08/30/2026
💙🧡 THIS IS WHAT COMMUNITY LOOKS LIKE. 🧡💙
Today was our first Stuff the Van event of the 2026–2027 school year, and honestly… WOW. 🥹
Between Weis Markets in Franklin and Newton, our amazing community donated approximately 3,400 MUCH-NEEDED ITEMS for The Weekend Bag Program! 🎉🙌
3,400 items.
Think about that for a minute.
That’s 3,400 items that will help us fill Weekend Bags for children in our community who may not know where their next meal is coming from. It’s 3,400 reminders to a child that their community cares about them. ❤️
And the thing is… it’s not just the donations that make these events so special.
It’s the PEOPLE.
The staff at both Weis Markets are absolutely incredible. Their kindness, generosity, and support of The Weekend Bag Program never gets old. And then there are the customers…
We have customers who see us and immediately ask:
“When are you coming back?”
Then they take the date we give them and write it down so they know to come back and donate. 🥹
They stop to ask how the program is doing.
They ask what’s new.
They ask what we need.
They tell us about the last time they donated.
And they genuinely care.
That means EVERYTHING to us.
And then there are our volunteers. 💙
Today, alongside John, Magee, and me, we had Jacob, TJ,Jess, Mora, Ava, and Ava’s younger brother helping us throughout the day.
We truly have THE BEST volunteers!
Our adult volunteers are amazing, but one of the things that makes The Weekend Bag Program so incredibly special is the number and variety of young people who volunteer with us.
We have youth volunteers of different ages working side by side — learning, serving, leading, talking to members of the community, collecting donations, and seeing firsthand what it means to make a difference.
There aren’t many places where young people can come at so many different ages and truly be a part of something like this.
They aren’t just watching adults make a difference.
They ARE making the difference. ❤️
And that is something we are incredibly proud of.
So tonight, we are tired… but our hearts are FULL. 🥰
3,400 items collected.
Two amazing Weis Markets.
An incredible community.
An amazing group of volunteers.
And countless children who will benefit from the generosity shown today.
To every single person who donated — THANK YOU.
To everyone who stopped to talk to us — THANK YOU.
To everyone who asked when we’ll be back — we can’t wait to see you again!
And to Weis Markets in Franklin and Newton and your incredible teams — THANK YOU for continuing to welcome us and support our mission. We truly love being part of your stores and your communities. 💙🧡
This is why we do what we do.
One donation.
One volunteer.
One Weekend Bag.
One child at a time.
And today, our community showed us once again just how powerful that can be. ❤️
