Letter From Kent
This morning we held our first Volunteer Appreciation event. Kudos to Trina and Robin for pulling together a great way to say thank you to all the folks who volunteer their time to help pack Senior Mobile Pantry Boxes, pack the cop boxes, sort Retail rescue, sort and label brites (canned goods without labels), answer the telephone and all the other odd jobs that we have our volunteers do. I cannot imagine a Food Bank without volunteers. They do so much for us. Because of our volunteer efforts we are able to keep our salary expense to a minimum, making us one of the most efficient food banks in Feeding America. Our labor cost to output is low because of the many, many people who join with us in our mission to nourish NWA communities.
Last month I introduced you to Casey, our Director of Client Data, and mentioned we had decided which software we wanted to purchase for use in our partner agencies. We have the software and have had our first agency training session. Oasis Insight will be a wonderful tool for not only the pilot group of food pantries, but ultimately for all of the pantries who choose to use it. Just as we cannot truly address hunger without knowing who is hungry, this tool will help the individual pantries better track their client base. I’m excited to see where this venture takes us all.
One of the hot topics in Food Bank land is nutrition. Food Banks across the nation are looking into ways to source more nutritious food at affordable prices. Related to nutrition, I am proud that we are increasing the amount of produce that we have available to our agencies. So much so that it is a challenge to move it fast enough because of our limited refrigerator space. We are exploring some partnership opportunities to address our shortcomings. While this certainly is not a scientific research model, I do invite any of our partner agencies to reach out to me to discuss what we can do to help them distribute more produce and other nutritious food.
Gerald and I drove to Ft. Smith earlier this week to meet with the new Executive Director of the River Valley Food Bank. As we went over the mountain, Gerald remarked several times about how green and beautiful everything was. I thought that’s easy for you to say, you are not sneezing every 5 minutes. Seriously I have not had a bad spring, not like some years past. But in addition to things turning green now is the time for you to look to plant some vegetables. Diana and I have had a patio garden for several years now so you don’t need a lot of dirt to get some fresh tomatoes and peppers. If you are a full-fledged gardener be sure to share your excess with someone who needs it. Bring your surplus to us and we will see that it gets to one of our partner agencies and ultimately to one of the food insecure in our area.
Every day I am reminded of how blessed I am. Our family is close, all our children and grandchildren live in Fayetteville. We have an extended family made up of friends who would do anything for us, and us for them. I work with the absolute best bunch of folks you could hope for, and I have the best job in the world. I get to help people who do not have the support system I have. Many times, too many NW Arkansans go to bed hungry wondering if tomorrow will be any better. Thanks to all of you who have helped us address the issue of food insecurity. Together we are making a difference. In closing, I want to do what I do in almost every column is invite you out to see what we do.Today, I was visiting with Tim. Tim volunteers regularly at one of our senior mobile pantry sites. He was amazed when he saw our warehouse. He was even more amazed when I told him that was just our volunteer center. When you look at our racks, you think we have enough food to feed the world. Unfortunately, all the food we have is just a drop in the bucket for what we need. Thank you all for your continued support. Because of you, someone will eat today.
Kent
