911 Day of Service and Remembrance 2010

Volunteer NC and the North Carolina Association of Feeding America Food Banks have partnered together for a statewide food drive Friday, Sept. 10, through Sunday, Sept. 12, for National Day of Service and Remembrance 9/11.

“As a way of remembering the sacrifices of September 11, I am proud to say that North Carolina is honoring this day with an initiative to end hunger and give back to our citizens,” said Gov. Perdue. “I encourage all North Carolinians to collect non-perishable foods and volunteer during this weekend of service.”

In North Carolina, more than 1.4 million people are served annually by the Feeding America food banks, and of those, some 30 percent are children and 16 percent are seniors. Families across this state need help and more people than ever are relying on their local food banks.

"In these challenging economic times the number of hungry North Carolinians continues togrow. Far too many of our neighbors are in need of adequate food,” said Alan Briggs, executive director of the NC Association of Feeding America Food Banks. “The food banks of North Carolina are extremely grateful to Gov. Perdue for focusing attention on this unacceptable fact and inspiring our fellow North Carolinians to respond by donating food, money, and volunteering time to support our efforts."

You can donate canned or fresh fruits and vegetables to the Food Shuttle on Saturday, September 11 from 8 am -2 pm. You can also take your donation to the NC State Farmers Market from 9-2. A Food Shuttle Truck will be standing by to accept your donations.

For more information about the 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance, click here.

MIX 101.5 BackPack Buddies Food Drive, August 19th

With a new school year just around the corner, we're gearing up to make sure children on free or reduced lunch programs have access to wholesome meals on the weekend with the BackPack Buddies program. We couldn't do it without partners like our good friends from MIX 101.5 WRAL-FM! Each year, they hold a food drive to bring in meals and money to support BackPack Buddies. Read on for more details on this year's exciting event!

MIX 101.5 BackPack Buddies Food Drive

Thursday, August 19th

6am-6pm

MIX personalities will be on location at Crabtree Valley Mall (in front of Macy's) and Cary Crossroads Plaza in Cary (in front of the Old Navy) encouraging listeners to donate food, new backpacks and monetary contributions. Come out on Thursday and donate money or food to make a difference in a child's life!

Last year, the community brought in $27,000 and over 10,000 pounds of food through the MIX 101.5 BackPack Buddies Food Drive to fight childhood hunger!!

A young hunger fighter's birthday request

For her birthday party this year, 7-year-old Elle asked for unusual gifts from her friends and family: canned veggies, soups, mac'n'cheese, oatmeal, granola bars and 100% juice boxes.

After volunteering in the Food Shuttle warehouse with the Duke School earlier this year, Elle heard about our BackPack Buddies program and decided she wanted to help kids her age who are hungry for her birthday instead of receiving gifts. Now, that's a generous attitude!

Elle and her Mom stopped by the Food Shuttle last week to bring 343 pounds of food for BackPack Buddies from Elle's birthday party! Enthusiastic and proud to share with others, Elle unloaded the food from her car to bring into the warehouse.

All the food donated from the birthday party will provide healthy meals for children over the weekend. We are so grateful to have young hunger fighters, like Elle, who realize they can make a difference for a neighbor in need. Elle, you are one awesome girl! Thanks for helping to feed kids in our community.

Want to help feed hungry children this school year? You can volunteer your time, donate money or host a food drive for BackPack Buddies.

Click here to get involved.

A Full Circle Process

By: Elizabeth Stahl, Communication Intern While interning for Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, I have learned some of the ins-and-outs of the food rescue and food distribution process, but I never saw them first hand until the other day.  Thursday is the busiest day in the warehouse for agency pick-ups, when our agencies come to the Food Shuttle, load their trucks with food, and distribute it among their clients.  For this week’s Friday Full of Fun, I decided to witness one of these agency pick-ups for myself.  Community Helpers, based out of Johnston County, sends three dedicated volunteers each week to pick-up food from the Food Shuttle,

We do it out of the goodness of our hearts- we don’t ask for anything,” one man said.

The three men said they have been volunteering with Community Helpers since their retirement, for over twelve years. "Inter-Faith has helped us a great deal, if it weren't for them we couldn't do what we do," one volunteer mentioned.

Box by box their truck was filled. Whether bananas, lettuce, eggs, or cereal, the volunteers were sent back with enough food to feed their average 225 people per week.  In some detail, here is a close look at agency pick-ups:

Firstly, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle receives food from the Farmers Market, grocery stores, and other locations.

Then, the food is sorted and put onto pallets then taken to the loading dock.

Next, the food is loaded onto distribution trucks or in this case, a trailer provided by the volunteers.

Once the fresh produce and other items are loaded onto the truck, the agencies take it to their respective locations.

The process in its entirety makes so much sense, we take food that will ultimately just be thrown out, and give it to those in need.  A full circle process, as Community Helpers was pulling out of the driveway, a distribution truck full of 10,000 pounds of fresh produce from the North Carolina State Farmers Market pulled in.  This food will be sorted and redistributed among our agencies. (Did you know that the North Carolina State Farmers Market donated over 1.4 million pounds of food to the Food Shuttle last year?! Thank you Farmers Market!)

Meet a Hunger Fighter!

Trevon, 17, is a student at Wake Forest Roseville and is in ROTC.  He has volunteered at Inter-Faith Food Shuttle for quite some time, his dedication is inspirational.  When he is not busy with school work or ROTC, he comes to IFFS to help in anyway that he can-whether cleaning or organizing for food distribution.

Who:  Trevon Williams

What:  Inter-Faith Food Shuttle volunteer- cleans out coolers, organizes food, makes sure things are running smoothly

When:  everyday after school

How long:  volunteered with his church since age 10 and has been coming to the Food Shuttle after school since age 15- so for 2 years!

Why: "It’s a new experience; you get to see what really goes on behind the scenes and how many people you're actually affecting.  It’s an overall good experience.  I really like it!  It’s a good cause and we always have things to do.”

Where's Pam??

By: Elizabeth Stahl, Communication Intern

After several attempts to catch Pam during some free time, a rarity, I finally cornered her for a quick Friday Full of Fun interview! Pam is the epitome of busy! Someone with so many tasks and someone so full of compassion is difficult to track down, but luckily I found her!

Tell me a little about what you do:

-I use UPS Mobile Cast to monitor the truck pick-ups, deliveries, and drop-offs.  I assist Don and Dennis.  I weigh food drives; I weigh everything that comes in every day.  I take inventory every day and make sure everything is documented.  I assist in making sure that everything is in order to receive food whether cleaning or organizing the volunteers.  I assist in making sure that other agencies are taken care of.  I make sure that the food is the proper temperature and in good shape, and I also make sure the coolers are the right temperatures.    (and the list goes on I'm sure!)

"I do a lot but I like to stay busy”

What is your favorite part about fighting hunger?

-I like the fact that we are able to make sure that people that would normally be hungry, aren’t.  It feels great to help others.  I love the after school programs, we make sure kids eat.

What is your favorite day of the week at the Food Shuttle? Why?

-I love Thursday’s because it is our busiest day as far as recipient agencies goes- from 8:45 am to 3:00 pm our agencies are picking up.  I love to see our food going out to those that need it. I love to see the cooler getting empty so we can fill it up again”

About how many volunteers do you work with each week?

-It depends on the day and the week!  I would say about fifty or more each week.

What is your guilty pleasure food?

­-I love fried chicken!

What is one thing you wished more people did?

-I wish more people would have a heart, whether it be volunteering or donating.  Kids are going to be the leaders one day and we should put them first.  Before working here I never knew how many people did not have food.  I never knew how many people waste food.  It made me see things in a different light.   I enjoy what I do; it makes me feel great at the end of the day.  I really admire Jill for dreaming up this concept and I love our family environment.

Being busy is not a bad thing.  A diligent worker, Pam stays busy in order to get food out to those in need.  Her dedication is inspiring;  she never quits knowing that food insecure people need her help!

Pharmacy Dept. delivers food to Holton

They spend most days combining chemicals but last week Blue Cross Blue Shield's Pharmacy Department combined fresh produce at the Durham Service Center.  Nutritious filled grocery bags were delivered to the surrounding community at Holton Career & Resource Center.  

Venture to the Mobile Market

By: Elizabeth Stahl, Communication Intern

Picture this for me, if you will.  You do not have enough food to get you through the week, let alone the month.  You decide to go to a Mobile Market.  You enter a room and are handed two grocery bags.  You stand patiently in a line of many.  You reach tables of produce and food, and are then handed a select number of each item.  You place the six bananas, the four boxes of granola, the single bag of lettuce, into your grocery bags and proceed further down the line.  Taking anything and everything that the volunteers handed you, you reach the end of the line, and head home.  You sit and plan out how you are going to make this one package of raspberries last until the end of next week.  You plan how you are going to make a bag of fresh green beans feed your family for the rest of the week. You are thankful for what help you received.

This week's adventure to Wake Forest for Elizabeth's Friday Full of Fun opened my eyes to new experiences.  I am grateful that I was able to attend and see Inter-Faith Food Shuttle's food distribution first hand.

I attended a Mobile Food Market in Wake Forest earlier this week.  A large, refrigerated truck was filled with produce and other boxed food items and taken to Wake Forest Baptist Church, a monthly event which started last June.  Twenty volunteers unloaded the produce and set it out onto tables, placing numbered labels in front of each item.  These numbers told individuals how many of each particular item they are allowed to take, to ensure that each person could receive food.  They were able to choose which items they accepted, different from programs where people take what they can get.  I got to step on the line and distribute food, four small boxes of granola to each individual.  Some were elderly, some were quite young, but everyone was gracious.  The continuous line of diverse individuals flowed through the church for an hour then the food was gone.  The volunteers cleaned up the tables, broke down the cardboard boxes, and said a simple until next month.  Endless “thank yous” were heard during my two-hour visit.  Everyone was just appreciative that we were even there.  This room full of gratitude served about ninety people that day.

In my mind, our produce and our food made a difference in the lives of many. Also in my mind, we as a community, can do more.  More funding, more volunteers, more produce -  “more, more, more, I want more.” We hear this all the time in several aspects of life.   If we alter that sentence slightly and focus on food insecure individuals, “they need more,” then as a community we can work together to put those needs in front of our own.  Picture yourself again, as someone who must go through a mobile market line just to scrape by.  Wouldn’t you value any and all help?

Many thanks to Becky Holt, the coordinator of this Mobile Market, who allowed me to observe and who also gave me these photographs.

The Garden Edge

Inventor of The Garden Edge tool, Chris Martin, contacted the Food Shuttle after reading the recent N&O article mentioning our community gardens. Chris wanted to donate a few of his multipurpose gardening tools to help us maintain our community gardens! Last week Chris stopped by our community garden at Alliance Medical Ministry to demonstrate how The Garden Edge tool can cut down weeding time! Check out the pictures below from his visit.

Many thanks to Chris for donating the useful tools! Watch this video from Chris to see why he chose to donate The Garden Edge to the Food Shuttle:

PARticipate with Plant A Row!

We know it's easy to get caught up in summertime activities, but Plant A Row for the Hungry is a simply way to give back to your community through your summer harvest! While you're at the beach soaking up rays, or enjoying a neighborhood cook out you can still be fighting hunger in your backyard with your growing garden! Surplus veggies from your garden can be dropped off at locations across the Triangle, and Inter-Faith Food Shuttle will take your home-grown food to people in need. Whether it is 2 tomatoes or a bushel of corn- every bit helps feed hungry stomachs in the Greater Triangle.

Watch the video below to see what the IFFS team does when the garden is overrun by extra veggies!

Encourage your fellow green thumbs to donate produce to the Food Shuttle- becoming a PAR member is quite easy!  Simply contact Don (don@foodshuttle.org) to get started.

Do your part to help fight hunger; lets cultivate a culture of giving in the Triangle!