Kendall Auto & Sam's Club get to join forces and support the Food Bank

Kendall Auto, during their Grand Opening of their new showroom, gave away a $500 gift card for Sam's Club to one lucky winner.

Yesterday Anne was able to give a tour to the winner of the $500 Sam's Club gift card from Kendall Auto.  The couple decided to pass their winnings onto the Food Bank.

With great joy we explained the promo Sam's Club is having right now where if you buy BANNERED food and enter the code online then $1.30 extra comes to THIS LOCAL Food Bank (click here to read more on this).

Luann made the trip to Sam's Club and here was her story:

"I went shopping today to buy the cereal with the Outnumber Hunger label.  As I was loading up my cart with 62 boxes of cereal a couple of gentlemen, Ken Shumway and Jamie Wright, stopped and asked why I was buying so much cereal.  I told them about the fundraising by Sam's Club and the Outnumber Hunger banners and that someone had won the gift certificate so we had $500 worth of cereal that we could then enter the codes and earn an additional $1.30 for each code.  We received much needed food AND additional money!  This is a win win. 

They jumped right in and helped me to load all the boxes.  We had to dig around to find enough with the label on them.  Then they offered to help me out with the food.  This was such a blessing. My van was full to the ceiling with cereal.  Thank you Ken and Jamie."

Below are some photos of the mountain of food that purchased.  And, yes, our ever faithful Customer Service Manager, Annette, entered every code online!

AND if you still have boxes with Outnumber Hunger codes on them, you can enter them till March 2013 for $1.30 each for THIS Food Bank!

Thanks Kendall, Sam's Club, our anonymous gift card winners, and Ken & Jamie!

Thanks!

Posted by Anne Weaver - 03/29/12, 07:44 PM

The FNSB Block Grant Commissioners do it again!

Special thanks to:

Anna Atchison, Carol Davila (Chair), Traci Gatewood, Banarsi Lei, Karen Lidster, Pete Pinney, and Jeri Wigdahl

for the countless hours they put into serving this community. 

Pictured above are Pete Pinney, Traci Gatewood, Carol Davila & Banarsi Lei listening to North Star Youth Court's defense.

Last night was the final FY2013 scoring for the Human Services Community Matching Grant Program (HSCMG).  Eleven agencies submitted grants ranging around 50-60 pages each for the Commissioners to read (on their own time, they are volunteers).  Once read, the Commissioners gave up their Saturday (March 24th) to listen to the agencies defend their proposals.  Then, starting at 5:30pm Monday night (March 26th) they scored each agency based on the proposal and defense.

This is a tough job, not only for the time it takes, but also because each of the grant requests are for valuable organizations!

Fairbanks Community Food Bank joined in with groups like Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Interior AIDS Association, Literacy Council, Alzheimer's Disease Resource Agency, Alaska Legal Corp, and several others hoping to be "in the money."

The issue is there isn't enough money to fund each of these much needed programs so the Commissioners have to rank them from 1-11 and, starting at 1, they will fund the programs until the money runs out.  (And the money keeps decreasing - if you have time, please testify THIS Wednesday at the Borough to keep Fairbanks "in the money.")

This year, as in many previous years, the Fairbanks Community Food Bank was one of the agencies at the top of the list.  That is vital because being at the top of the list means that we are funded.  For the last 25 years we have counted on, and received, these much needed funds.

Thank you, Commissioners, for all you do!

Posted by Anne Weaver - 03/27/12, 03:21 PM

1 week left to file for your PFD and to PickClickGive!

There is only one week left to file for your PFD.  Remember to PickClickGive!

And when you filed, if you forgot to PCG you can log back in online and make changes to your application!

Thanks Fairbanks!

Posted by Anne Weaver - 03/23/12, 02:51 PM

Help us buy potatoes with the POTATO HEAD PROJECT!

Phil Cole challenges the community to GROW MORE POTATOES and BUY MORE LOCAL POTATOES which can be used in this Food Bank.

If 10 donors step forward with $600 each (or lots of donors with smaller amounts), we can get 10,000 pounds of local potatoes (a year’s supply) for these groups who need food assistance in Fairbanks. 

Phil knows a grower who will provide these potatoes at 30 cents/pound and that is less expensive than any other potatoes we have seen on the market. 

This is a great project, Phil, and it helps our local producers and those who request food assistance. 

Go online to www.fairbanksfoodbank.org, click on DONATIONS and then choose VIRTUAL FOOD DRIVE, then THE POTATO HEAD PROJECT.  Anything you purchase under that heading will go to the Potato Head Project, even if it shows a box of cereal.

Thank you for helping BOTH THE GROWERS and THOSE WHO SEEK FOOD ASSISTANCE  in our community.

Thanks!

Posted by Anne Weaver - 03/21/12, 04:49 PM

Fundraiser at Sam's Club going strong!

Below is Sam (with Sam's Club), Sam (with the Food Bank), and Mike Schultz (Webcenter 11) standing in front of the "Outnumber Hunger" display at Sam's Club.

Check out Channel 11 news tonight to hear more information on the Fairbanks Community Food Bank and Sam's Club fundraiser.

In case you miss the news tonight, here is a refresher:

Any item you buy with THIS banner:

Such as:

Or 

Purchased from Sam's Club:

Can earn the Fairbanks Community Food Bank $1.30 for EACH CODE YOU ENTER ONLINE.

You benefit by having your favorites on hand and we benefit by having $1.30 per code! 

Fairbanks, you are doing a fantastic job so far!  Keep those codes coming!!

Thanks!

Posted by Anne Weaver - 03/16/12, 05:43 PM

WOW! The Sam's Club display will knock your socks off!

When you purchase any of the items labeled with the 10 MEALS banner like the Cheerios:

And go online and enter the code then we will be paid $1.30 for each code that is entered!

And if you forget, Sam's Club will remind you with their great TV display:

If you have food you wish to donate to the Food Bank, like Del Monte canned veggies, Sam's Club also has a bin for you:

Fairbanks, time and time again you knock the socks off of the lower 48 with your support of your local Fairbanks Community Food Bank and with your support of Sam's Club.  Thank you!  Let's go all out these next two weeks and show Sam's Club the power of Fairbanks, Alaska!

If you would like more information on this Food Bank fundraisers, please watch http://tvtv.com/pages/10973525.php?collectionId=1640&videoEpisodeId=38308 - the Food Bank is talked about from minute 2:44 to 3:54. 

The gentleman in the video is Sam's Club Club Manager Sam Talley.  He has been bringing some great changes to this local Sam's Club since he took this post recently and his support of this Food Bank appears to be a high priority!

Thanks!

Posted by Anne Weaver - 03/15/12, 10:30 AM

Shopping at Sam's Club can earn the Food Bank MAJOR DOLLARS!

Sam's Club has joined with General Mills, Betty Crocker, and a few other major brands to bring you your favorites (like Cheerios, Brownie Mix, etc.) AND to pay US for your shopping.

For the next two weeks, or until supplies run out, when you purchase the specially marked items AND enter the code online you will earn the Food Bank a $1.30 for EACH code you enter!

This is similar to the box tops that earn schools money, and the old campbell soup labels that needed to be mailed in.  But this time you don't have to mail it, you just have to enter the code online.

We are excited about this partnership with Sam's Club.  The more this community shops and enters codes the more this Food Bank will benefit.

Sam's Club is also having canisters around their store to collect donated food, like Velveeta, for the next two weeks.  So, you are welcome to purchase food and leave it at Sam's Club for the Fairbanks Community Food Bank (or if you are just driving by Sam's Club and wish to drop off food for the Food Bank - you are welcome to use them as a drop off point until March 28th). 

And don't have the time to enter the code online?  We would love to do that for you!  Any box that is donated (empty or full) we will enter the code online and earn the $1.30.  Or give us a call with your codes!

Please see the flyer below for more information.

So, stock up and know that you are supporting your Fairbanks Community Food Bank!

Thanks Fairbanks!

Posted by Anne Weaver - 03/14/12, 01:11 PM

Staff Stories - "Heeeeee's baaaack...."

"Heeee's baaaack....  Remember the gentleman who lost the football bet and brought us a donation?  Well, he didn’t fare to well with the Super Bowl. He appeared the Monday after the Super Bowl with another check.  All he could say was "I lost again."

A couple of weeks ago the Quota Club made 12 lasagnas for us to give out as needed for emergencies that come up. 

Annette had a young mother come in the other day looking for food. She had just come from the food stamp office.  She thought everything was worked out with the food stamps and then had a complication arise that will keep her from receiving the food stamps for about a month as everything is straightened out.  She has never had food boxes before so Annette explained how the program works and that she would need to call the church tomorrow at 10am.  At this point the young lady started crying.  She explained that she has three kids and had nothing to feed them that night or for breakfast.  Annette recalls: "I checked with Kathy and we gave her a single bag and a gallon of milk and a tray of lasagna from the Quota Club to get her through the night."  Though she was still visibly shaken when she left, you could watch the tension leaving her body.  What a blessing to have these lasagnas for just such an occasion.

Pam, our USDA Manager, wants to give a special thanks to Larry Baillon, Greg Williams, and Jim Murray.  Since retiring they have spent countless hours in the USDA warehouse managing our food inventory.  Each one spends 20-50 hours here EACH WEEK! 

Above you see Larry, Greg & Jim preparing CSFP (Commodity Supplement Food Program) boxes for travel to several Interior villages.  There are a lot of logistics to get these food items to the places they need to go.  Many thanks to them, and all our CSFP & TEFAP volunteers, who make this happen!

Another thank you from our USDA Manager was to the North Pole Key Club who came in to do a service project and packed boxes for CSFP in early February. 

Along with the help of Kiwanis Club Fairbanks, and Chena Kiwanis, they packed 245 boxes.  That was a great group to have here!

A fun fact about the Food Bank: last year we began accepting online volunteer applications.  We had 77 folks sign up as NEW volunteers in 2011 and 42 of them actually came in and volunteered.  That is excellent!

Volunteers are the back bone of the Food Bank.  Without them we would cease to be able to operate.  Over 1800 volunteers came through here in 2011, giving over 18,000 hours of their time.  Some, like those mentioned above, are here several days every week.  Others come just once as a service project or as something to do.  Every volunteer is valuable to us.

We served over 39,000 people last year ALONE!  Some of them once, some of them several times (like kidney dialysis patients).  And of the 39,000 almost 1/2 of them are children. 

Hunger is a huge problem in this world, and in this community.  Those numbers above can seem staggering.  But what this community knows is that one person at a time, one dollar at a time, one volunteer hour at a time, and one can of food at a time, we can solve the issue of hunger in Fairbanks and North Pole.

Many thanks to the hundreds of thousands of dollars, 18,000 hours, and 2 MILLION pounds of food we received in 2011.  Fairbanks, you really do take care of your own.  What an honor to be in this community.

Thanks!

Posted by Anne Weaver - 03/05/12, 02:23 PM