February
2008
|
Food Pantries Start 2008 with Empty Shelves
 |
The 2007 holiday season was filled with so many stories of hope, help, and need. We fed an astounding number of people in that time. From November 1 st – December 31 st, we served 21,720 hot meals in our community kitchen. That represents a 27% increase over the same time period in 2006. Our pantry was extremely busy as well, putting together holiday food boxes for our needy families. 6054 food boxes went out to needy families, a 12% increase over last year. Of course we also provided a holiday toy store, clothing boutique, showers, hair cuts, special events including a visit from Santa, counseling and reunification. None of this would have been possible without our volunteers, donors and supporters.
Just because the holidays are over, doesn’t mean that hunger is however. The huge need over the last two months has left our pantry shelves bare. For all of you who made resolutions to be more involved and give back to your community, there in no better time to get started than now! Click here to find out how to do a food drive, volunteer or become a donor.
The Need
 |
Last fiscal year ( October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007) we served over 1.3 million meals, almost 100,000 more than the prior year. Sadly an increasing number of these meals went to children and the elderly. Many of our elderly clients have been independent and self-sufficient their entire lives and only now, faced with skyrocketing insurance, taxes and medical costs, have they needed help. For many it may be the choice between buying life saving medicine or buying food. The children we see are wide eyed and far too often accompanied by parents who have recently lost their jobs or by grandparents who have had to become parents again. A box of food, food stamps assistance and a fuzzy faced stuffed animal are waiting for them here.
These are not the only of our friends and neighbors who need us. There are so many out there who want to find a way to a better life and just need the opportunity to do so. Often they live just outside our everyday vision, making their way through life and just needing that one chance to change everything. Thanks to you, we were able to help make that one chance a reality, click here and read the story of Maxi and Neferttiti.
Jarden Consumer Solutions (pictured here) really knows how to get hands on! They chopped and mixed and cooked and baked and cleaned for 5 days in December. Jarden staff worked in groups with each group selecting a day of service. When it was all done, we had 5 days worth of meals to be served in our community kitchen and they had 5 days worth of team and fellowship building.
There are so many different things that have to happen every day to enable us to do the work we do. Want to see what other great volunteer projects and opportunities there are? Click here to see our volunteers in action. Contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Chris, either via phone, 954-792-2EAT, or e-mail, Chris@FeedingBroward.org for more information or to volunteer.
Events
Like any good recipe, the recipe to stop hunger involves a lot of different ingredients, reflecting a variety of flavors. An integral part of the recipe is the faith based community. On Thursday, February 28th and Saturday, March 1 we will be inviting members from all over the faith community to join us in putting an end to hunger in Broward County. This faith based initiative will be a call to action, asking members to put their faith to work through service projects, and advocacy. Call Maureen at 954-792-2EAT or e-mail her at Maureen@feedingbroward.org to attend.
Empty Bowls - Coming Soon! Be sure to keep an eye on our website for information on Spring 2008 Empty Bowls events. If you would like to host an Empty Bowls event, contact Maureen at either
954-792-2EAT or via e-mail – Maureen@feedingbroward.org
CFP on the Web
At The Cooperative Feeding Program we are becoming quite the social butterflies! We’ve made our first foray into the world of social networking by starting groups on Facebook and My Space. If you already belong to one of these, click on the name, join our group and invite your friends! It’s a great way to keep in touch with what is going on at CFP, dialog about hunger, poverty, homelessness and other vital issues and let us know what you are thinking. We’ll also be starting a blog, a YouTube page and perhaps even journeying into Second Life. Do you have a blog of your own, want to make some powerful videos, love to be a virtual social butterfly or have some other great ideas for us? We’re looking for people and groups interested in some virtual volunteer opportunities. Contact Maureen at either Maureen@feedingbroward.org, post a note to her at one of our group pages, or make an old fashioned phone call to 954-792-2EAT.
Don’t forget to keep an eye on our website. If you haven’t visited lately, come take a look – www.FeedingBroward.org . We’re keeping it updated with news, events and of course the most pressing needs. You can see our new virtual grocery store too!
Sponsors and Donors
Looking for a great pasta dinner with friends and family? Join us for the 4th Annual Andy’s Family Pasta Dinner February 17th from 3:00 - 7:00 p.m. at the Signature Grand. Adult tickets are a $25 minimum donation and youth can join us free either by donating canned goods and other needed items or hosting a Firstgiving site. Lauren and Rachel Cagnetta are already off to a great start with their page - http://www.firstgiving.com/cagnettagirls! Younger folks will also have the opportunity to join us at Cooperative Feeding on February 9th to help restock the shelves with their donated items, take a tour, and see how CFP provides our services. For more information, or to purchase tickets, go to our website.
In the fall we had a fantastic fundraising event, Paradise Revisited: Changes in Latitude. Presented by Sun Dream Yacht Charters and the Sun-Sentinel, the event was a great success raising much needed funds and providing donors a fun night out. Special thanks to everyone who made the night such a great success, including Kristi Krueger, our fantastic emcee from Local Channel 10 News, all of our donors, and our special volunteers from the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Broward County Dietetic Association, and WHO (a student group working to wipe out hunger in Broward County from University School of Nova Southeastern University). Click here for the full story and photos of the evening.
Besides all the fund and fun raising that went on at the event, we had the opportunity to try out our first ever online auction. Powered by the good folks at MissionFish and eBay, it was a great success and has inspired us to create a new giving opportunity. Whether you like to buy fantastic items at auction, have an eBay store, or both you can join in! Here’s how you can help:
- Donate interesting items for us to auction through our own auction site;
- If you have your own auction site or eBay store, sign up to be a Community Seller for CFP and donate a portion of the proceeds of your sale to us;
- Besides helping to stop hunger, your charitable contribution also entitles you to the eBay Giving Works Fee Credit Policy, a tax deduction and your total auction site will receive added exposure as part of the campaign;
- Buy stuff! We bet you’ll find lots of great deals on things for you and an even greater feeling of satisfaction knowing that the proceeds go towards stopping hunger in Broward County.
If the online auction scene isn’t for you or if you are tired of giving and receiving (maybe even re-gifting) token gifts consider making and asking for donations in lieu of gifts this year. We’ll make it easy for you. Starting this month you’ll be able to make a donation in someone’s name through our website and we’ll send them a beautiful card recognizing the gift. You can also run your own fundraising drive through firstgiving.com. Firstgiving will help you set up a fundraising page linked to us, give you a cool widget you can post anywhere and help you e-mail your friends, inviting them to donate in lieu of gifts this season. If you have questions or need more information, contact Maureen either at Maureen@feedingbroward.org or by phone at 954-792-2EAT
 |
BankAtlantic joined us for a Serving and Service opportunity this month. Kim Oliver, Sonia Flores, Yvonne Ratto and Deborah Thompson, Kelly Michelin, Tanya Vega, Soraya Espinel, Janet Robinson, Susan Brust and David Beckey joined us for the morning to prepare the daily meal and serve it. They are pictured here on the serving line (in the order named above, left to right starting with the first row). BankAtlantic staff showed up bright and early to help prepare and serve the meal. Greeting all who came with big smiles and steaming trays of nutritious food, they spent a full morning filling hungry tummys and warming hearts on both sides of the serving line.
CFP in the news
Congratulations Marti! In honor of national Business Woman’s Week, Broward Professional Women’s Association (BPW) recognized our very own CEO Marti Forman as their Outstanding BusinessWoman of the Year. Staff and board joined her during the October 18th celebration. They further honored Marti by donating food and cash to CFP. We are proud to be represented by such an outstanding leader and visionary.
The Community Foundation of Broward featured us in their Fall ’07 Newsletter. Click on the link to read all about us! We’re featured on page 4, but there is also a great article on page 1 about the Hunger Survey.
Kristy Krueger and Anjanette Flowers from Local Channel 10 did great spots on us in the last few months highlighting the rise in food insecurity and our need for help in filling the pantry. Click the link to read the latest story and see the video: "Food Bank Already in Need of Donations".
Special Projects
Fiscal Accountability, Transparency and Governance – CFP is working to be a leader in nonprofit fiscal accountability, transparency and governance. Toward that end, we have posted many of our corporate documents on our website. Click here to see our 990, audited financials and more. We’re proud that we keep our overhead low and services high!
We are pleased to announce 3 new grants were received in October; two from the Community Foundation of Broward and one from the Sun-Sentinel Children’s Fund. The Community Foundation’s awards were from the John C. Graves Charitable Fund, enabling us to expand our collaboration with the GLCC, and a capacity building grant from Boards in Action!. Our friends at The Sun-Sentinel Children’s Fund awarded us with a grant this month so that we can continue to provide our core services.
On October 19th, We Matter led a peaceful demonstration along Broward Boulevard. 123 homeless members of our community stood on corners of Broward Boulevard from 3rd Avenue to I-95 with signs ranging from “My name is Andy….and I am Homeless” to “ Don’t put somebody down unless you plan to help them up”. The demonstration served as the kickoff function for the group which meets at CFP and is a coalition of those with and without homes. To view photos of the event, go to our Facebook and MySpace group pages.
|
|
