Feature President & CEO Message: Ginette Bott In my first letter to you as President & CEO, I’d like to express my most sincere appreciation for all of your support. I’ve been on the staff since 2009, but my involvement with Utah Food Bank stretches back more than 25 years. Many of you might know me as the “Food Bank Lady,” but what you might not know is that I once struggled to feed my children. Someone cared enough to help me then, and I have been doing my best to pay it forward ever since.
Fighting Hunger Statewide is my singular passion, and I am deeply committed to providing the very best support possible to adults and children throughout our state who face food insecurity. Thank you for your continued dedication to our goal of ensuring that parents don’t have to put their children to bed on an empty stomach like I once did.
Spotlights Program Pulse: Summer Feeding Program Summer is a critical time of need for Utah kids because when school closes for summer, they lose access to school meals. This places additional strain on already thin budgets. Kids also lose access to our Mobile School Pantry program, which served close to 160,000 children this school year alone. During the summer, those same trucks serve free meals to children 18 and under at parks and community centers across the state. Last summer, we served over 87,000 of these meals and plan to top 100,000 meals this summer with service at over 40 sites. If you or anyone you know is looking for summer meal resources for children, text “FOOD” to 877-877 for resources in your area or for a list of our sites visit UtahFoodBank.org/SummerMeals.
Did You Know? Summertime means no school, but it can also mean no lunch for 1 in 6 Utah children. It’s not too late for your business to support our Summer Business Food & Fund Drive by signing up to host a food or fund drive in your workplace. For details, visit UtahFoodBank.org/Summer.
Volunteer Spotlight: Open Hearts Helping Hands To help celebrate National Volunteer Month in April, we hosted our annual Open Hearts Helping Hands luncheon where we recognized some of our top volunteers over the past year. Last year alone, we were the beneficiaries of 83,418 volunteer hours, the equivalent of 40 full time employees! We simply do not have the resources to hire an additional 40 staff members, so when we say that volunteers are the heartbeat of our organization, we mean it! This year’s honorees included: Board Member of the Year: Katelyn Thompson of University of Utah Health Corporate Group of the Year: University of Utah Health Individual Volunteer of the Year: Bruce Lindberg Group of the Year: The Hunger Alliance Thank you to EVERYONE who spends their valuable time volunteering to help us feed Utahns facing hunger, and please join us in celebrating our awardees!
Client Corner: Emily (Kids Cafe Recipient) I live with my sister, brother and my dad in a trailer right now, but we have been homeless before. My hobbies are art, music and marine biology—I like to daydream about my future a lot. My dad refuses to eat until we all have a full stomach. When I’m really hungry, my trick is to drink lots of water. It’s rare that I get to eat breakfast, but when I don’t eat it my stomach hurts all the time and I have a hard time focusing. During the summer, we go to the park to get free lunch because without school, there’s no breakfast or lunch. I try to get my favorite vegetables, broccoli and carrots, at school because I don’t get vegetables at home. This food has helped me so much—if I didn’t have the free meals from school and the Kids Cafe meals we get at the library, my family would probably starve. If I could say something to the people who give us this food, I’d tell them thank you very much and that I owe you one in the future.
Recent Events Night at the Warehouse Gala: April 28 Close to 400 guests joined us for our 9th annual Night at the Warehouse gala for a fun evening of fundraising to fight hunger. Guests enjoyed the great outdoors theme and the phenomenal items available in our silent and live auctions, as well as the announcement of our new President & CEO, Ginette Bott. Congratulations to the winner of our Iron Chef Competition, David Chen of University of Utah Health, and an extra special thanks to presenting sponsor Wheeler Machinery Co. for helping make the evening a success!
Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive: May 12 This year marked the 26th anniversary of this food drive, which relies on our incredible partnership with the National Association of Letter Carriers. On the second Saturday in May every year, your letter carrier does double duty—delivering your mail and picking up hope for the 392,000 Utahns facing hunger. Volunteers were stationed at post offices across the state to receive and sort food donations, which were then loaded on trucks bound for our warehouses and partner agencies. Thanks to the kind donations people left by their mailboxes and the letter carriers’ hard work, we collected the equivalent of over 577,754 meals!
Driving Out Hunger: June 4 This year’s annual golf tournament was presented by Sysco Intermountain and held for the first time at Hidden Valley Country Club. The weather couldn’t have been better for the 120 golfers who stepped up to the tee to fill a plate for Utahns facing hunger, along with a deer or two and even a coyote who wanted in on the fun. Unfortunately, no one took home the hole-in-one car provided by Riverton Chevrolet, but starting Monday morning golfing for a good cause more than made up for it!
Save the Date
Visit UtahFoodBank.org/Events for complete details! Summer Business Food & Fund Drive: Through August 31 When we go on summer break, there’s also a break in kids’ access to reliable meals—and already-struggling families have to find additional resources to feed their kids. Sadly, at this time, donations also slow down. Like hunger, businesses don’t take a summer break, so we ask businesses and organizations of all shapes and sizes to host food or fund drives in the workplace. Thanks to sponsor Les Olson Company for joining the fight once again! Sign up to host a food or fund drive at UtahFoodBank.org/Summer.
H.A.M. It Up Against Hunger Race: September 29 Southern Utah has some of the highest food insecurity rates in the state, and our Southern Distribution Center in St. George is a key component in helping us reach those who need it most in the region. To call attention to this issue, we are looking forward to our fourth annual H.A.M. It Up Against Hunger Race, held at Crosby Confluence Park in St. George. If you live in the area or know anyone who would like to join us for this family-friendly 5K, please visit our website for more information!
Become a Cointributor We recently launched a revolutionary way of fighting hunger by using spare change from everyday purchases! Sign up for Cointributor or download the free app, which automatically rounds up your purchases and donates the monthly total to Utah Food Bank. With the ability to stretch each $1 donation into $7.48 worth of goods and services, just imagine the impact your daily coffee (or soda) purchase could have! Visit UtahFoodBank.org/Cointributor.
Our mission of Fighting Hunger Statewide is only possible because of the devoted time, talent, energy and resources that the community provides. Without you, we could not help those who need it most. Here’s how you can help:
Give Food. Everyone in Utah needs
to eat. When you donate food, you help make sure that everyone can. Donate at a variety of convenient drop-off locations, visit your local food pantry to drop off items or use Utah Food Bank’s Virtual Food Drive to save a trip to the store.
Give Time. It’s been said that time is
our most valuable commodity. At Utah Food Bank, we’ll help you put it to good use. Last year, Utah Food Bank utilized 83,418 volunteer hours—the equivalent of 40 full-time employees!
Give Money. A $1 donation is actually
$7.48 worth of goods and services in our hands. This is possible through generous food donations and tremendous community support. Utah Food Bank distributes resources free-of-charge statewide, and all contributions are tax-deductible.
Food Bank Facts Servings Per Year: 32.7 million meals Servings Weight: 39.2 million pounds Avg. Cost Per Meal in Utah
Food Collection Sources
$2.79 % of Total
Grocery Rescue
38%
National Commercial Donations
21%
Government Commodities
18%
Local Commercial Donations
15%
Food Drives
5%
Purchased
3%
Funding Sources Community
38%
Grants/Foundations
23%
Corporate/Sponsorships
19%
Government Contracts
18%
United Way
2%
General Information Counties Served
29
Partner Agencies
149
Volunteer Hours Served Miles Traveled
83,418 488,538
UFB Values: Dignity, Hope, Community, Compassion, Integrity, Transparency, Respect, Vision, Stewardship, Partnership, Open Communication, Teamwork, Creativity
· Scouting For Food · Night at the Warehouse · Stamp Out Hunger · Summer Business Food & Fund Drive · Driving Out Hunger · H.A.M. It Up Against Hunger Race · Hunger Action Month · Utah Human Race · Holiday Food & Fund Drive
INGREDIENTS
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