Chattanooga Area Food Bank - "Serving Hope" - 2023 Fall Newsletter

Nourish

Dear Friends,

I’ve been thinking about the word “gratitude” lately, especially as we move out of the summer and into fall: a time of thanksgiving and thinking. I’m grateful to open our new Pierce Distribution Center in Dalton, Georgia. It’ll be a beautiful building that will do some beautiful work once it opens August 9th. We’ll set out to immediately use this new space—serving our neighbors in Northwest Georgia more efficiently, more effectively, and with the highest quality of care. Come on by for a tour when it’s ready, and see how we’re fighting hunger in the Dalton area. Another thing I’m grateful for is the widespread support from our community. Day in and day out, you show up and help make a difference, whether you’re a first-time volunteer or donor of many years. From the very bottom of my heart: Thank you. It’s because of your dedication that we’re able to provide 14 million meals a year to our neighbors in need. It’s with your help that we’re able to serve over 3,000 families a month at our Foxwood Food Center and provide groceries to our network of over 250 partner agencies. It’s due to your compassion that every year we’re able to source and distribute more food than the year before. I feel so blessed to live and work in such a community, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

With much gratitude,

Melissa Blevins President & CEO

to volunteer for a tour

SPOTLIGHTS

Fannin County Family Connection is located in Blue Ridge, Georgia.

The town is home to a large retirement community, but many residents are fourth- or fifth-generation Georgians whose families grew up working in the nearby mines. FCFC acts as a hub, connecting families, especially those with children, to nearby resources and agencies, such as healthcare, financial services, and literacy programs. Their two main partners are Snack in a Backpack and The Craddock Center. FCFC has had an on-site food pantry since 1998, and Kala Bellew has managed the pantry since 2022.

“I try very hard to order things that make meals,” Kala says. She estimates that 90% of the food in their pantry comes from the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. On average, a family of four walks away from FCFC with 86 pounds of food. FCFC also provides many resources to kinship care families and recently received two grants totaling $94,000 which will help expand their Kinship Care Program. Executive Director Sherry Morris (above) says the high number of kinship care families in their area is related to the area’s drug problem, specifically with methamphetamine. “We have a lost generation,” she says. In the Blue Ridge area alone, there are over 300 families in which someone over 55 is the non-biological parent to a child age 17 or younger. As part of the program’s expansion, FCFC will conduct support groups for kinship care families to help older residents navigate this unique lifestyle. They recently kicked off the expansion with a Family Care Picnic on July 14th.

Rebecca Sosebee is a Community Relations Specialist at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBST). It’s her responsibility to organize BCBST’s corporate volunteer efforts for East Tennessee. Since October 2022, she has deployed 11 volunteer teams to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, culminating in 330 total employees who so far have logged over 1,200 hours across our warehouse and Foxwood Food Center. “I think corporate volunteerism is so important, and being a good corporate citizen is so important, especially as people are giving of their time and talents in new ways because the way people are giving money is changing, and the way people are supporting nonprofits is changing,” she says. Rebecca not only manages the volunteer groups, but she also serves, too. She’s been to Foxwood several times and remembers one day very clearly, when a pregnant mother shopping for her family was able to take a birthday cake home to her son. She says Foxwood is unique because our client-choice model allows guests to shop with dignity. “The way that you serve people matters,” Rebecca says. “I want my volunteers to have a good time, but more than that, I want the guests that they’re assisting to have a good experience.” Rebecca is leading the charge to resurrect the Chattanooga Corporate Volunteer Council, which disbanded during the pandemic. She aims to gather as many community partners as possible and connect them to different volunteer coordinators at nonprofits across the city. “Collaboration is our best way forward,” she says. The council will be a way for nonprofits to discuss their work in more detail with companies, as well as collaborate on resources, events, and needs across Chattanooga.

Alexis Eaton is the food bank’s Programs Coordinator. She was born and raised in Chattanooga and studied Government and Sociology at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Much of her work at the food bank centers around child nutrition programs, as she manages all in-school pantries and school mobile pantries in our 20-county service area. She also leads our internal Sack Pack and Summer Bags programs, too, through which we distribute food to students to last across their weekends and summer breaks. Alexis says her career in food banking began when she established a food pantry at her college, and the process ignited a desire to pursue similar work. She’s been with the food bank for 4 years and notes one of her favorite things about the job is getting to know our guests on a personal level. “They became like family to me,” she says. “Every time I go to a distribution, I see a familiar face, and I get to see how they’re doing. I get to just love on them, and they do the same for me.” Alexis describes herself as a homebody and caregiver, and she enjoys time outside of work spent with her family.

4 ears corn

4 tbsp mayonnaise, split between each ear

½ cup cotija, queso blanco, feta, Romano, or Parmesan cheese

Chile powder (such as ancho or cayenne), to taste 1 lime, sliced into wedges

Set broiler to high.

Shuck corn and clean off silk. (Leave the green ends attached for a convenient handhold.)

Using a broiler-safe pan, roast corn for 2-3 minutes, rotating until brown and toasted all over. (The broiling shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes total.)

Working quickly, dress each ear with mayonnaise.

Sprinkle corn with cheese and chile powder. Add a squeeze of lime and serve hot.