Keep SMAC Cookin' & Help Us Feed Folks in Need

Stone Mountain Arts Center Feeds the Need, and We Need You!!
Help SMAC Get Through the Year Ahead and Help Us Feed Some Folks Too
What have we been doing while our stage is kinda quiet?
Help SMAC Feed 100 and That Feeds us too! Keep SMAC Goin' for the Music Sakes, But Also Now To Help Us Serve Some Deserving Families Too.

Our little place affects a lot of souls. Musicians, employees, music lovers and recently and now most unexpectedly, local families in need.
Lindsay packin' up the 100's of meals..Thumbs up is right!!
We will continue to re-invent, renovate and adapt to what will help us keep our special business going and this program going too throughout the year ahead.  But, as the summer tourists leave us and the indoor venturers might be scarce, we know we have to prepare for a longer haul than any of us could have imagined. And raising the funds each week for the Provide a Meal Program has some uncertainty each week. Some weeks we make the nut and some weeks we don’t. But we always make the meal!! :.)

Normally SMAC (as regulars call it) is known for bring national acts up to a small timber frame hall in rural Brownfield Maine. Acts like Lyle Lovett, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Keb Mo and more have come up the hill to experience our country hospitality and special concert environment. They will all be back with your support, but in the meantime that hospitality is serving a new purpose. Now we serve a new group of folks…almost 100 of them each week and growing.
Our beautuful stage...with my band...Geesh I miss them
We want to make sure your support goes towards more than us just waiting this pandemic out till we can be normal again...(were we ever? ). Your support will keep us going and allow us to continue to feed close to 100 folks and growing each week. We thought it might be a temporary program that we did to help sustain us and some deserving local folks who can use this help. But it’s clear we will both need this support to thrive. Supporting us at this time will help us be here for the future and also for our Provide a Meal Program which we would like to continue as long as we have the means. When you support us, you are supporting this program too. 
Our van full of meals for Jeff to deliver..we are almost at a trailer stage!
Your support goes towards more than us just waiting this out!
Raising the funds for this program each week is always uncertain. Some weeks we have done it without the means. So, rather than trying to continue to call on your good graces and pocketbooks  for the program  weekly, we hope to raise a large sum to keep SMAC and this program going through the year and longer. We also hope to add more families as we go too. Fall and winter could bring a bigger need in our neck of the woods. 
Fresh Salads, using Weston's Farm produce...we try to use lost of local buinsesses too..another win, win!
A typical week we pack up Shepard's Pie, TJ’s Potato and bacon cheddar soups, garden salads, dressings, fresh fruit salads, pasta salads, brownies, cornbread honey butter, and mac and cheeses and chicken fingers for the kids….yes kids! That is what each family got and we throw in extra hoping it can be stretched into multiple meals through their week We are finding that there are way more folks in need than we knew about. Geesh, you think you know your neighborhood, but at this challenging time everyone needs a little help. The food is significant as is the preparation and packaging...99 people's worth...and yes they are worth it. We added two more families this week.

We don't want  you to give us money so we can just wait this out….we want to work! This program keeps SMAC thriving and our staff working, too. We can actually do something while we wait  that is great for the community too.  It is not out of the question that this is a permanent function of SMAC indefinitely...and why not...there are always folks in need. Just maybe this is our job while the world is upside down for us.  
Pretty Thais with a bountiful platter
Quotes from Folks we have Helped:

"Absolutely blown away! Literally in tears right now. I'm so proud to be a part of this community. Please let them know we are forever thankful!”

"This whole thing is just so amazing, so kind! We've all been so stressed. This was an amazing gift that lifted our spirits."

A  mom sent  that her teenage son "was so happy, and truly excited, to have "homemade Mac 'n Cheese with real chicken fingers!".

From a staff member at one of our local schools...
"I wanted to take a moment to thank you on behalf of the families who have received your incredible meal donations. Each delivery I have made has resulted in a level of appreciation that is difficult to convey. It's hard to put people's gratitude into words because so much of it is in their facial expressions and body language. They have sighed in relief. They have hugged the bags of food. They have cried while smiling the most appreciative smiles. They have said that the meals are "lifesavers" and that they feel like they "have won the lottery". Your kindness is truly appreciated and it is creating a beautiful ripple effect on the community.”

"I hope it helps convey to you, your team, and the amazing people who participate in the program how much you are appreciated and how you are easing the worries and struggles of others on multiple layers. Your delicious food is healthy, abundant, and can feed families for days which helps to alleviate not only their hunger but also the mental stress and worry of what they might provide for dinner over the weekend."
Stow Away's Yummy Brownies for the families...the kids love'm. Another local business you will support!
And speaking of help ...this helps us too!
So many of you want us to be here for ever...we do too!! We won't pretend that this is a challenge more than usual, but I have said it before, I would moonlight at McDonalds to keep this place going if I had to (I would be super qualified for the drive thru with my microphone skills! )  Remember that when you support us you are also supporting our Provide a Meal Program, our employees, and us…while we wait for the kinder and gentler times with music and applause! I have always thought that we were here for a bigger reason, and when I get quotes like this I know we are.  Now more than ever it is important to be here for our community. Our meal program seems to be another snapshot of a much bigger group picture.
Oh we Missed Keb so much this year, but we will see him in 2021!
So Go Fund Me what you can for the health of SMAC and someone out there who you might not know. We will use the funds to feed families in need, keep giving employees work, keep the Cafe and Small Concert series going by renovating some more areas for social distanced dining, and paying our overhead while we wait for the days when business will be as usual...whatever that means. 
It Takes a Village!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
xoxoxoxo Carol, Jeff, and the crew at the Stone Mountain Arts Center
One of our most fun memories of last year....with Findland's Steve'n'Seagulls.. One Big Family that night! Here is to many more like that thanks to you!!!