Now- January 4th, 2010
Come down to our Oak Park facility to pick up your Raffle for the Rock tickets today! We are raffling a beautiful, Hearts on Fire diamond ring, donated to Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services by Rogers Jewelry Co. The ring is valued at $25,000; tickets are just $5. Make sure that you enter for a chance to win! All proceeds go to support the wonderful programs and services offered here at SFBFS. The drawing will be held January 4th, 2010. Good Luck!
October 30, 2009
Harvest Sacramento
The Food Assistance Program at Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services distributes a 5-day supply of groceries to over 15,000 individuals every month. As many volunteers who work in Food Assistance or the warehouse know, that's a lot of food! Many people ask "Where does all the food come from?"
Food distributed by SFBFS comes from many different sources. Food is donated by and purchased from grocery stores every morning, plus we also receive USDA commodities, food from donation drives and giving events, and organic produce donated from Soil Born Farms (a local urban agriculture education project, www.soilborn.org). Often individuals will bring fresh fruits and veggies from their own yards. Now a nascent non-profit, Harvest Sacramento, is working to help harvest underutilized fruits and veggies from backyards and orchards for local food assistance agencies like Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services.
We are so pleased to reap the abundance of California fruit! Over the past month and a half SFBFS Americorp VISTA employee Courtney, and driver Larry, along with two Americorp NCCC volunteers group and a host of Harvest Sacramento volunteers harvested over 3,000 pounds of pears and apples. This produce ends up on the tables of the many clients we serve through Food Assistance.
If you are interested in volunteering, donating your backyard produce, or learning more about Harvest Sacramento, check out their website: http://harvestsacramento.wordpress.com.
Food distributed by SFBFS comes from many different sources. Food is donated by and purchased from grocery stores every morning, plus we also receive USDA commodities, food from donation drives and giving events, and organic produce donated from Soil Born Farms (a local urban agriculture education project, www.soilborn.org). Often individuals will bring fresh fruits and veggies from their own yards. Now a nascent non-profit, Harvest Sacramento, is working to help harvest underutilized fruits and veggies from backyards and orchards for local food assistance agencies like Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services.
We are so pleased to reap the abundance of California fruit! Over the past month and a half SFBFS Americorp VISTA employee Courtney, and driver Larry, along with two Americorp NCCC volunteers group and a host of Harvest Sacramento volunteers harvested over 3,000 pounds of pears and apples. This produce ends up on the tables of the many clients we serve through Food Assistance.
If you are interested in volunteering, donating your backyard produce, or learning more about Harvest Sacramento, check out their website: http://harvestsacramento.wordpress.com.
October 15, 2009
Rain or Shine, Mobile Goes On
Tuesday, October 13th
This past Tuesday saw some extraordinary weather indeed! So much rain and wind that most might prefer to stay inside, nice and dry. As our faithful blog followers and SFBFS supporters know, Mobile Food Distributions take place twice a week at different OUTDOOR locations throughout the city. By taking Food Assistance to the road, we help clients overcome transportation barriers and allow for more interaction with volunteers who engage clients in health and education activities like cooking demonstrations, kid's snacks and physical activities, and simply talking about the many healthy foods we distribute. However, generally the setup is all outdoors for clients, volunteers, food and resources.
This past Tuesday, despite wild rain and wind we served over 400 clients at our mobile food location. Committed volunteers hopped on the truck to bag and box groceries while clients waited inside the church to stay dry. Although we couldn't set up the usual resource table, resources were distributed to clients in line.
The number of clients who braved the weather is a testament to the great need in the community, while the hard work of volunteers and staff, rain or shine, demonstrates the commitment we have at SFBFS to serving our community with compassion and integrity. A BIG THANK YOU to our volunteers!
This past Tuesday saw some extraordinary weather indeed! So much rain and wind that most might prefer to stay inside, nice and dry. As our faithful blog followers and SFBFS supporters know, Mobile Food Distributions take place twice a week at different OUTDOOR locations throughout the city. By taking Food Assistance to the road, we help clients overcome transportation barriers and allow for more interaction with volunteers who engage clients in health and education activities like cooking demonstrations, kid's snacks and physical activities, and simply talking about the many healthy foods we distribute. However, generally the setup is all outdoors for clients, volunteers, food and resources.
This past Tuesday, despite wild rain and wind we served over 400 clients at our mobile food location. Committed volunteers hopped on the truck to bag and box groceries while clients waited inside the church to stay dry. Although we couldn't set up the usual resource table, resources were distributed to clients in line.
The number of clients who braved the weather is a testament to the great need in the community, while the hard work of volunteers and staff, rain or shine, demonstrates the commitment we have at SFBFS to serving our community with compassion and integrity. A BIG THANK YOU to our volunteers!
KCRA 3 Kid's Can Kick Off
Friday, October 9th
A 21 year tradition, the KCRA 3 Kids Can Food Drive got off to a great start this part Friday at Cal Expo where KCRA crew members, Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services staff and a handful of volunteers gathered to collect initial donations of non-perishable foods. SFBSF Operations Manager Shannin Saulnier arrived at 4:30 in the morning to kick off the event! Shannin was interviewed by KCRA and encouraged the community to donate not only canned goods and other non-perishables, but specifically more healthful items like canned vegetables, meats, beans and soups while avoiding high-sodium and low nutrition foods.
Check out this great media link: http://www.kcra.com/video/21249670/index.html
While Friday was the big kick off event, the bulk of the KCRA 3 Kid’s Can Food Drive actually takes place at local schools throughout several counties in Northern California. This year 150 schools will participate in the canned food drive. Prizes will be awarded to schools that collect the most pounds of food.
Aside from collecting tons of food (Last year, SFBFS received over 26,000 pounds of food from Kids Can schools), KCRA 3 Kid’s Can Food Drive teaches students civic responsibility and engagement from an early age. This year teachers can go to www.KCRA.com for tips on how to incorporate the drive into their lesson plans. The drive runs at schools from October 12th to November 20th!
A 21 year tradition, the KCRA 3 Kids Can Food Drive got off to a great start this part Friday at Cal Expo where KCRA crew members, Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services staff and a handful of volunteers gathered to collect initial donations of non-perishable foods. SFBSF Operations Manager Shannin Saulnier arrived at 4:30 in the morning to kick off the event! Shannin was interviewed by KCRA and encouraged the community to donate not only canned goods and other non-perishables, but specifically more healthful items like canned vegetables, meats, beans and soups while avoiding high-sodium and low nutrition foods.
Check out this great media link: http://www.kcra.com/video/21249670/index.html
While Friday was the big kick off event, the bulk of the KCRA 3 Kid’s Can Food Drive actually takes place at local schools throughout several counties in Northern California. This year 150 schools will participate in the canned food drive. Prizes will be awarded to schools that collect the most pounds of food.
Aside from collecting tons of food (Last year, SFBFS received over 26,000 pounds of food from Kids Can schools), KCRA 3 Kid’s Can Food Drive teaches students civic responsibility and engagement from an early age. This year teachers can go to www.KCRA.com for tips on how to incorporate the drive into their lesson plans. The drive runs at schools from October 12th to November 20th!
October 14, 2009
Oak Ridge Elementary Mobile Distribution
At Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services, volunteers and staff are thirlled to serve a new Oak Park location through the Mobile Food Project of our Food Assistance Program. In addition to supplying members of the community with a 5 day supply of nutritious groceries, our mission at mobile distributions is also to educate clients about health and nutrition as well as other community resources offered by SFBFS or other area agencies. Distribution at this site, which began in September, was a great success because children came with their parents directly after school. Parents accompanied their child as they made “ants on a log”, a healthy after-school snack made with celery sticks, peanut butter and raisins. Then, children had a chance to color fun, educational coloring sheets such as My Pyramid, and California Carrot coloring. Children who completed their coloring sheet received a magnet as a prize so that they could hang their work on the refrigerator (the magnets were from 211, another reminder to clients of the many resources available to them in the community). It was wonderful to have staff from other SFBFS programs available to help! Lorena, Mother-Baby Program Manager painted faces for many eager children while Martin, Clothing Program Manager assisted in distribution. Clients took home so much more than just food. What a success!
October 8, 2009
Amazing mobile distribution - September 26, 2009
This past Saturday Sacramento Valley Pharmacists Association visited our mobile distribution of Food Assistance and provided on-site blood pressure screenings for clients. This event was such a great success, not only were they impressed with the mobile distributions but also the interest clients expressed in the free services they provided. In addition to the pharmacists and students that were there conducting the tests, there were a few individuals from Catholic Healthcare West.
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