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| Food Bank and FoodShare program ideas | |
| The following is a suggested list of ideas to support the state project, CT Food Bank and FoodShare. Please be sure to keep track of your hours and send them to Patty Meglio and to the CT Food Bank and FoodShare. | |
| September is Hunger Action Month | |
| Hunger 101 | |
| Gleaning | |
| Plant a row for the hungry | |
| Backpacks for kids | |
| FoodShare's Kids Cafe | |
| Virtual food drives | |
| Walk for hunger | |
| Thanksgiving for all and Turkey and a twenty | |
| Warehouse volunteering | |
| Warehouse tours | |
| Host your own food drive | |
|
Have a Cup of Tea on Us! Fundraiser September is Hunger Action Month Connecticut Food Bank, in conjunction with Feeding America, announces the second annual Hunger Action Month in September, a nationwide call-to-action effort to mobilize people everywhere to get involved with ending hunger in America. Nationwide, one in eight Americans struggles with hunger. That?s why Connecticut Food Bank and Feeding America are asking everyone to take action during Hunger Action Month and Give a Little, Feed a Lot. Throughout September, join millions of other Americans in giving a little of yourself ? money, time, voice to feed people who are hungry in your community. Hunger 101 is an interactive educational program that anyone can participate in. As a group or individual, Hunger 101, a role play and discussion activity for ages 10 and above, allows individuals to experience the challenges of feeding a family on a limited budget, through available social services. You can be a Hunger 101 facilitator. You would attend two training
sessions, learn the facts and observe. Then, you could host
Hunger 101 programs. Volunteer, give food, and encourage them to apply for assistance from the CT Food Bank or FoodShare. Volunteers are needed periodically to help glean (pick and sort) fresh produce at local farms for distribution through the Food Bank. These are crops that are no longer wanted by farmers, but still good for distribution. While planting your yearly garden, include an extra row to donate to Connecticut Food Bank or a food program in your area. Clean, fresh produce can be delivered to any of Connecticut Food Bank's warehouses in East Haven, Fairfield and Waterbury. Click here for directions to Connecticut Food Bank's warehouses and hours of operation. When you bring your donation in, please clearly note it's for the Plant a Row program. Your donation will be weighed and a receipt will be provided upon request. Your donation may be tax-deductible. Please contact a tax professional for details. You can donate directly to a hunger-assistance organization, please download a Plant a Row brochure to find out how from the CT Food Bank Website. If you would like a hard copy of the brochure, please contact Sade Heard at (203) 469-5000 ext. 332 or sheard@ctfoodbank.org. In Ampleharvest.org, you can plug in a zip code and find out which organizations accept them and when. If you donate directly to a program, please let Connecticut Food Bank know, so we can keep an account of all Plant a Row donations. By partnering with local public school systems, teachers and
staff, Connecticut Food Bank can identify students who are
food insecure and provide them with kid-friendly food that
is distributed discreetly at school at the end of each week. Connecticut Food Bank?s Kids? BackPack Program is offered on a pilot basis to a small number of schools in Connecticut Food Bank?s service area. Schools with 12 to 24 students in need of supplemental food, such as fresh or canned fruit, cereal bars, peanut butter, macaroni & cheese, and juice, at home complete a letter of agreement and designate a staff person to serve as the school?s Kids? BackPack Program School Coordinator. Connecticut Food Bank will provide the School Coordinator with the necessary training, paperwork and procedures to set up the program. Connecticut Food Bank staff members are also available to assist with the program?s implementation and to answer questions. School staff is responsible for identifying students in need
and for determining the best method of distributing the food
to eligible children. Each child will receive approximately ten different food items
that are nutritious, kid-friendly, shelf-stable and ready to
eat with little or no cooking (some might need to be heated
in the microwave). Each week, the food items are placed into
bags by Connecticut Food Bank staff and volunteers at our East
Haven warehouse and packed six per box. At the school, the
School Coordinator removes a bag of food from the box and puts
it into a child's backpack on Friday or before a holiday weekend.
Using the student?s own backpack (or one provided solely for
this purpose) helps shield the child from any stigma that might
be associated with being hungry or receiving food assistance. Currently there are Kids? BackPack Programs in 30 schools in
the Bridgeport, Danbury, Derby, Middletown, New Haven, and
Stratford school districts. Connecticut Food Bank is actively
seeking other locations to sponsor Kids? BackPack Programs. If you would like to learn more about the Kids? BackPack Program for your school, please contact Phaedra Ebron, Child Nutrition Coordinator, at (203) 469-5000, ext. 333, or pebron@ctfoodbank.org. The House of Bread, in partnership with The Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford, FoodShare and ConAgra Foods, opened a Kids Cafe in Hartford to serve children during after school programs. You can support Connecticut Food Bank's virtual food drive, by going to: http://vad.aidmatrix.org and selecting CT Food Bank. Or you can host your own virtual food drive online! Join thousands of other Connecticut residents at one of the
three Annual Walks Against Hunger. Funds raised through this
event benefit more than 650 food-assistance programs throughout
Fairfield, Litchfield, New Haven, New London, Middlesex and
Windham counties to provide food to people in need. Walks are
April and May. See the CT Food Bank and FoodShare websites
for details. A series of events and food drives hosted and sponsored by local civic and religious organizations, charitable foundations, businesses, media and supermarkets which help Connecticut Food Bank make Thanksgiving special for thousands of our neighbors in danger of going without a holiday meal. After these events have concluded on Thanksgiving week, our member programs are able to pick up the makings of Thanksgiving dinner to serve to people in need. In 2008, "Thanksgiving for All" collected 25,084 turkeys and 513,000 pounds of trimmings ? enough for more than 587,000 meals for those in need during the holiday season. Last year?s Foodshare?s Annual ?Turkey and a Twenty? Campaign supporters donated 18,500 turkeys for distribution to hungry families in central Connecticut. This included a 1,000 turkey challenge that was met by over 100 donor groups, in total collecting more than 2,900 turkeys for area families in need. Contact FoodShare for more information. Warehouse Volunteering Volunteers inspect, sort and pack non-perishable food for distribution
to direct feeding agencies. Other activities include labeling
cans and boxes of food. Sorting requires at least 2 hours each
visit. You can sort food at all locations. The CT Food Bank needs volunteers to help sort and box frozen packages of meat before they are distributed to member programs. They are looking for one or more people who can volunteer every Thursday on a regular basis, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. in our East Haven warehouse. Office Assistance Volunteers write thank-you notes, file, copy, stuff envelopes etc. to assist various departments at the East Haven main office. The following is a list of CT Food Bank and FoodShare Warehouses. East Haven Warehouse Office and Volunteer Hours: Mon - Fri: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. *NOTE: Please call the warehouse ahead of time to make sure it is open. Fairfield Warehouse Warehouse Hours: Mon - Fri: 7:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. *NOTE: The Fairfield Branch Warehouse is closed the third Monday of every month. Waterbury Warehouse Warehouse Hours: Mon - Fri: 7:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. *NOTE: The Waterbury Branch Warehouse is closed the third Monday of every month. FoodShare FoodShare Call Stefanie Stevens, Special Events Coordinator, at (203)
469-5000 ext. 302 or sstevens@ctfoodbank.org to learn how to
host a successful food drive. Patty Meglio GFWC/CT State Project Chairman Home: 203-484-0733
For Connecticut Food Bank: Janet Kniffin jkniffin@ctfoodbank.org 203-469-5000, ext. 303
For FoodShare: Alicia Flynn aflynn@foodshare.org 860/286-9999, ext. 120 | |