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Success Stories (i.e. How your money is being used.)
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Our Success Stories: How Your Donations are Being Used
For an explanation of the process Feed Washington goes through in deciding how to use your donation, please click here to find the answer at our FAQs page.
2003 2004 September October November December
This date marks the first distribution of Feed Washington's funds. We are excited to announce that $1,030 (the total amount of donations we accumulated since our inception) was distributed to Food Lifeline in support of their efforts to feed hungry children! Food Lifeline is a first class organization that distributes food to over 250 community agencies such as local shelters, neighborhood food banks, and meal programs in Washington State. In the words of Linda Nageotte, Food Lifeline's President and CEO: "Food Lifeline is proud to partner with Feed Washington as we work collaboratively to end hunger in western Washington. Through the support of Feed Washington and its generous contributors, Food Lifeline has been able to provide over 6,000 meals to hungry children. Together we can end hunger, one meal at a time."
We are thrilled at the tremendous opportunity we have been given this month to illustrate Feed Washington's ability to maximize the impact of your donation. With your $597, we will take advantage of a program currently being run by QFC, Mission Pasta and Northwest Harvest. Essentially, for every 12 oz bag of pasta purchased at QFC and donated to Northwest Harvest, Mission Pasta will donate a second bag of 12 oz pasta to Northwest Harvest. If we were to use the $597 and simply pay the "off the shelf" price at QFC for a 12 oz bag of spaghetti ($1.29), and have that bag matched by Mission Pasta, we would be able to purchase and donate 925 bags of pasta. By negotiating with QFC we were able to bring down the per/bag cost from $1.29 to $0.89. This 30% savings netted us an additional 416 bags of spaghetti! So, with our $597 (and our discount), we will generate 1,341 bags (8,046 servings!) of spaghetti for Northwest Harvest. Northwest Harvest (if you are not familiar with them) is the only statewide hunger relief agency in Washington. It operates the Cherry Street Food Bank in Downtown Seattle and secures over 16 million pounds of food for distribution through warehouses in Grays Harbor, King, Stevens and Yakima counties. Northwest Harvest supplies this food, without fees of any kind, to over 300 food banks and meal programs across the state.
November 2003 Update
I had the honor to visit Mark Pursely, Director of the
Southwest Branch of the King
County Boys and Girls Club, and present
him a check from Feed Washington for $659
(our November recurring donation
total). Mark and his staff, in their non-descript building
in the middle of the Park Lake
Homes, King County
Housing Project, serve over 18,000
meals per year (on a budget of
$6,000) to their 1,600 members
As Mark explained, "At the very least,
our kids get a hot dinner every day we are open.
Most, if not all, of these kids get a
free breakfast and lunch at school, but don't really
have anywhere to go for dinner."
While the hot meal might be a weekly
repeat of soup, spaghetti or, as it was this night,
Tuna Helper, the kids don't seem to
mind. The dozens of kids I saw eagerly took their
plates, said
thank you, and even a few came back for seconds (please see the pictures
below). As excited as I was to witness the
childrens' smiles, and Mark and his staff doing
their work, I was also saddened
that any of this was even necessary. The truth is,
however, were
it not for this meal, the majority of the dozens of kids I saw would not
have
eaten dinner
that night. Please let what I observed serve as testimony to the fact
that
childhood hunger in Washington is real.
It might not be next door to you or me but, I can
assure you, it is closer than you
think.
Photos used with
permission.
Early in December I came in contact with an incredible non-profit
organization located
(i.e. diapers, clothes, furniture, toys, car seats) to some of the neediest of our local families who have children in the age range of birth to five years. In discussing the needs of Westside Baby with its Executive Director, Donna Pierce, it became clear that baby formula was one of the items at the top of the list. While there are governmental programs focused on getting formula to those who need it, clearly not everyone in need is being served. And to the mother, rich or poor, who cannot, for whatever reason, breastfeed, the availability of formula is critical. Feed Washington is proud to have been able to supply, with our December funds, the needy mothers served by Westside Baby
(many of
them children themselves) 10,720 fluid ounces of
formula!
(Westside Baby's modest
office
and warehouse.) Westside
Baby
serves 2,000 children a
year,
and distributed over
$300,000
worth of items last year.
You can
reach Westside
Baby by calling
206.767.1662
My search, in January, for the best use
of your donations led me to an organization called
Fremont
Public Association (FPA). While I had heard the name before, I had no
idea of the
breadth
of the impact this organization is making in the lives of people in the
Northwest
(not just in Fremont). FPA provides a myriad of critical services to
those in need; what
caught my eye, however, was their Toddler Feeding Project.
Toddlers (for those of you who don't
have children) are among the world's pickiest eaters.
Food bank users report that they often have a difficult time getting
their toddlers to eat
the
food they bring home. FPA's answer to this dilemma was to create the
Toddler Feeding
Project.
The
Toddler Feeding Project provides a grocery bag full of age-appropriate,
nutritious foods (e.g. Cheerios, peanut butter, tuna, juice, fruits,
vegetables) to the
hungry toddler. The toddlers love the idea that the bag belongs to them.
Food bank
directors comment that children often come in and ask for "my bag". This
sense of
ownership, and the fact that the food in the bag is age appropriate, has
made a world of
difference
in getting these hungry toddlers to eat a nutritious diet.
Last year FPA distributed over 3,000
"toddler bags" and expects the demand to go even
higher
this year. Feed Washington is proud to help them get 2004 off to a good
start
by providing
our January donation total ($820) in support of their Toddler Feeding
Project.
February was a unique
month for us in that we decided to split the monthly donation total
between two great
organizations: Fremont Public Association (FPA) (last month's
beneficiary)
and
Operation Sack Lunch (www.opsacklunch.org).
By donating a portion of our funds to FPA
we were able to
take advantage of a matching program they had in effect which turned
$145
of your donations
into $645. This $645 generated over 2,300 meals for their Toddler
Feeding
Project!
My search for a worthy recipient of the remainder of our February funds
brought me to The
First Place
School (www.firstplaceschool.org) (a
school in Seattle where 82% of the kids are
homeless) and to
an incredible woman named Beverly Graham. Beverly's Operation Sack Lunch
organization
feeds the kids at The First Place School breakfast, lunch and a
snack during the
school week.
Visiting The First Place School was an emotional experience for me as I
was struck
with the
realization that these children are indistinguishable from mine except
for the fact that,
through the
luck of the draw, and through no fault of their own, they are homeless
and hungry.
I end this month's update with the words of a thank you note from a child attending The First Place School to Chef Dave of Operation Sack Lunch. "As I pray for food, god lookes down on you and win the end of the woruld comes, don't be afrad becose you shall go to hevun."
First Place School student enjoying lunch. (Photo used with permission.)
March was a month focused on the setting and reaching of fundraising goals. At the end of March we not only reached our goal of breaking through the $1,000 in recurring, monthly donation mark, but we also now have over 100 donors and have generated a total of over 20,000 meals for hungry children. While it's fun to talk about the numbers, it's what the numbers allow us to do that keep us all inspired. With March's donation total of $1,147, Feed Washington will live up to its name by feeding kids on both sides of the mountains. The Tri Cities Food Bank in Richland will receive 10,720 fluid ounces of much needed baby formula and the Fremont Public Association will get continued support (see our January report above) of their Toddler Feeding Program with a donation of funds sufficient to create 1,517 meals.
Coming off an incredible month of March, where we shattered the $1,000 per month in recurring donations barrier, it was exciting to see our momentum carry into April where we added 11
recurring donors and
almost $100 per month in recurring donations.
The decision was made to use April's funds in support of two great
organizations: The Project Hope
Food Bank
(Lynden, WA) and Peace for the Streets by Kids From the Streets ("PSKL";
based on
Seattle's Capitol
Hill)
www.pskl.org. Project Hope will receive
10,988 fluid ounces of baby formula
and PSKL (through
Operation Sack Lunch) will receive funds sufficient to create over three
hundred
meals for the kids it
serves. April's funds distribution is a great illustration of the opposite
ends of
the spectrum of Feed
Washington's mission. On the one end you have infants who rely on donated
formula for their
nutrition and survival; on the other end you have 13 to 17 year old street
kids who,
in many ways, are as
helpless as the newborn, yet have the same need and right to a nutritious
meal. The PSKL kids are the rough looking kids we see on our streets late at night. Most come from broken homes; many come from homes like yours or mine. Most are drug users and have suffered some sort of serious abuse during life; many have been raped on the streets or by family members. The bottom line, however, is that they are still simply kids..
June 1st marks the one year anniversary of Feed Washington. Thanks again to all of you who joined the effort and stayed with us as we moved forward and increased our impact on childhood hunger every single month. Highlights of our first year include going from 1 to 116 donors, establishing a monthly recurring donation total of $1,275 and generating over 33,000 meals for hungry kids in our State. Feed Washington maximizes the value of your donation. This is a promise we made to our donors at our inception. A great example of this promise in action is how our May funds were used. In May we doubled the impact of your donation by distributing our funds to Food Lifeline where every dollar was matched by Albertsons and Microsoft. Our $1,275, in effect, made an impact of $2,550! In May it was Food Lifeline with a matching program; in February it was the Fremont Public Association; in October 2003 it was Northwest Harvest; next month it might be yet another organization. The bottom line is, Feed Washington is making the best possible use of your money every month. So what is next for Feed Washington? We are currently working on the final draft of a press release that will be distributed to newspapers (large and small), periodicals, politicians, radio talk shows, TV and any other media outlet we think will get the word out about Feed Washington (If any of you have any ideas, or contacts in the media, please let me know.)
June was an exciting month for Feed Washington. We not only added to our monthly donor and recurring donation totals, but we also "went public" with our first press release. The press release was sent to a number of media outlets and, with the help of people such as Margaret Larson (formerly of KIRO and NBC News), who was kind enough to forward the release to several local TV and radio stations, we are already seeing the fruits of our labor. The Western Viking (a national Norwegian-American weekly with a readership of 20,000) printed a great piece in their July 2nd issue, and we are expecting the Issaquah Press (which reaches 20,000 homes in and around Issaquah) to follow suit with an article in the next week or two.
July was another great month for Feed Washington due, in large part, to a wonderful article written about us in the Issaquah Press . As you can see from our website, we have now grown to boast 129 monthly donors and a monthly recurring donation total of over $1,300. As we enjoy our summer, with its barbeques and vacations, it is easy to forget that hunger continues to plague the children of our state. The summer is, however, when childhood hunger is at its highest. Even with a multitude of programs across the state focused on feeding kids during the summer months, nothing can make up for the free or reduced priced breakfasts and lunches our schools provide our hungry kids during the school year. With this in mind, Feed Washington directed its July funds to the Bellingham Boys and Girls Club, where the funds are much needed and the impact will be significant. In the words of Joe Ingoglia, the Director of the Bellingham Boys and Girls Club, "Thank you ever so much. Your donation will go to feeding the more than 100 kids that attend the Club daily. So many of our kids do not get the nutrition they need on a daily basis, so we take great pride in providing them with a healthy snack everyday. We are extremely grateful for this wonderful Feed Washington Donation; you are really making a difference for young people in the Bellingham community."
August was an important month in the history of Feed Washington. Not only did we hold our first fundraising event (Feed Washington Day at the Triangle Lounge), but we were also honored by the Seattle Weekly in their "Best of Seattle" issue as the "Best Hunger Fighting Idea". A special thanks to all of you who attended Feed Washington Day, and especially to Rick and Maghan Fox and Rob Smith (the owners of the Triangle Lounge) for their generous donation of $725 (25% of their sales on August 10th)! Our successes with Feed Washington Day and with the media are reflected in a solid increase in our monthly numbers. Please visit the website (www.feedwashington.org) where you will see we now have a total of 137 monthly, recurring donors and over $1,400 in monthly, recurring donations. I am excited to announce that we are using our August funds to help our old friends at the White Center Boys and Girls Club (You will remember that in November of 2003 we directed $659 to the Club). The White Center Club is located in a non-descript building in the middle of Park Lake Homes (a King County Housing Project). When I last spoke with Mark Pursely, the Director of the Club, he and his staff were tasked with serving over 18,000 meals per year (on a budget of $6,000) to their 1,600 members. Mark's task has not gotten any easier since then. We expect our $1,440 (the equivalent of 4,320 meals) will make a significant impact as Mark continues to feed his hungry kids.
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