To Beat Hunger
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HungerHunger To Beat Hunger Fall 2008 BeatBeatThe Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club Join Retail Program Page 5 2008 Heart of Carolina 2 Million Pound Goal Page 8 Volunteers of the Year Page 12 A Newsletter of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina 2 The Hunger Beat: A Newsletter of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina Table of Contents On the Burner: New Program for Seniors . .4 In the Bag: Walmart Retail Program Launches . 5 Dishing it Out: Community Food Drives. 6 Heart of Carolina Food Drive . 8 Faces of the Food Bank: Sweet Potato Pie . 10 In Your Neighborhood: Helping Hurricane Victims . 11 Volunteer Spotlight: Annie Edwards and Martie Bauer . 12 Milestones . .13 Website Spotlight/How You Can Help Fight Hunger . 14 Staff List . 15 A member of 2008–2009Board of Directors Our Branches CHAIR Visit us online at Alvin G. Ragland, Community Volunteer www.foodbankcenc.org CHAIR ELECT Food Bank of Central Ed Carney, Cisco Systems, Inc. & Eastern North Carolina SECRETARY Main Office Hershell McCarty, Progress Energy Carolinas 3808 Tarheel Drive TREASURER Raleigh, NC 27609 Jim Knight, NC Education Lottery 919.875.0707 PAST CHAIR Food Bank of Central & Eastern Walter R. Rogers, Jr., Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, L.L.P. North Carolina at Durham 708 Gilbert Street Mary Esther Baker, Community Volunteer Durham, NC 27701 Dana Barco, Fidelity Investments 919.956.2513 John Chapin, Community Volunteer Marilyn Forbes, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice Food Bank of Central & Eastern Amy Gamber (ex-officio), WTVD ABC 11 North Carolina at Greenville Glenn Gaylord, Food Lion 497 West 9th Street Liz Goodmon, Be Active North Carolina Greenville, NC 27834 Felicia Gressette, The News & Observer Esther Hall, NC Legal Education Assistance Foundation 252.752.4996 Keith Hayes, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Food Bank of Central & Eastern Carey Hill, MA, Carey Hill Consulting, Inc. Debbie J. Johnson, Genworth Mortgage Insurance North Carolina at Sandhills Steve Jones, RBC Centura Bank 195 Sandy Avenue Dana Lange, Community Volunteer Southern Pines, NC 28387 Nancy Schwarm Livesay, Community Volunteer 910.692.5959 Heather Mallard, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC Matthew G. T. Martin , Esq., Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Food Bank of Central & Eastern Mitchell & Jernigan, L.L.P. North Carolina at Wilmington Craig McKenzie, Harris Teeter 1314 Marstellar Street Morgan Moylan, Sports Endeavors Wilmington, NC 28401 Ashmead Pipkin, Attorney 910.251.1465 Kim Rosenberg, Attorneys Title Bob Sar, Ogletree, Deakings, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, PC Harrison J. Kaplan, Esq., Legislative Counsel The Hunger Beat Published by The Food Bank of Central & FBCENC PARTNERS MEDIA PARTNERS Eastern North Carolina Designed by Archetype Articles contributed by Staff Written by Christy Simmons Edited by Christy Simmons and Archetype Project Coordinator: Vernetta Eastman Questions? Call 919.875.0707 www.foodbankcenc.org The Hunger Beat: A Newsletter of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina 3 From the Desk of the President & CEO Dear Friends, Thank you all sincerely for your support during the last fiscal year. Once again due to your compassion and commitment to the cause of feeding the hungry, we were able to accomplish a number of our goals, including: n Your e-mails, calls, and letters to our representatives in Washington, D.C. prompted them to pass the Nutrition Title in the Farm Bill. As a result, we are already seeing significant increases in the number of commodities we receive through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). n We collected over 1 million pounds of food—our largest amount to date—during our 2007 Heart of Carolina Food Drive. n During our inaugural 2008 Kids Summer Stock campaign, we focused on the 250,000 schoolchil- dren eligible for the free and reduced lunch program that they don’t have access to when school ends. The campaign was a huge success. The combined food and funds raised during the month of June provided over 1.2 million meals to those children and families in our region who suffer from hunger. n Our Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Kids Cafe Program continues to grow. We added four new sites, are now in 26 of our 34 counties, and served more than 91,000 meals during last fiscal year. n Through the Bayer CropScience BackPack Program, we nearly doubled the number of backpacks distributed (from 11,800 in 2006–2007 to almost 21,000 in 2007–2008). We are indebted to you for initiating a record number of food and fund drives. Your financial donations were critical in supporting various aspects of our operational expenses, such as fuel. In addition to picking up food throughout our region, our fleet of 22 trucks travels over 1,500 miles a day delivering vital supplies to our partner agencies; our fuel costs to hover around $6,000 per week. In this issue, you will hear exciting news about the addition of two new retailer partnerships. We plan to add 62 retail recovery stores, with an ambitious goal of securing 2.5 million new pounds of food annually. Also, thanks to funding from Cisco Systems, we are embarking on a Food and Nutrition Senior Services Outreach Program to help a greater number of seniors obtain easier access to food. These new programs and the growth of existing programs take on even greater importance as the number of people at risk of hunger in our 34-county service area increases. According to the 2006 US Census Bureau Estimates, the number of individuals at risk has increased by 50,000— to nearly 450,000—since the year 2000. Unfortunately, it is clear that these numbers will only rise as more current data is collected. We are extremely hopeful that we can continue to rely on your kind assistance in the form of food, donations, and time. They enable us to reach out to those who are in such need, and once again prove that our collective efforts can produce so much hope for so many. With deep gratitude, Peter Werbicki, President & CEO Our Food Bank has received a Charity Navigator 4-Star Rating for 7 consecutive years. Fall 2008 4 The Hunger Beat: A Newsletter of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina ON THE BURNER: NEW FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICES OUTREACH PROGRAM TO FOCUS ON SENIORS Retirement is not necessarily golden for our seniors. Millions cannot always afford an adequate diet. The Food and Nutrition Services Program (formerly the Food Stamp Program) is one of the ways to respond to this complex issue. The 2008 Farm Bill (The Food, Conservation, and Act Now! Energy Act of 2008) provides for many improvements to 2008 Stewards Fund this program. Challenges New One of the changes is the increase in the minimum Donors: benefit from $10 to $14. Another change is a new name. The federal program is now called Supplemental Nutri- Give Today and tion Assistance Program. North Carolina has adopted the Double Your Gift! name of Food and Nutrition Services as its name for the State program. The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina has been awarded a On Friday, September 12, the Food Bank of Central & generous $150,000 challenge grant Eastern North Carolina launched the new Senior Food from the Stewards Fund. From now and Nutrition Services Outreach Project by hosting an until January 31, 2009, the Stew- all-day training session. The session was attended by ards Fund will match any gift from a participating agencies, as well as Valerie Wilson from the new donor dollar-for-dollar—up to Division of Social Services and Lisa Johnston from our $150,000! sister food bank MANNA. Located in Asheville, MANNA already has the outreach project in place, and Lisa was How can you help? happy to answer questions about their operations. If you have never supported the Food Bank before, make your Funded by Cisco, this project allows us to contribution today to double your gift. team up with local Departments of Social Your donation will help fund nutritious Services and select partner agencies to extend the Food meals for the over 450,000 people in Stamp Program to our senior population. our 34-county service territory who suffer from hunger. The following partner agencies have been Already a donor? selected from Pitt, Moore, and New Hanover If you’ve already donated to the Food counties to participate in the pilot program: Bank or are a regular supporter, urge n Philippi Church of Christ, Greenville your friends and family to make a contribution. Go to www.foodbank- n The Anointed Ones Church, Ayden cenc.org and click the Steward’s Fund link, or mail your check to: n Page United Methodist Church, Aberdeen Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC n Sandhills-Moore Coalition for Human Care, Inc., Attn: Stewards Fund Challenge Southern Pines 3808 Tarheel Drive Raleigh, NC 27609 n Tileston Outreach, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Wilmington Checks can be made payable to FBCENC. n Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, Wilmington Thank You! The Food Bank is a true advocate for those we serve. www.foodbankcenc.org The Hunger Beat: A Newsletter of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina 5 Top 2007–2008 In the Bag: Grantors Walmart, Sam's Club, Kroger join Retail Recovery Program 2007 Stewards Fund (CHALLENGE GRANT ) $100,000 1,762 new donors contributed a total HOW did this partnership happen? of $123,318 between January 1 and Feeding America, formerly America’s Second Harvest— April 30, 2008! The Nation’s Food Bank Network, initiated this partner- ship as part of the National Store Donation Program. This Bayer Foundation program facilitates the process of supermarket retailers $50,000 donating perishable food to local food banks.