PRSRT STD U.S. Postage
Community Market of the Food Bank of East Alabama 375 Industry Drive Auburn, Alabama 36832
PAID
Opelika, AL PERMIT NO. 505
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Helen Keller
FEEDING
the
Thank you
THE NEWSLETTER FOR COMMUNITY MARKET
for supporting the fight
SPRING 2017
against hunger
Your generous support does more than provide nourishment to our hungry neighbors in need, it offers HOPE. Because of your generosity, we provided food for more than 720,100 meals last year to children, seniors and working parents struggling to make ends meet. THANK YOU for joining with us as we continue to work toward our shared vision of a hunger-free community.
The Challenge of Summer When the school bells ring to signal the start of summer vacation, millions of children who receive free or reduced price lunch at school during the regular school year no longer have access to those meals. Summer is an especially challenging time for food pantries that see a dramatic increase in the number of families with children seeking assistance. The Community Market needs kid-friendly, healthy food for distribution. Want to help? Consider donating jars of peanut butter and jelly to help fill our shelves.
WANT TO HELP? Here’s 5 Ideas!
• Donate peanut butter and jelly for kids’ lunches. Another good suggestion is mac & cheese.
• Drop off plastic grocery bags (remember more than 400 bags are used each day!)
• Donate extra produce from your garden or pick up something special for Community Market at the local farmer’s market.
• Financial support. For every contribution of $15, a family can select up to 75 pounds from the shelves.
• Consider volunteering your time to help stock shelves, do office work, answer the phone, or interview folks. Talk with Elsie or Carolyn to learn more about how to become involved.
VOLUNTEER
CORNER
“I first came to volunteer at the Food Bank with a group of families from Beth Shalom as part of our community service. I volunteered at the Food Bank for about a year. When I heard Bryan Stevenson with the Equal Justice Initiative speak at Auburn University about the importance of proximity to the community in order to gain a better understanding of each other, it made me step out of the warehouse in order to work with the people who come through the doors of this much needed community institute. It’s a great honor meeting clients, fulfilling their food needs, while giving them a small break from the constant struggle to make ends meet.” -- Adeet Handel
The 4th annual Auburn-Opelika Empty Bowls, held on February 25th at Auburn’s Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center, was a great success and raised nearly $7,000 in support for the Community Market! Thanks to the generosity of those who supported this event and made donations to the Food Bank, more than 26,900 meals were provided to families in need. Special thanks to the Auburn and Opelika Parks & Recreation Department, the Auburn Ceramics Department, and the Potters of Rocky Brook for all their hard work which helped to provide food to many of our food-insecure neighbors.
By The Numbers….. Stalin once said “A single death is a tragedy and a million deaths are a statistic.” In the same way, when we hear that in Lee County there are more than 27,000 food-insecure people and that nearly 7,500 of them are children, it is hard for us to absorb the numbers or to fully grasp the impact. Numbers are for the mind and stories are for the heart. Real-life stories draw power from the images they evoke. Every day is an experience at the Community Market and no two days are alike! The interactions with people coming for help are at times heart-warming, at times frustrating, at other times joyful experiences. We’d like to share a few of these stories: • A disabled veteran was embarrassed about asking for help with food but explained that his veteran benefits were minimal. He indicated he didn’t know what he would have done without this help. • A newly married couple who both have intellectual disabilities were thrilled to find sparkling grape juice on the shelves and happily took it home to celebrate their wedding. • A woman with five children, including a five month old baby, were found sleeping on a sidewalk outside a local restaurant and brought to the Community Market. The family needed food and diapers to get through the night until they could get to a homeless shelter in Columbus. • One of our college student volunteers was so moved by the plight of a client with worn out clothes that the volunteer pulled off his socks and gave them to the man. • One mother with two teenage sons says “they eat all day!” She’s so grateful for Community Market being such a good source of food. These are part of the human story that all of us share.
MISSION STATEMENT: Feeding the hungry of our community by giving the needy access to available food resources. Ever wondered why nonfood items are so popular at the Community Market? People coming for assistance seem to select nonfood items such as laundry detergent or toilet paper as soon as they are put on the shelf. Why? Because food stamps (SNAP benefits) can only pay for food. Food stamps do not cover items like shampoo, soap, diapers, paper products or other personal hygiene items (which are often quite expensive.) “It was heartwarming to get a call from a woman who just wanted to say thanks for the produce she had received that morning at the Community Market. She had okra and collards boiling on the stove and just couldn’t wait to eat it for dinner. She went on to say that people may not always remember to say “thanks” and she just wanted us to know how much she appreciated the fresh produce.“ – Elsie Lott The Lee County Association of Realtors truly outdid themselves this year! Support from their annual Denim and Diamonds Gala will provide food for nearly two full months at the Community Market. Since more than 850 unduplicated households are served each month through Community Market, this gift is touching many, many lives.
