Because of you, more children will start the school day ready to learn, without the pang of hunger as a distraction. Our Back-to-School campaign reminds us that along with pencils and paper, children need a daily supply of food to take on new concepts, run on playgrounds, and socialize more successfully.
Our Community Health and Agriculture Education teams have collaborated to develop the new Food Shuttle Academy, an online learning platform with free, self-paced lessons on health, nutrition, agriculture, and more!
Our Spring Match challenge, made possible by generous funders, including SOLV Energy and the Mead Family Foundation, exceeded the $105,000 goal, raising an additional $70,000 to erase hunger!
Love, Tito’s has a heart for community gardens and increasing access to fresh, healthy foods. Their philanthropic Love, Tito’s Block to Block program, reconnects neighborhoods and creates community gardens and farms throughout the United States. Our hearts are in full bloom knowing that our Camden Street Garden will be the next beneficiary of Block to Block, allowing neighbors with mobility challenges to access our many activities more easily.
They spend most days combining chemicals but last week Blue Cross Blue Shield's Pharmacy Department combined fresh produce at the Durham Service Center. Nutritious filled grocery bags were delivered to the surrounding community at Holton Career & Resource Center.
HR employees from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina volunteered at our Durham Service Center last week packing 250 bags for BackPack Buddies! The group was enthusiastic about filling the bags with meals for kids who might not have food to eat on the weekend outside school doors. Take a look at the video below to hear from Kim Evans and see the whole group packing wholesome meals for kids in Durham!
Out at the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Durham Service Center, a new OFL class began last Friday. The class is for teenagers attending high school nearby in Durham. The class started off with introductions and everyone shared why they were interested in being in the class. The predominant answer from all of them was, “I enjoy cooking and want to learn more.” One student, Bruce, already has such a passion for cooking that he knows he wants to be a chef and go into the food industry. His goal after graduation is to attend Johnson and Wales in Charlotte!
During the nutrition section of the class, Bruce proved his knowledge about the subject. The nutritionist had him compare two types of granola bars, and he was able to tell everyone why one bar may be better for you than the other, by pointing out things like calories, sodium, and protein. Though he seems to know a lot already, he modestly said that he is in the class because he wants to be more knowledgeable about healthy eating so he can pass that information along to others.
These students are also incredibly lucky, because they have Chef Terri as their OFL class chef! She taught them some neat tricks of how to cut an onion without making yourself cry and without making it fall apart!
The meal the students made was Turkey Tacos. These made the Durham Service Center smell so good everyone started salivating. The students split up into pairs to work on the parts of the meal: the meat filling, the salsa, and the slaw. The two girls who were cooking the meat filling were very excited when Chef came over and offered the idea of adding in spices. They had never cooked with spices and were excited to learn what foods went well with different types of herbs. Chef taught them about common Mexican spices, like cayenne pepper, garlic salt, cumin and oregano. One of the girls said she usually cooks for her entire family and is happy to now have new recipes to serve them, especially since she has new spices to try out for her foods. She’s ready to come back next week to see what they make!
When it was time to sit down and eat, the room became silent, and all you could hear was munching. Before leaving, Bruce summed up the day for everyone by saying:
I really enjoyed the class and will definitely be back. All of the food we made was great and I look forward to the next few weeks.”
Yesterday was not only a wonderful day of service in Raleigh at the Food Shuttle, but it was an exciting day at our Durham Service Center, too! The 70+ volunteers were unbelievable yesterday helping pack 150 grocery bags for seniors, and another group of volunteers conducted 10 food drives across the Greater Triangle for BackPack Buddies! After the food from the drive came in, volunteers helped sort and pack about 300 BackPacks! 2010 is going to be an exciting year in Durham. Let Jerome know if you'd like to join the Food Shuttle in fighting hunger in Durham by sending him an email to DurhamCoord@foodshuttle.org Watch this video to get a glimpse of the excitement surrounding the day of service yesterday in Durham.
Karla Young shows up every week excited to make sure shelves are stocked to capacity with wholesome food for all of the kids in BackPack Buddies.
This is just another way of getting involvedhere at the Durham Service Center.
Thanks, Karla!!
The Durham Service Center (DSC) is proud to announce the successful completion of its first food drive courtesy of the Ann Ringland Group. This is an excellent example of what the Durham Community is all about- helping!
In a little over a week the Ringland Group raised approximately 1000 lbs. of food. Congratulations on a job well done!
To those planning future food drives/fundraisers, please Jerome- DurhamCoord@foodshuttle.org regarding any assistance. Together we can all make a difference in fighting hunger and food insecurity in our beloved community!
