Second Harvest North Florida Volume 10 • Issue 3 • June 2010 www.WeNourishHope.org
Happenings
a newsletter for member agencies
2010 NALC Food Drive shatters record for third straight year with more than 357,000 pounds of food donated
Mon.-Thurs.............7:15 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Fridays............................7:15 a.m.-noon
For the third consecutive year, the Jacksonville community has set a new standard for generosity in the National Association of Letter Carriers “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive. The 18th annual drive produced 357,581 pounds of much-needed nonperishable food resources for people in need on the First Coast. Nationwide, the NALC has collected more than one billion pounds to fight hunger since 1993! Residents left donations beside their mailboxes on Saturday, May 8, and postal carriers collected them as part of their normal routes. About 150 volunteers, who greeted the postal carriers as they returned to the 12 participating postal distribution centers, helped unload the food, sort it and then load it onto trucks for delivery to Second Harvest North Florida’s warehouse. Second Harvest will distribute the food to its network of more than 500 member agencies that include food pantries, senior citizen centers, soup kitchens and other nonprofit organizations serving people in need.
Imporant news about USDA food:
Volunteers at the postal station on Sunbeam Road sort donated food and prepare it for transportation to the Second Harvest warehouse.
The 2010 total is an increase of more than 37,000 pounds from 2009. The food will generate the equivalent of more than 270,000 meals for hungry people on the First Coast.
seniors, the unemployed and people we know and see each day who go to work but just can’t make ends meet. Stamp Out Hunger is a way that anyone and everyone can show concern for their neighbor in need. We at Second Harvest applaud the community’s generosity and promise that these donations will be put to use quickly to feed hungry families.”
“Our community responded in a big way, as it always does,” Second Harvest Executive Director Thomas Mantz said. “Hunger is a real issue, affecting children,
This food is available to all agencies on the sharing floor in the Second Harvest warehouse, located at 1502 Jessie St.
Second Harvest encourages member agencies to make emergency preparedness plans for hurricane season On June 1, the hurricane season officially started. In anticipation of the season, Second Harvest has been working with regional and national partners, as well as local authorities, to ensure that in the event of a catastrophic storm we will be ready to respond by getting supplies to those who need them most. Please be sure to take some time to ensure that your agency has at least completed some basic emergency preparedness planning to
Second Harvest hours of operation
keep your staff, families, facilities and clients as safe as possible. You can learn more about how to best prepare for a hurrican by visiting the City of Jacksonville’s website: http://www.coj.net/Departments/ Fire+and+Rescue/Emergency+Preparedness/ Get+Ready/default.htm and selecting the “Emergency Preparedness” service drop-down menu.
For many Second Harvest member agencies, USDA product is a critical part of their food distribution. Unfortunately, we have recently been made aware that the stimulus funds passed in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are exhausted. In addition, there has been a significant decline in USDA bonus commodities. These events foreshadow a decline in TEFAP product for the Feeding America national food network this year. Please be assured that Feeding America is working hard in Washington, D.C., to encourage lawmakers to increase funding available for the TEFAP program in the face of the incredibly high ongoing need facing food banks across the country. Here at Second Harvest North Florida, we will continue to work hard to ensure that as much food as possible is made available to our network of partner agencies.
Save the date! The annual Member Agency Conference will be held Tuesday, July 20, 2010, at the Household of Faith Ministry Center. In addition to some valuable training sessions and lunch, we will be unveiling new technology, programs and policies to help improve our network’s ability to fight hunger in North Florida. More details about this all-day event will be forthcoming. We want every agency to be represented at this year’s conference, so please be sure to put this on your calendar.
WE STRUGGLE TO MAKE ENDS MEET. I TRY TO FEED MY KIDS FIRST AND ME LAST.” “I WORK WITH CLIENTS WHO DO NOT ALWAYS HAVE ENOUGH FOOD TO EAT. THEY ARE CHILDREN AND MANY TIMES THEY CAN N ONCENTRATE ON THEIR STUDIES, BECAUSE THEIR PARENTS DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH FOOD IN THE HOME.” “IT DOESN’T HAPPEN OFTEN [THAT WE HAVE TO USE THE FOOD BANK], ONLY WHEN WORK SLOWS DOW WE DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO AVOID IT.” “WE STRUGGLE TO MAKE ENDS MEET. I TRY TO FEED MY KIDS FIRST AND ME LAST.” “I WORK WITH CLIENTS WHO DO NOT ALWAYS HAVE ENOUGH FOOD TO EAT. THEY A HILDREN AND MANY TIMES THEY CAN NOT CONCENTRATE ON THEIR STUDIES, BECAUSE THEIR PARENTS DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH FOOD IN THE HOME. “IT DOESN’T HAPPEN OFTEN [THAT WE HAVE TO USE THE FO
Non-Profit Org U.S. Postage PAID Jacksonville, FL Permit No. 1610
Second Harvest North Florida 1502 Jessie Street Jacksonville, FL 32206 www.WeNourishHope.org
Gathering resources. Sharing food. Serving people in need. WeNourishHope.org
The mission of Second Harvest North Florida is to distribute food and grocery products to hungry people and to educate the public about the causes and possible solutions to problems of domestic hunger.
CONTACT US
1502 Jessie Street Jacksonville, FL 32206 Main: 904.353.3663 (FOOD)
Member Agency Information: Jim Chynoweth Agency Relations Director 904.517.5553, fax 904.358.4281 jchynoweth@WeNourishHope.org
Volunteer Information: Leah Bezares, Office Manager 904.517.5550 lbezares@WeNourishHope.org
To Make Financial Donations: Karen Rieley, VP for Advancement 904.730.8281 krieley@WeNourishHope.org
uTo learn more, see http:// www.WeNourishHope.org/ how-to-help.
FROM SECOND HARVEST’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: This past May, I celebrated a year at Second Harvest North Florida. What a great year it has been. I can’t even begin to think about how green I was last year at this time. In some ways, it is best to not know what you don’t know – if you know what I mean! The good news is that progress has been made. We have worked really hard to select staff who represents our values. (You may recall that we published a Values Statement. If you haven’t seen it, please ask your Second Harvest contact for a copy.) We’ve embraced an attitude of service to our clients (you!) and made a pledge to never lose sight that on the other side of every pound of food we find is someone desperate for it. My hope is that you feel we’ve represented these ideals to you, and that you see our progress and our
commitment to grow in service to you and those we are all fighting so hard to help. As we head into year two of our work together, we will start to move to the next phase of our work; i.e., understanding how we can all best work together. During the last few meetings with the MAAC (Member Agency Advisory Committee), we have been discussing some changes to our policies and procedures that will define our partnership with you, our agencies. We will discuss these more at our agency conference on July 20 (see sidebar on the front for more details). They will, we hope, allow all of us to get more food quicker into the hands of your clients. Finally, I would like to say thank you to all of you for your great and hard work. We are proud of our alliance with you and look forward to ending hunger in our community. Thomas Mantz Executive Director, Second Harvest North Florida
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