Pausing our Formula Fund
At SWS we take pride in our non-invasive approach to providing services and financial aid. We take this approach because we believe that no one should have to go to great lengths to justify themselves in order to receive help, especially Black and Brown families. This approach can only be sustained if there is trust between the SWS team and the community.
WHAT'S HAPPENING:
We are pausing the Baby Formula Fund due to two main issues with our application process.
First, we have received a couple applications under different names for the same individuals, and, while we assume this is out of urgency, it ultimately slows down and complicates our process.
Second, many of the applicants have stopped communicating with us after receiving funds which leaves us with formula that was shopped and purchased for specific applicants.
These issues have lead us to reevaluate our programming and practices to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our community.
This process takes a lot of time and labor from our team and volunteers. We are a small team of 5 people comprised of full-time caregivers, students, and each hold additional full-time jobs. Additionally, we don't want to participate in inadvertent resource hoarding by taking formula off shelves during a shortage if applicants are not going collect their requested formula.
In light of this, we are committed to distributing the remaining formula to caregivers in the community.
MOVING FORWARD
Once we restart the Baby Formula Fund, the timeline will be extended to 1 week delivery with 1-3 business days for a response as we have to do additional checks.
Formula will be delivered or picked up before funds are sent. As always, our ability to send financial assistance is dependent on donations and current funding.
Unfortunately, we don't have the capacity to meet emergency requests. Visit our formula fund page for all local baby formula resources.
We appreciate our dedicated volunteers and the many families we’ve supported this program. This pause is only temporary to revise our system and functions, and donations are still needed for this program to operate. We are excited to grow with our community as we learn alongside you all. Thanks for all of your patience.
With love always,
Seeds Worth Sowing Crew