|
 |
|
DECEMBER
2006
|
|
TOP NEWS
USDA
REPORT - FOOD INSECURITY INCREASES IN NEW MEXICO
The
recent USDA report confirms the findings of our recent study
- Faces of Hunger in New Mexico 2005
- that more New Mexicans are going hungry.
The report shows
New Mexico
falling to #1 in the nation with the highest percentage of
our population living at risk for hunger.
An estimated 16.8% of New Mexicans report that they
are food insecure
or that they do not have enough food or money to purchase
food. Most alarming is that the number of individuals
at risk for severe hunger increased to 5.7%.
These individuals
reported going hungry for several days for at least 7 months
of the prior year.
The USDA releases Food
Insecurity in America every fall and ranks food
insecurity or hunger among all 50 states.
This year’s release of the report was moved from the
end of October to the middle of November.
The USDA has stopped using the term
Food Insecurity with
hunger and adopted
Very low food security. Roadrunner Food Bank and the
entire America’s Second
Harvest network strongly disagree with the terminology
change. “Words have meaning.
Let’s not cover up what is a devastating reality for
too many Americans,” says Melody
Wattenbarger, Executive Director of
Roadrunner Food Bank, “To go without food for several days
is the same as being hungry. To call it anything else is
demeaning.”
|
|
Food
Drive
News |
|
Holiday Food Drive A Success!
Hundreds of area
businesses, government offices, schools, retail
stores, and civic groups are participating in this
year’s Holiday Food Drive. During the weeks before
Thanksgiving, Roadrunner Food Bank collected
approximately 100,000 pounds of food!
Letter Carriers Food Drive – Thanks to the hundreds
of Albuquerque area members of the National
Association of Letter Carriers and the community---
with your help we raised approximately 200,000
pounds on Saturday November 18th!
Sortin’ Sunday -- The very next day on November 19th
over 400 volunteers helped sort the food at our
warehouse. Thank you to the many families, scout
troops, businesses, church groups and friends who
gave up their afternoon to help feed our hungry
neighbors.
Still Want to Help?
Can’t get to the food bank but have that bag of
food? Stop by any Albertson’s or Bank of America
location before December 23 to drop off food. Or to
host a food drive, contact Patty at 247-2052 ext 130
to sign up!
|
|
|
Volunteers make the Difference
A
sincere
THANK YOU
to the more than 500 volunteers who have helped with the
2006 Holiday Food Drive so far! |
 |
Upcoming Events |
|
Souper Bowl
2007!
 Souper Bowl 2007, presented by Roadrunner Food Bank
and New Mexico Mutual, is approximately 6 weeks away! This year’s
Souper Bowl is January 27, 2007, with kick-off at 11am.
For non-Souper Bowl aficionados – For only $30, you get great soup
and desserts by
Albuquerque’s finest Chefs in a relaxed
atmosphere. Plus, Rodney Bowe and Sweet Life will be onstage with
great jazz music.
Among this year’s restaurants and hotels are Flying
Star Cafe, Prairie Star, Gruet Grille, Rancher’s Club, Pinkies,
Hotel Albuquerque, St. James Tea Room, Ambrosia, Great American Land
and Cattle, CNM Culinary
Arts, JohnDhi’s, and Chef Du Jour. Plus, we’re adding restaurants
daily!
 Our Souper Silent Auction is back – this year’s
staff favorite are 2 tickets on Southwest Airlines to anywhere in
the United States.
We have great travel packages, cooking baskets, and the fabulous
limited Beanie Babies are back for another year.
What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon in
January? Great food
music and fun, while helping to feed the almost 240,000 hungry New
Mexicans Roadrunner serves each year.
Read More >>>
Souper Bowl tickets make
great Holiday Gifts!
Get your tickets now – you can order them using the link below or by phone at 247-2052, ext 129. Get them early, last year we
sold out!
Get Your
Tickets HERE
>>> |
Program
News |
|
FOOD FOR KIDS Update
 Since
our last update, the Food for Kids (FFK) program has
continued growing! We now have a very full delivery
schedule with 35 schools participating this year and
approximately 2700 students being served each week.
Thanks
to the generosity of our local community, the FFK schools
have been able to participate in two very special holiday
activities:
Thanksgiving
– Thanks
to the Albuquerque Journal and Intel,
we were able to distribute 350 backpacks that were
pre-packed with food for a family. Not every family
received a backpack but the neediest of the needy were
helped by this as the backpacks contained approximately 20
pounds of food.
Santa Kids - Thanks to Wal-Mart,
each school has nominated a handful of families to receive
Christmas toys for all of the children in the
family. Children in the Albuquerque Public School system
have submitted essays to become Santa Kids to go on shopping
sprees purchasing gifts for the Food for Kids children.
Delivery day will be on December 15th and should
be a ton of fun as we get to give the parents the prettily
wrapped packages. Just think of the fun this will
bring on Christmas morning.
Thanks
to all our local sponsors for making these two events
happen: the Albuquerque Journal and Intel for
helping with the backpacks and Wal-Mart and DW
Turner for the Christmas gifts.
We’ll
now take a break until the New Year rolls around. Have a
great winter holiday!
|
|
SENIOR HELPINGS
Update
Senior
Helpings has had a few very busy months. In August, we
conducted our first formal review of all our distributors.
Then in October, 10,000 Senior Helpings Boxes were created
for Make A Difference Day. The event was a lot of work
and a lot of fun and extremely productive! It was our
first time creating so many boxes in a short time – while
keeping our doors open for regular distribution. It
took a huge effort for the staff and volunteers to make it
all happen. We were very proud and thankful of
everyone who helped.
Every
agency and senior site receiving boxes has now been visited
and completed a new round of paperwork. This helps us
ensure that the boxes are being used properly and that the
right people are receiving the support. As a part of
the review, we were able to meet many of the recipients of
the boxes. The overwhelming thanks and gratitude we
received was amazing. To all of you who are financial
supporters or program volunteers – we want to pass their
thanks to you for making the program happen. Thank you
very much. |
|
EMERGENCY FOOD FOR FAMILIES Program
|
Our new program is taking off and really making an
impact. The Emergency Family Food box started
as a program to be used to fill a need expressed by
our Food for Kids schools. They had reported
that they were often the first institution to be
aware that a family was in a state of crises and
needing help. Roadrunner Food Bank responded
by creating a box that would feed a family of 4 for
a 24 hour period. The box contains food that
is prepared and ready to eat out of the package – we
even include the utensils, napkins and drinks so if
one were in their car they could use all the
products without any additional cooking utensils.
Through the schools, we have reached approximately
55 families in crises since the program began in
late September.
We are considering an additional use for the boxes.
The Food Bank receives anywhere from 30-50 referrals
a week (70-115 people) from needy families looking
for food. Most are referred to an agency for
long-term support and the process works well for
them. A small portion of those calls though come
from some of our most vulnerable: people who are
either homebound or medically fragile and can’t get
out to an agency but need immediate assistance. Very
few agencies can handle deliveries and it takes time
for our agency partners to be able to get a new
person needing permanent support introduced into the
system. These individuals need something to tide
them over until they can get regular assistance.
|
|
That is where our boxes come into play. The food
they receive in the box will easily help someone
through that wait period while we find the right
agency to help them long term. Getting the box to
them was the next issue to tackle. We are working on
two pilot programs to address deliveries.
As we learn more about the needs in our community,
the goals of the program and its success, we’ll keep
you posted. If you would like to help by being a
volunteer or delivery driver, please give us a call
and we’ll direct you to an agency in your area that
desperately needs your support. For those of you
already volunteering – keep it up! Your support is
what makes our distribution network effective. |
If you have any questions
about the Food For Kids, Senior Helpings, or Emergency Food For Families
programs, please call Teresa Johansen at 247-2052 ext 124 or
email her at
teresa@rrfb.org. |
|
|
Local Business Promotions
Supporting the Food Bank |
|
Owl Cafe - Gingerbread House Raffle
The Owl Cafe (at 800 Eubank NE) is an Albuquerque institution
as is its annual
Gingerbread House Raffle. This
 year, Vicki
and Ski Martin are
donating
100 percent of the raffle proceeds to the Food Bank.
Vicki Martin creates and hand builds every gingerbread house from
scratch. It takes two days to complete each of the houses.
Raffle tickets are $1.00 each.
The
drawing will be held on Saturday, December 23rd.
Stop by the
Owl Cafe and tell them Roadrunner sent you! |
Holiday
Giving |
|
It's Still Not To Late To Donate!
The
Roadrunner Development Staff will be available to assist you in
making donations to the food bank right up until December 31st.
To either help satisfy your tax deduction needs or for help in
completing your charitable investment plans; please call Randy
Gleason, Director of Development, at 247-2052 ext 102 anytime.
These calls are transferred to his cell phone when he is not in the
office, and he would be glad to assist at any time.
We
are increasing in numbers of Full Plate Society Members each
month and are now at a total of 92! To join this group of generous
donors who pledge $1000 or more per year for 5 years, please see the
Full Plate Society section below. To become a member of our
Roadrunner Club, whose valuable pledges are from $1 to $999 per
year, CLICK HERE.
Whether you grace us with your gift of time or gift of money or
both, your contributions allow us to serve hungry citizens all over
the state of New Mexico. You make the difference! We are
proud to have you as donors and volunteers! Please let us know how
we can be of further assistance to you.
|
|
Share the Holiday Spirit . . . .
with Unique Gift Cards from Roadrunner Food Bank!
 This
holiday season, Roadrunner Food Bank is again offering special
holiday gift cards for donors
wishing to make contributions in honor of friends, colleagues,
clients and family members. Roadrunner Holiday Cards are a great
way to spread the season of sharing with those in our community who
are most vulnerable to hunger . . . not just now, but all year
long.
Donors may send
in cash donations to the food bank along with a list of names and
addresses of those they are honoring. Cards may be purchased for
$10, $25, $50 or $75 each. Roadrunner Food Bank will send each
recipient a high-quality, full-color card for the holidays.
To order 2006
Holiday Gift Cards, call Patty Gillis at Roadrunner Food Bank at
247-2052 ext. 130 or send her an
EMAIL |
|
Download the Holiday Gift Card Form Today!
Adobe® PDF
Microsoft®
Word® |
Full
Plate Society |
|
You Can Still Join!
Full
Plate Society
members make a minimum annual commitment of $1,000 for five years.
Pledges may be paid yearly ($1,000), quarterly ($250), or monthly (for
only $84/month) by check or credit card. Additionally, you may
designate through the United Way or Combined Federal Campaign.
To download a Full Plate Society Sign Up form,
CLICK HERE.
To join the Full Plate Society
right now, please go to our
DONATIONS page. Fill out your information and select "NEW
Full Plate Society" as the answer for the "I Belong To This
Group" question.
To see how much a monthly payment will be for different yearly
giving levels,
CLICK HERE
If
you would like to join or learn more about
the
Full Plate
Society, please contact Randy Gleason at 247-2052 ext 102
or send an email to
randy@rrfb.org.
|
The
Faces of Hunger in New Mexico |
 |
Want to know the truth
about hunger in our state? We've made a video that helps to
explain the growing problem of hunger and poverty in New Mexico (and
right here in Albuquerque). Meet the people who are working to
feed our hungry neighbors everyday and hear the stories of those who
find themselves in need. A must see!
See the Video
NOW
>>> |
|
Take
Action |
|
|
Holiday
Schedules |
|
Roadrunner Food Bank Closures
We will be closed on Saturday, December 23rd and
Monday, December 25th in observance of the
Christmas Holiday, reopening at 8:00
am, Tuesday, December 26th.
The Food Bank will also be closed on Monday, January 1,
2007
in observance of the New Years' Holiday, reopening at 8:00
am, Tuesday, January 2nd.
We will be open on
Saturday, December 30th to receive end of year
donations. |
Food
For Thought Tours |
|
Do you want to
know more about the food bank? Come see how you can help us end
hunger. Every third Thursday of the month we host a one-hour tour
of the food bank at 8am. Our upcoming tours are Thursday,
January 18th and Thursday, February 15th at 8am.
Family Fun Tours
Roadrunner Food
Bank invites parents with children under the age of 10 to experience
our warehouse. Through a tour and hands on experience sorting
non-perishable food, children will learn how Roadrunner Food Bank
processes 60,000 lbs of food per day. If your family is interested
in joining us, please contact Patty Gillis at 247-2052 ext. 130 or
send an
EMAIL.
Have a group of
friends you’d like to bring on a tour? Contact Jasmin at
247-2052 ext 129 or email her at jasmin@rrfb.org
for more information. |
Tell Your Friends and
Colleagues! |
Please help us to spread the
word! FORWARD THIS NEWSLETTER.
Share with
your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, or anyone you
know that cares about making a difference in the lives of our
hungry neighbors. Our success in the fight against
hunger depends on the support of people like you.
|
Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico
2645 Baylor Drive SE
Albuquerque, NM
87106
Phone: 505-247-2052
Web:
www.rrfb.org
Email:
info@rrfb.org
Copyright ©
2000-2006
Roadrunner Food Bank, Inc
all rights reserved
Thank you for your continued support of Roadrunner Food
Bank's mission to end hunger in New Mexico! For more
information on what we're doing about hunger, please visit our web
site at www.rrfb.org.
|
To be removed from our
mailing list, please click the link below to send an
email to our webmaster: |
|
Remove Me From Your List |
|
