Second Harvest Metrolina Food Bank - Blessings Newsletter Winter 2015 by Moore Creative

Blessings WINTER 2015

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Unless youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re hungryâ&#x20AC;Ś

jessica

trudy Al

Ron Thank You for turning Hungry Holidays into Happy Holidays.

Steve russell 2

Message from Kay Wow! Does anyone else find it hard to believe that another year has come and gone? Like all of my years now, 2014 flew by at the speed of light. I celebrated my 11th anniversary with Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina on January 11, 2015. What a blessing this place has been in my life. Every day here at the food bank, the staff and volunteers get to experience something amazing, or something heartwarming, or something inspiring, or all of the above. The willingness of our community to support us year round and especially during the holidays gives me hope and encouragement on a daily basis. One of my favorite stories this year was shared by one of our Mecklenburg County agencies, A Better World. This agency is one of the 650 we serve throughout our 19 county region in North and South Carolina. One of the services provided by A Better World is a counseling/support group for men, women and families in our community who are homeless. At one of their recent sessions, one of the participants commented to the leader of the group that they are receiving so much help and so many services, that there should be a way the group could give back and help others in need. The group decided to collect their pennies and donate them to Second Harvest. They sent over the $3.53 shown in the photo. They also sent us some very important reminders. First reminder is that every penny counts – with that $3.53 donation the food bank can provide almost 25 pounds of food for someone who is hungry in our community. Second reminder is that everyone can make a difference. In our 19 county region the population is 3.2 million. Imagine if everyone gave just one dollar – this would be the equivalent of close to half of our annual budget at the food bank. Or better yet, if everyone gave just one dollar per month – that would more than quadruple the funds available to the food bank to feed hungry children, seniors and families. When you consider these very important reminders, that $3.53 provides a whole lot of perspective on how we can all do more in the New Year. Thanks to each of you for all you have done to support our efforts in 2014 – let’s follow the example set by these homeless families and all strive to do a little more this year to help those who are hungry. One thing I am sure of is that it will bless you as much as it will bless the folks you are helping. Enjoy this year’s photo book and I wish you all health and happiness in 2015.

Harris Teeter | Chef’s Best

The 25th Annual Chef’s Best was held September 5, 2014 at the Crown Ballroom. This year’s event featured chefs from Blue, The Liberty, Barrington’s, Stagioni and The Asbury, along with a number of local vendors. Thanks to our friends from Harris Teeter, Cargill, CRVA, Art Institute, E&J Gallo and Front Porch Creamery, over $166,000 was raised for our Community Food Rescue Program.

Harris Teeter | Chefâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Best

Celebrating 25 Years of Rescuing Food & Feeding the Hungry

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Cornucopia

Just in time for Thanksgiving, our friends from Food Lion and the Charlotte Hornets helped Second Harvest provide a thousand families with a holiday meal. Each family received a turkey and all the fixings packed and distributed by Michael Jordan, all of the Hornets players and coaches, Food Lion executives and Second Harvest staff. Thanks to Food Lion Feeds and the Hornets for making the holidays brighter for so many in need.

DAY OF CARING Saturday, June 7, 2014

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On November 13, 2014, Second Harvest and Hendrick Automotive Group announced an exciting new program called Together We Feed Charlotte. The program will work with CMS schools to feed, care and connect with children in need in our community. As part of the announcement event, Hendrick Automotive Group made a major financial donation to implement the program in five high-need elementary schools in Charlotte.

Peaches with a Purpose

Thanks to our friends from Titan Farms and Harris Teeter for making a donation of nearly 26,000 pounds of peaches to Second Harvest Food Bank. The donation was made possible thanks to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Peaches with a Purposeâ&#x20AC;? sponsored by Titan Farms, the largest peach grower on the east coast. Full pallets of peaches were delivered to the five Together We Feed schools and provided to emergency pantries throughout our region.

Second Harvest Food Bank + Women of the Word = Together We Feed

Special thanks to all the members of Women of the Word for helping pack backpacks for Together We Feed schools. The ladies packed 1,440 backpacks on December 3rd, loaded with nutritious food, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and toys just in time for the holidays. The group had so much fun that they plan to make this an annual event.

www.secondharvestmetrolina.org

The 7th Annual Taste of the Panthers was held on October 13, 2014 at Bank of America Stadium. This event features dozens of your favorite Panthers, all of your favorite restaurants, and great Gallo wines. Since the event started in 2008, the Panthers have helped us raise $670,000 for our child hunger programs. Special thanks to Bank of America and Electrolux for sponsoring the event.

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Thanks to many of our partners pictured above, the 12th Annual Harris Teeter Harvest Feast Marathon was the most successful yet. Highlights included, David Weekley’s 8th Annual Turkey Drive which raised 1,608 turkeys and $10,000, milk and protein shakes donated by Organic Valley, a truck-load of eggs donated by Simpson’s Eggs, pet food donated by Rea Road Animal Hospital, 5,000 pizzas donated by Palermo’s, a food drive held by Primrose School and a tractor trailer load of chicken donated by Smart Chicken. Harris Teeter also sponsored their in-store holiday giving promotion but final totals were not available at press-time. We will provide an update in our next issue.

New to this year’s Harvest Feast was Panther player Colin Cole’s “Fill the Truck” Food Drive. Thanks to Colin, his wife Kaye, and their Panther friends - almost 20,000 pounds were raised for the Food Bank. Each year in conjunction with Harvest Feast, Harris Teeter and their vendors donate the food to pack 2,000 Thanksgiving bags for Second Harvest agencies. Volunteers are pictured below assembling the bags which were distributed the same day to agencies in Anson, Gaston, Catawba, Cleveland, Mecklenburg, Lancaster, Stanly, Cherokee, Union, NC, and Rowan counties.

www.secondharvestmetrolina.org

Camâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ThanksgivingJam

Thanks to Cam Newton and his family for providing a traditional Thanksgiving meal to 800 local kids. Children in attendance were from 10 different Kids Cafe sites in Mecklenburg, Gaston, York and Cabarrus counties.

In conjunction with Bank of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Annual Give-a-Meal program, Panther Tight End, Greg Olsen, and Bank of America community volunteers, joined Second Harvest Food Bank at a mobile pantry held at Druid Hills Elementary School. The mobile pantry held on December 9, 2014 provided parents of children at the school with staple goods, fresh produce, and turkeys just in time for the holidays. Charles Bowman, Bank of America North Carolina and Charlotte President, Kay Carter, Second Harvest Food Bank CEO and Greg Olsen, are pictured above distributing fresh apples to the hundreds of children in attendance. Thanks to Greg, to Bank of America and to everyone who participated by donating to the Give-a-Meal campaign. Because of your support, many of our neighbors will not have to face the challenge of choosing between providing food for their families or paying their utility bills and rent.

www.secondharvestmetrolina.org

CSHD_Letterhead.pdf

9/26/13

9:24 AM

CAROLINAS

CMY

Carolinas Student Hunger Drive Address City / State / Zip Phone Email Web Address

TOGETHER WE CAN

The 2014 Student Hunger Drive raised 143,000 pounds for Second Harvest and our partner agencies. Thanks to the hard work of all the students participating, our five-year total has exceeded 500,000 pounds.

www.secondharvestmetrolina.org

Second Harvest Food Bank was proud to again be selected as the official charity of the Novant Health Thanksgiving Day Parade. Special thanks to Center City Partners, Novant Health, Food Lion Feeds and Compass Group for helping us provide 500 families with Thanksgiving meals as part of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parade.

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Best in Shoe

Fashion Show

Wine, Shoes, Fashion, and great food. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Nuff said. Ladies - if you missed this event in 2014, start planning now for 2015.

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On August 5, 2014, Food Lion Feeds and Second Harvest surprised Spay Neuter Charlotte with a truck full of pet food and supplies. Cary Bernstein, Executive Director of Spay Neuter Charlotte, estimates that the savings as a result of the donated supplies will enable the facility to provide an additional 180 to 300 surgeries per year.

On December 22, 2014, Food Lion Feeds and Second Harvest surprised Mooresville Soup Kitchen with food boxes and turkeys for 150 families, food to stock their kitchen for future meals and one very special surprise. Second Harvest retired the truck pictured above and had it reconditioned and wrapped for Mooresville Soup Kitchen. The truck was the number one item on the soup kitchenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wish list. #bestholidaygiftever

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On September 16th, Food Lion Feeds along with Cody Zeller from the Hornets helped provide almost 300 families at Highland Renaissance Academy with special food boxes. Many thanks to Cody and Hugo for helping all of the students have a special day.

For the twelfth year, Sports Radio 610 AM WFNZ The Fan hosted Street Turkeys at The Doghouse located at the corner of Mint and Morehead. The station broadcasted live, the day before Thanksgiving, asking fans to drop by with turkeys, canned goods and cash donations. Special thanks to Food Lion Feeds and the Charlotte Hornets for helping to raise 918 turkeys and over $17,000 in financial donations.

Thanks to our friends at MetLife for providing Second Harvest with a $20,000 general operating contribution. We appreciate your support.

Thanks to EarthFare and their customers for donating $9,565 through their Give Back campaign during the holidays. Funds were raised at the stores in Ballantyne, South Park and Rock Hill.

On November 6, 2014, HoneyBaked visited Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina as part of their week of giving. The 5,214 pounds of ham donated in Charlotte are part of a goal that HoneyBaked has set to donate 1 million meals through the Feeding America network of food banks.

Thanks to our friends at Chicken Salad Chick for their coupon book fundraiser in support of Hunger Action Month. Second Harvest Food Bank received a check for $2,238 as part of the proceeds from the fundraiser. Thanks for your support.

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The First Annual Second Harvest Golf Tournament Thanks to Gold Sponsors Harry and Ruby Bryant and Silver Sponsor Jan Jackson for making our first tournament such a success. All proceeds will benefit child hunger programs in the counties shown on the map below.

Thanks to our friends from DP World, pictured above with Vonda Richey, Second Harvest Food Bank’s COO, we received three reconditioned fork lifts for use in our warehouse. DP World also supports the food bank through financial donations and by volunteering.

Thanks to our friends at American Airlines for their recent donation of $57,000 to Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina. The donation will support our child hunger programs and our Community Food Rescue program. Thanks to a $20,000 grant from the BJ’s Charitable Foundation, Second Harvest was able to provide 26 of our partner agencies in 13 counties in our service region with freezers and refrigerators. The new appliances will enable these agencies to receive and store more perishable items such as produce and dairy as well as frozen meat. We appreciate BJ’s commitment to helping food banks build capacity through their partner agencies.

www.secondharvestmetrolina.org

Thanks to all of the cyclists who participated in the 2014 Tour de Turns, benefiting Second Harvest, Loaves & Fishes and Friendship Trays. Second Harvest was fortunate to receive almost $4,000 in proceeds from the event.

On October 28th, one of our favorite bands Lake Street Dive appeared at the Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte. They hand-picked Second Harvest to attend and fundraise at the concert. Bridget Kearney, bassist for Lake Street Dive, sent this note: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our audience has been growing a lot over the last six months and we realized that with a large captive audience, we wanted to do what we can to include the presence of great local organizations and help support the communities that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re playing in in whatever way we can. â&#x20AC;&#x153; Many thanks to this great band for their support!

Thanks to our friends at Crosland for hosting a Stuff the Turkey for Second Harvest Event on November 19, 2014. The folks in the office made donations to help Second Harvest provide holiday meals for those in need in our community. Thanks to their efforts, over $6,600 was raised to make the holidays brighter for our neighbors.

Food 6,542 LBS

13,602 LBS

3,200 LBS

1,492 LBS

2,168 LBS

Drives 7,346 LBS

9,655 LBS

3,534 LBS

2,316 LBS

8,833 LBS

Military & Global Leadership Academy

SCHOOL

982 LBS

Providence Day School

4,700 LBS Carmel Middle School Student Council

3,222 LBS

Mallard Creek High School ROTC

2,184 LBS

Joseph W. Grier Academy 28

722 LBS

Lebanon Road Elementary

938 LBS

Randolph IB Middle School

14,553 lBS

Chesterbrook Academy

1,040 LBS Alexander Graham Middle School Ashley Park Elementary School

7,644 LBS

1,522 LBS

FOOD DRIVES

Thanks to 13 of our schools in Catawba County for collecting over 12,000 pounds to construct this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Castle of Cans. All of the food collected goes to food bank partner agencies in Catawba County. Special thanks to the Boy Scouts for building the structure.

Proving kids can make a difference - Tattie Teague and her friends collected 140 pounds of food for the hungry at Tattieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s birthday party (she turned nine) on August 26th. Thanks for your support!

Special thanks to the Miss Heart of the USA Pageant for collecting 2,751 pounds of food for Second Harvest as contestant admission to the pageant. Each contestant was required to provide 25 food items for entry to the pageant. Pictured above is Gabriela Alfaro who raised the most food for Second Harvest.

Thanks to Savannah, Lena, Morgan, Lauryn, and Alexandria, the Beautiful Bunch Book Club from Irwin Academic Center. These lovely young ladies collected food and delivered it to Second Harvest just in time for the holidays.

Pat Pat Neely Neely & & Family Family Dollar Dollar On September 15, 2014, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina hosted Family Dollar and Celebrity Chef Pat Neely as they announced a six-figure donation in support of Feeding America. Chairman and CEO, Howard Levine was on hand along with over 50 Family Dollar volunteers who donated and packed 1,000 backpacks.

Thanks to all of our friends at Fairfield Inn & Suites Uptown for donating to Second Harvest as part of their grand opening following renovation of the hotel. In addition to the $5,000 donation the hotel hosted a pet food drive that collected almost 1,000 pounds.

A great big thank you to all the kids who participated in the first annual Fit Fest. The event raised $1,358 for Together We Feed Charlotte.

Thanks to all of the players and coaches from Louisville and Georgia who dropped by Second Harvest on December 28th to pack thousands of backpacks for our Together We Feed schools. The teams were in town for the 2014 Belk Bowl.

From December 8 - 12, 2014, students at Charlotte Christian School collected books and small toys to add to the 1200 backpacks packed by the students for Together We Feed Charlotte. Every student at the school filled a backpack on December 12th, just in time for the holidays.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina was honored to be named by South Carolina Secretary of State, Mark Hammond, as one of 2014’s “Angels”. This award is given annually to the ten charities within the state of South Carolina who have the highest percentage of their expenditures going to program services. Second Harvest annually uses over 97% of our revenues towards program expenses, with less than 3% going towards overhead. The food bank was honored at a press conference at the Secretary of State’s Office in late November.

Congratulations to Performance Foodservice in Hickory, NC for hosting one of the largest food drives of the holiday season. The company sponsored “Working Together to Solve Hunger” a national food drive held from September 2 - 30, 2014. Of the 103,148 total pounds collected, 81,148 pounds were collected for Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, with the remainder benefitting our neighboring food bank in Winston-Salem. Creative ideas included a kiss the pig contest, a canstruction competition between departments, and a TP the VP event. Special thanks to Lowes Foods for helping collect in their stores.

Share the

and Get a Deal

Visit any Charlotte area Jiffy Lube (no appointment necessary) during the month of February and receive $10 off your oil change that day, plus a $10 coupon good for your next oil change; simply by bringing a donation of two or more non-perishable goods for the donation barrel! Look for the location nearest you by visiting us at www.charlottejiffylube.com; hours are Monday through Saturday 8:00am – 6:00pm. Thank you in advance for supporting efforts to feed the hungry in our community.

MARCH 13, 2015

11:30AM - 1:00PM