The Aug 11th, 2026 storms showed The Region a lot of things.
The biggest thing it showed Chef Steph and all of the other NWI Neighbors that run small organizations - we show up first, we make sure the needs are met, and we do it in a way that helps restore and rebuild dignity and community.

Feed the Region serves comfort with our food to our NWI neighbors. We make hearty, nutrient-dense comfort food that makes sure that our NWI neighbors not only get a warm meal, but one made with love by neighbors who want to see this community succeed. We’ve been happily conquering this goal every week since February.

Since 2024 Santa Delivers AYR has been delivering hope and kindness to NWI Neighbors. Their Director, Traci Donnelly, has been doing it for a decade. She knows that everyone deserves the dignity of well-stocked shelves as well as comfort items for themselves and their children. What started as a program that helped families enjoy the holidays has spread into just what the name says: All Year Round.

Since the storms the Feed the Region Team has been cooking extra large meals and sending them out the doors to our neighbors in need. Our average amount of bellies to fill prior to Aug 11th was 100/week. Since the storms we’ve been filling between 300 and 500 every weekend. We generally do this once a week, but it has become an almost daily activity.

It’s not a sustainable model, so we are planning on how to best serve the people on the post-storm list while making sure Feed the Region goes back to the model that has served this community with warmth and kindness all this year.

What our neighbors really need is to be stocked back up. They depleted their food storages, it’s hard to get expensive resources like diapers, everything in the fridge and freezers went bad. And the storms caused need for a lot of cleaning to be done, but cleaning supplies are hard to get as well. Our care-giving neighbors are skipping meals to care for their children, pets, or homes.

Feed the Region + Santa Delivers AYR are teaming up to get these resources for our families.

How we’re doing this for maximum support:

• Asking for specifics on what people need.

• Using our already-in-place delivery driver system as well as expanding it.

• Connecting people who want to help with the community that needs the most help.