Giving the Girl Scouts a Tour!

Girl Scout Troop 909 stopped by over the weekend to take a tour of the Food Bank and learn about hunger in the region they call home. It was a fun morning as the girls were armed with thoughtful questions and a healthy amount of gumption. We have high hopes for these future leaders! See you soon, girls!

The girls are pictured above with Food Bank of the Albemarle's Executive Director, Liz. 

The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Epsilon Chi Lambda Chapter come to the Food Bank!

The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Epsilon Chi Lambda Chapter stopped by the food bank recently to lend a hand and make a contribution to our efforts here in northeast NC. Their generous donation of $100.00 will provide over 400 meals for people who are in need of emergency food assistance. Thank you! 

Hunger over the weekend

Children who are in food insecure households will most likely suffer from hunger over the summer when they no longer have access to free or reduced breakfast and lunch at school for the 2.5 months they are out of school (read more about child hunger here). What is not commonly thought about or addressed is that children who are in food insecure households often deal with hunger over the weekend and over school vacations.
The Food Bank of the Albemarle supports over 130 hunger relief partners who work towards eradicating hunger in our region of northeast North Carolina. Some of these partners are tackling the issue of weekend hunger, too. Ahoskie Food Pantry, located in Ahoskie, NC, is working to provide backpacks with food to children who are at risk for weekend hunger. The backpacks are distributed discreetly on Fridays to 47 children in two schools. The pantry started with just 7 kids, but with additional support from the community is now serving 47 children every weekend. Each backpack has 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 single servings of milk and juice, and 2 snacks to sustain children through the weekend. The children have reported they are able to concentrate better upon returning to school on Monday - which is enough anecdotal proof to the program's administrator, Carolyn, that the program model is a success!
In other parts of northeast North Carolina other agencies are also working to ensure children are adequately fed over the weekend. The Edenton Chowan Food Pantry in Edenton, NC has gotten its weekend hunger program off the ground this school year. Children are discreetly selected, based upon their family's need, to participate in the program. The Edenton Chowan Food Pantry weekend hunger program started the fall 2012 school semester. Originally the pantry was providing for 50 children in grades 1-4, but by the spring 2013 semester they were able to expand to 100 kids per weekend. This is only addressing 20% of the need in this school system, however, and efforts to reach all children are being made.
Eagle's Wings - a pantry in Washington, NC - provided 1,702 backpacks in collaboration with area churches to children in 2 school systems in Beaufort County.
The benefits to programs like these compound over the years as children grow. It is true that they are receiving food to sustain them over weekends and holiday vacations, but the real benefit is that they can perform at school to their highest potential and will not fall behind. Maybe it should be said that No Child Left Behind should start with full bellies.
Childhood hunger is a serious problem. In northeast North Carolina nearly 1 in 4 children are considered food insecure. Many schools have populations where 80% or more of children qualify for free and reduced lunch. Children who do not get a balanced and complete diet do not perform at the same level as children who are in food secure households. When children in food insecure households get sick or injured, it takes their bodies longer to recuperate. Overall, it leads to unprepared work forces which doesn't benefit anyone.
To read more about weekend hunger, click here.

Prudential Retirement makes $5,000 donation!

We were so surprised when George Davis from Prudential Retirement stopped by last week unannounced and as friendly as can be! He shocked us with a $5,000 donation to help fight hunger in northeast North Carolina! We were flabbergasted! That is enough to provide approximately 20,000 meals!

We are always in awe of how the community supports the Food Bank. Those who face hunger do not fit any mold. They do not look like anyone in particular, they are not always those living under the poverty level, many are working poor, some have saved and prepared for retirement, but find it hard to keep up with the cost of living. Our community is amazing in that it understand this exact fact: hunger can be you or me.

This is the 3rd year Prudential Retirement has made a commitment to fighting hunger in northeast North Carolina. We are beyond grateful for this support. Below is our Director of Operations, Jim Thomas, with Prudential's George Davis.

And now a little about us...

Welcome to the blog for the Food Bank of the Albemarle! The purpose of this blog is to have a platform in which we can post happenings around the Food Bank and to inform you about hunger in northeast North Carolina. We are a Feeding America member food bank and proudly serve 15 counties in northeast North Carolina.

The Food Bank of the Albemarle was founded in 1982 out of the efforts of concerned individuals who wanted to address hunger in Elizabeth City. A public meeting chaired by then County Commissioner, Bill Owens, was held. The idea of food banking was introduced and the community responded. Many area churches, businesses and individuals came together to collect food and funds and got the Albemarle Food Bank and Food pantry Inc. off the ground with Ms. Deborah Fox at the helm. 

Year after year the food bank grew and grew as it sought to provide emergency food assistance to those in need. Still today, the Food Bank of the Albemarle does not reach all those in need around the region - but that's getting too far ahead. Ms. Fox guided the food bank for 17 years and expanded its service territory to 15 counties before leaving. Currently, the Food Bank is led by executive director, Liz Reasoner. 

In the last fiscal year (7/1/2011-6/30/2012) the Food Bank of the Albemarle provided 4,774,004 pounds of food to over 130 member agencies throughout the region - that equates to 3,978,337 meals! It is our goal to provide emergency food assistance to people in need and help stretch limited budgets. 

 

Please visit our webpage at www.afoodbank.org and visit us on Facebook often. You can also follow us on Twitter @FoodBankerEC!