FOOD for THOUGHT WINTER 2018 NEWSLETTER

INSIDE THIS EDITION

A Letter from our President & CEO page 2

35th Anniversary Year in Review page 3

Welcome Fulton County page 4

2017 Events Recap page 4 A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT & CEO

Because of your support, 2017 was another banner year for River Bend Foodbank. We are excited to share highlights of the year with you.

First of all, thanks to everyone who helped celebrate River Bend Foodbank’s 35th Anniversary. From the January press conference announcing that we were halfway to our goal of ending hunger in eastern Iowa and western to the new Fill the Bowl event in December, more people than ever got involved, volunteered, made a special gift, or found a way to stop food from being wasted, helping us get it to someone in need.

Together, we provided more meals to hungry people than ever before. We set new 35-year records for the most meals distributed in a single month in March, May, October, and again in November. For the year, we distributed over 12.9 million meals, which was 15% more than last year and 75% more than just three years ago.

An affirmation of the good work we are doing together came from the addition of another county to our service area. With the need as acute as it is in Peoria, we were asked to take over Fulton County. Originally skeptical of being served from farther away, our new agencies are now delighted with the partnership.

We marked the 35th Anniversary by celebrating the rich history of River Bend Foodbank and pointing toward our future goals. We received a special message We remain focused on the from founding Executive Director Tom Laughlin and his wife, Caren, at our September Wine & Dine event. And the extended family of our late founding Board vision of a hunger-free Iowa Chair, Bud Vogel, closed the year by volunteering at the Foodbank Christmas weekend. and Illinois...We’re going to Building on the legacy of those three pioneers, we remain focused on the vision of a hunger-free Iowa and Illinois. There are 124,270 people missing 22.3 million meals keep doing what we’re doing in the now 23 counties we serve. We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing until every one of them has access to a sufficient supply of nutritious food. until every one of them has Thank you for celebrating with us. Thank you for helping us distribute more food to hungry people than ever before. This is only happening because thousands of access to a sufficient supply of you are spreading the word about this cause, volunteering your time, and providing financial support. Every $1 provides 5 meals for people in need. Together we can nutritious food. solve hunger.™

Michael P. Miller President & CEO

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Officers: Directors: Trish Huber Daniel Joiner Chairman Chad Lewis Jan Martin 4010 Kimmel Drive Janet Mathis Davenport, IA 52802-2404 Vice Chair/Secretary Michael Miller riverbendfoodbank.org Matthew O’Brien Kevin O’Hara Treasurer Ben Patterson Find us on Facebook Tami Petsche Facebook.com/RiverBendFoodbank John Weber Marie Ziegler Follow us on Twitter Immediate Past Chairman Twitter.com/RiverBendFood 35TH YEAR WAS A GOOD ONE!

2017 was River Bend Foodbank’s 35th Anniversary, and it was a year full of change, improvements, and growth.

We commemorated the milestone by holding a media conference 35TH YEAR NUMBERS in January to kick off the year-long celebration, where our special 35th Anniversary logo was unveiled to the public. Backpack Program – 89,304 backpacks were given One of the most noticeable changes was the launch of our new out at 80 schools in 2017. and improved website, riverbendfoodbank.org. The new website makes it easier for our users to take action against hunger by Mobile Food Pantry Program – donating, volunteering, and getting involved, as well as enabling 1,163,741 meals were delivered visitors to find partner agencies near them more efficiently. at 131 Mobile Food Pantries.

This summer, our warehouse was given a Partner Agencies – facelift with new graphics, 193 Partner Agencies supplied paint, and racking endcap 8.6 million meals in 2017. signs which reinforce our mission, vision, and School Pantries – values. Thank you to 24 school pantries provided Durham Remodeling and 229,343 meals. DMW Design for their outstanding work. Our signage was also Senior Pantries – updated to include our 9 senior pantries distributed “refreshed” logo that was 206,676 meals. created in 2016. Operations We continue to raise our standards of cleanliness, food safety, inventory accuracy, and customer service. In August, Michelle Dickson was hired as our Chief Operating Officer. Operational changes in the warehouse have allowed us to increase productivity. Multiple agencies can now be served and loaded in a significantly less amount of time than before these changes occurred. This difference means the agencies are spending less time at the Foodbank and more time serving those who are in need at their respective sites. A revised layout of the shopping area has reduced the number of times people and forklifts cross paths, vastly increasing the safety of the agencies that visit the warehouse to select fresh produce and bakery items.

Monthly distribution records were set multiple times throughout the year. FILL THE BOWL WELCOME FULTON COUNTY A FULFILLING “With your pricing EVENT and more variety, I am excited about Fill The Bowl was held on Sunday, December 10th, at the Foodbank. The the change and goal of this event was to bring our look forward to our community together (at a very busy time relationship. Thank of year) to share a meal, participate in a volunteer activity, and learn more about you for taking on the hunger issue in our community, all our area.” while having fun. Jeff Stanley, First Baptist Church Food Pantry, We know from talking with people in our Canton, IL communities that you really have to see River Bend Foodbank to understand the scope of the hunger-relief effort in eastern Fulton County, Illinois, has been served for many years by the Peoria Iowa and western Illinois. That is exactly Area Food Bank, but the tremendous need in Peoria did not allow what occurred with the over 350 people them to make Fulton County a priority. who attended. There are 4,700 food-insecure people in Fulton County, and those We are grateful to all those who participated and to all our sponsors who people are missing 842,800 meals per year. In the past 12 months, helped make this first-time event possible: Peoria has only been able to provide 212,862 of those meals. Ascentra Credit Union, Arconic, Dish Cares, Galaxy One, Isabel Bloom, Since the Feeding America food banks in Illinois work in conjunction Builders & Remodelers with one another, the Peoria Area Food Bank, Eastern Illinois Association, Thunder Bay Grille, Foodbank in Urbana, and River Bend Foodbank got together to UnityPoint Health-Trinity. address this situation. It was agreed that the optimal solution was for In-kind sponsors: Hy-Vee, DMW Design, River Bend to take over responsibility for Fulton County. Marie Ziegler, Whitey’s Ice Cream. While it may seem surprising to have Fulton County served from the Quad Cities instead of Peoria, we already serve 17 other counties in Illinois, including Knox County to the north and McDonough County to the west. We often say at River Bend Foodbank, “A hungry person 100 miles away is just as important as one right next door,” and we look forward to working with our new partner agencies that are serving Fulton County to ensure everyone has access to the food they need to live an active, healthy life.

We welcome Fulton County to the River Bend Foodbank family.

WINE & DINE A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS In September, 200 guests joined us at our second annual We want to thank everyone who Wine & Dine for a Cause. This event featured a 4-course joined us and our sponsors: meal with wine and food pairings, silent auction, wine pull, River City Tire & Automotive and a presentation on hunger in our community with a Ascentra Credit Union request to support financially our mission of ending hunger Dispatch/Argus/QCOnline in the 23 counties that we serve. Lexus of Quad Cities The results of the event were tremendous—over 200,000 Necker’s Jewelers meals will be distributed because of the generosity of UnityPoint Health-Trinity those in attendance! The 2018 Wine & Dine event will be held on September 13, 2018. If you would like more information please email Nancy at [email protected].

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