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Who we are & why we exist
Hometown Outreach began when two community members who adminned a local Facebook group saw the same pattern again and again: help existed, but many Madison County neighbors had no practical way to reach it.
January 2024
Susan McCool and Jill Spicer were two community members who adminned the Madison FL Word of Mouth Facebook group. Behind the scenes, they saw how many people needed help but could not access it. Susan proposed using the group’s community network to organize a volunteer response and asked Jill to join her.
Learning before expanding
Susan and Jill met with Second Harvest to understand how local food programs and distributions operated. Susan then established partnerships with distribution sites and created Google Forms with partner sites to collect the household information each distribution needed. The Facebook group helped recruit volunteers. One monthly delivery grew carefully into four.
What doorstep service revealed
At neighbors’ homes, volunteers encountered needs traditional assistance did not cover: hygiene and cleaning products, pet food, transportation, repairs, healthcare access, application support, communication barriers, and urgent household crises.
Beginning in fall 2024
Susan, Jill, and volunteers had been paying expenses themselves. As needs grew, that was no longer sustainable. Planning began for an official name, mission, vision, board, logo, and the responsibilities of operating a nonprofit.
November 2025
Pantry distributions primarily provide food. Government assistance generally does not cover household cleaning products, personal hygiene items, pet food, or pet supplies. When money is tight, those necessities can be difficult to find anywhere else.
Neighbors also needed help with trash cleanup, porch repairs and wheelchair ramps, Hurricane Helene recovery, healthcare access, transportation, food assistance and disability applications, medical costs, phones, and navigating complex systems.
Formal nonprofit status opened a path to funding, partnerships, and sustainable support. It added structure without replacing the neighbor-to-neighbor character of the work.
Hometown Outreach currently serves Madison County, Florida. Future expansion may bring county-based volunteer networks to surrounding rural communities, with funds raised for each county remaining within that county’s program.
Our programs
Select each program icon to discover more.
Pickup and delivery of pantry distributions, hygiene products, cleaning supplies, pet food and supplies, other approved necessities, and occasional pharmacy pickups.
Companion Calls, rides for nonmedical necessities, and help registering for assistance programs.
Housing support, healthcare access through transportation, copayment assistance and appointment accompaniment, and crisis assistance.
Our volunteer program connects community members with meaningful ways to serve based on their availability, abilities, interests, and comfort level.
The future Support App is being developed to make service requests and volunteer opportunities easier to manage. The Resource Hub is a website area that will help neighbors who can register independently find useful programs. Neither is a separate Hometown Outreach program.