Student In Need, a nonprofit that services schools across the state, runs an online program where teachers request necessities and other items their underserved students need, while others can offer to fulfill them. What’s more, the students’ identities are kept anonymous in the process.
Since the organization’s launch back in 2013, donors have filled more than 1,500 requests for students in need. The group’s goal is to help students get adequate resources without making them feel uncomfortable, Kim Wombolt, the organization’s executive director, told The Huffington Post.
“No person ― whether it’s a student or an adult ― likes to be in a position where they have to ask for help,” Wombolt said. “By providing a forum for students to get assistance without having to publish that they are, they can ask for help with dignity.”
Butte is now one of 130 schools across Montana to use My Student in Need to supply local under-privileged students with everyday basics.
Founded in 2013, the confidential online nonprofit provides a list of approved items to students in need: school clothes, winter jackets, winter gloves, school supplies, bus transit passes, backpacks, sports equipment, some camp fees, personal hygiene supplies, and even lice shampoo if a parent is unable to afford it.
“Our teachers will be all over this,” said Jim O’Neill, curriculum director for the Butte school district.
He has already approved the no-cost partnership with My Student in Need. All nine Butte public schools are listed now online. No requests exist yet. School starts Tuesday, Sept. 6.
However, The Montana Standard will run its first list of local requests on Tuesday, Sept. 13.
THE PROCESS
Here’s the process:
A teacher posts the required need on the website, www.mystudentinneed.org. Student names are never used.
A donor sees a specific need listed on a specific school then inputs the user-friendly contact info on the website. Donors must contact My Student in Need directly.
The My Student in Need administrators contact the donor.
The donor chooses to send money directly to the school or the My Student in Need staff emails an electronic gift card to the teacher to share with the student.
The teacher then accompanies the student to the store to buy the selected item or buys it online.
The teacher then alerts the My Student In Need staff that the request has been fulfilled, then the post is taken down.
“Everything is confidential,” said Kim Wombolt, Great Falls, My Student in Need executive director. “We never know the student’s name.”
Students are encouraged to “pay it forward” by volunteering for a service project some time.
The nonprofit has the necessary software to provide a confidential, user-friendly website. Donors are not charged a processing fee online.
“We’re not asking for anything,” added Wombolt. “We’re actually giving the district a free resource.”
OTHER PROGRAMS
The Butte school district already has an in-district Shoes for the Sole program to provide new shoes for needy students plus a weekend backpack program to take groceries home on weekends. Butte High School Honor Society students stuff the backpacks and make them discreetly available for students of all levels.
The My Student in Need Program has grown into 18 school districts statewide.
“Lots of people fall through the cracks and aren’t able to get the help that they need,” said Wombolt.
Schools in Missoula, Choteau, Belt, Vaughn and Missoula use the program to supply students with basic items. Newspapers in those communities run regular public service-type notices.
Even if a student — not a parent — needs a twin- or full-size bed, for example, the program helps. Other items allowed as donations: new underwear in the package, shoes, winter boots, hats, scarves, bicycles, musical instruments, towels, and bedding.
Excluded are parents’ needs, such as vehicle expenses, gas, insurance, driver’s license fees, vehicle repairs, and telephone fees.
“We have a lot of people with needs who don’t know how to help themselves,” said Wombolt. “Why wouldn’t any school want this?”
My Student in Need is starting out the new school year with twice as many schools signed on for support compared to last year.
During the summer, My Student in Need added the Billings, Helena, Kalispell and Butte school districts to its online forum of anonymous needs requests.
My Student in Need was founded in 2013 as a project of My Neighbor in Need. It began in Great Falls and has now expanded to 18 school districts, totaling more than 130 schools in the program or working to join the program.
Teachers, counselors and other school administrators can log in to My Student in Need and submit requests for items that help eliminate barriers to a student’s learning and success. Some of the most popular requests are for winter coats, shoes and general clothing.
“No one thinks of a pair of shoes as a barrier to education,” Executive Director Kim Wombolt said. “But think about that student in the winter with holes in his shoes and cold feet. Simple, basic needs can be met and we can get rid of the barriers.”
When a teacher, counselor or administrator sees a student in need, they submit an anonymous request online to My Student in Need with a brief description of the age, grade and need of the anonymous student. Donors can select districts and individual schools to view the needs and can submit a request to fulfill the need.
My Student in Need usually disperses personal hygiene
My Student in Need usually disperses personal hygiene products in bulk to not single out individuals in need of products. (Photo: Photo courtesy of My Student in Need)
Of the 18 school districts partnered with My Student in Need, Billings, Great Falls and Missoula already have submitted a total of 26 needs requests for this school year. Great Falls accounts for 15 of these.
“We’ve fulfilled 1,500 needs in the last three years,” Wombolt said. “We’re averaging about 300 needs a year.”
Needs requests are often filled by monetary donations that are turned into gift cards. Teachers will often receive gift cards for general clothing items and either shop for their younger students or take their older students shopping.
Wombolt said last year Grammy-award winning trumpeter Arturo Sandoval donated a trumpet to a fifth-grader at Paxon Elementary School in Missoula after hearing word of a request through My Student in Need.
My Student in Need receives several requests for musical instrument rentals, Wombolt said.
My Student in Need hopes to add 200 more schools to its roster this year and have 300 schools by 2018. The nonprofit is in talks to expand nationally, but Wombolt said it is not quite ready yet.
Representatives from My Student in Need have been invited to speak in Florida at this year’s National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth conference about their program, its success and rapid growth.
