Take the Challenge!

The Pound for Pound Challenge, that is!

For every pound of weight you pledge to lose on this website (http://www.pfpchallenge.com), a pound of food will be donated to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. It’s a neat way to meet personal weight loss goals in 2010, while helping our neighbors who are hungry in the Greater Triangle. A number of staff members and interns have already pledged weight loss goals on the website and we’d love for you to join us!

After you pledge, what are some other ways you can help out the Food Shuttle?

Try looking at the Challenge from a different perspective—become an advocate to your community by telling everyone you know about the Challenge and ask him or her to pledge for the Food Shuttle! It’s important for the Food Shuttle to get your pledges so that we can help those who are food insecure even more!

If you’re on Facebook, join our Food Shuttle Pound for Pound group and post your motivation story for why you’ve pledged!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=248262053027&ref=nf

Triangle Community Foundation’s Give Back Giveaway

Executive Director of the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, Jill Staton Bullard (center) receives our $100 donation Haley Rader (left) and Ja'Nell Henry (right).

 

At the Triangle Community Foundation’s Annual Holiday Party, guests were each given an envelope with $10. Along with the $10, guests received a challenge to match the money with a personal donation to a charitable organization or a person in the area.  

 

Angel Wright-Feldman, Ja’Nell Henry and Haley Rader from the City of Raleigh received envelopes at the party, pulled in additional funds from friends and co-workers and expanded their donation to $100! They chose to drop off a donation to the Food Shuttle, and even stayed for a tour! Thanks to Angel, Haley, and Ja’Nell for supporting the Food Shuttle’s fight against hunger. Read more Give Back Giveaway stories on Triangle Community Foundation’s website.

The Food Dude is on everyone’s mind!

Click here to find out how to bid on a date with the Food Dude.

Win a Date with the Food Dude!

You’ve seen him in such Youtube classics as Energy Boost and Where’s Riley?  You’ve wondered, what’s the Food Dude really like? Now you can find out in our inaugural, one-of-a-kind, Valentines-Day-Related-contest! We’re offering a chance to accompany the Food Dude on a Food Recovery route! What does that mean? It means you’ll go for a ride around in a 22-foot stretch refrigerated truck, you’ll recover food from  some of the most popular food service establishments in Raleigh, deliver it off to pantries, shelters and soup kitchens and have a blast along the way! You’ll also get a catered lunch from our own Chef Terri Hutter and the first-of-its-kind Food Dude T-Shirt!

So how can you win this amazing prize package? It’s a blind auction, but we’re not asking for money. We’re asking you to “bid” volunteer hours. How many hours would you give towards helping feed children, seniors and families in the Greater Triangle to win this prestigious contest? Here’s how it works:

Email Jason@foodshuttle.org with the number of volunteer hours you bid to win a date with the Food Dude. The highest number of volunteer hours wins. Put “Food Dude” in the subject line. Entries will be accepted until 11:59 pm, Sunday, February 14, 2010.  We’ll announce the winner on Monday, February, 15, 2010. Details will be worked out later, but our Food Recovery routes run M-F between approximately 8-2. Your Food Dude experience will last about 2 hours.

Get to Biddin’!

Get to know the Food Shuttle Staff-CJTP Edition!

We’re excited about the 50th sessionof the Culinary Job Training Program and have been offering special coverage here on the Behind the Scenes blog. Today we want you to meet the very special men and women on the CJTP staff who make this life-changing program operate. You’ve seen a couple of them before around these parts before, but we want to bring it all together in one place for you.

First up, Chef Terri. Her love of Taco Shack is well known. Relive the magic here.

Next, Chef Will, our resident fitness junkie here.

And here are two new profiles, hot off the press.

Name and title: Sharon Mitchell, CJTP Director of Programs & Case Management

 What does at typical day at IFFS look like for you?  That would vary based on class cycle, however if we where in a class session in consist of: assisting students & Interns with life issues/situations that have been a barrier to employment,  and self sufficiency.  Help them to develop tools that we help them cope with everyday life and situations that can and will happen.  Helping them to see their strenghts and the resources                           availible to help them through the process of rebuilding their lives, and building positive self esteem.  Which is so instrumental in helping them to make better choices in their lives.    

How long have you been at the Shuttle? it has been my pleasure to work with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, Culinary Job Training Program  1 year and 4 months.  

What’s your favorite part about working at IFFS? I enjoy helping individuals face their past and begin to deal with whats there, while they are also learning a new skill and doing something positive in there lives.  Helping in that  rebuilding and seeing them start and finish something positive.  More often than not, they are doing something positive for the first time, or for the first time in a long time.  This is awesome experience we get to take part in 4 times a year!!!! 

 What did you do before IFFS? I have worked in Social work for 17+ years, with homeless individuals and families, then with homeless men in shelter environment, community mental Health transitioning SPMI individuals from state mental health facilities to community living, with treatment and support,  and also with psycho-social rehabilitation helping SPMI, Dually Diagnoised individuals cope with daily living and participate in meaningful daily activities.

 What do you like to do when you’re not fighting hunger? Spend time with my family, also I volunteer at couple of community agencies doing social work.  

Favorite Movie? There are just way too many to pick just one, but if you twist my arm, I would have to say The Color Purple, Pursuit of Happiness, Pay it Forward, A Beautiful Mind

Your last meal would be? Cearsar Salad w/ bread from Olive Garden;  Porterhouse Steak cooked medium rare, w/ loaded baked potato from Ruth Chris Steak House;  Walla B Darn w/ extra shot on the top from Outbacks !    Boy that makes me hungry!

Name and title:  Sue Ramey – Job Coach and Placement

What does at typical day at IFFS look like for you? Get to work I check my emails and try to answer the majority of them when I get in. Work on finding employment opportunities for our interns.  Continuing to teach employability skills in the classroom for the new students and for the continuing inters.  Working with VR for some of our clients with disabilities to connect them with employment opportunities as well.

 How long have you been at the Shuttle? 3years

 What’s your favorite part about working at IFFS? Watching people who were giving up on finding employment and just down on their luck to see them graduate and tell their story of how they went from not believing in themselves to finding that inner strength to persevere and accomplish something.  Just the eye’s of pride in someone is enough to make you keep on giving.

 What did you do before IFFS? Worked with the Homeless population/shelters

 What do you like to do when you’re not fighting hunger? What else but sit and watch Law and Order and/or Criminal minds

Favorite Movie? Silence of the lambs

Your last meal would be? Cheese Calzone Deep Fried  and  Chocolate milk shake.

Shuttle Spottin’!

Take a look at this quick video of Eric, one of our Food Recovery Specialists, showing off a new design on one of our trucks. We think it looks pretty sharp.

This got us talking around the communications dept. about our trucks. A lot of people know the Food Shuttle because of seeing our trucks around town.That’s great, because our trucks embody our approach to hunger relief. We’re different from traditional food banks because we are out in the communities we serve, in our trucks, recovering and delivering food to people in need. That philosophy of going to where the need is, being fast and flexible in our approach, permeates the Food Shuttle and allows us to be on the cutting edge of hunger relief.

So we want to start a new feature on the Behind the Scenes Blog. We want you to start Shuttle Spottin’. When you’re around town and see a Food Shuttle truck, snap a picture on your phone or your device of choice, send it to jason@foodshuttle.org, and we’ll feature it on the blog*.  You saw the video of the new design and here are some pictures of the other trucks so you’ll know what to be on the lookout for. Good luck and get to Shuttle Spottin’!

 

* Please, don’t try to snap a picture while you’re driving or put yourself in danger (or break any traffic laws!).

You’re never too young to be a hunger fighter

Meet Hailey.

She’s an 8th grade Girl Scout with a compassionate and generous heart and for those in our community who are hungry.  On January 8th, she organized a cookie rally for over 200 younger Girl Scouts to learn about how to sell Girl Scout cookies. Hailey added something more to the cookie rally, too. She asked the Girl Scouts to bring wholesome food for the Food Shuttle’s BackPack Buddies program!

Watch this video to hear more about the food drive from Hailey:

We were so thrilled to hear about Hailey’s venture to make sure that kids in the community are not going hungry over the weekend. A Food Shuttle truck even made it out to the January 8th rally where 1,317 pounds of food were donated from Girl Scouts all over the area!

 

    

Hailey and her mom, Marianne, at the cookie rally

Bringing in donation for BackPack Buddies

Girl Scouts putting food on the truck

 Hailey is a remarkable young lady who is full of energy and enthusiasm for helping folks in her community through teaching younger girl scouts and fighting hunger. Great job, Hailey!!

    

 

Julia’s 1st food recovery experience

Julia and Jack

Hello Food Shuttle’s blog readers! My name is Julia and I am a new intern for the Food Shuttle this semester with the communications department (Jason and CeCe). Friday was my first official day on the job and I started my experience by riding in one of the recovery trucks with two of Food Shuttle’s faithful volunteers – Jack and Jerry. The two of them were kind enough to let me join in on their weekly Friday route to four Harris Teeters, a Lowes Foods, Starbucks, KFC and the Fresh Market in the North Raleigh area.

As a first time “food recoverer” I was not sure what I was getting myself into. What I realized from the beginning is that this is a very dedicated group of individuals who go out on these recovery runs. The morning begins at 8 AM and you can be out on the road until almost 1 or 2 in the afternoon! And you’re not just driving around picking up food – you have to drive to each store and go in and take a shopping cart or two (or three or four!) full of all sorts of left over food that these stores can’t sell, but is just perfectly fine to eat. Once you get back out to the truck, you have to sort it between breads, produce, meats and whatever else you may have received, and then pack it all into boxes and weigh the items. With the stores that are very generous, this sorting and packing process can take quite some time. Then, when you get back to the Food Shuttle’s warehouse, you may even have to unload the entire truck and store all of the food!

After almost 6 hours of that one can imagine that you get tired, especially during the extreme summer heat or the winter’s cold and rainy weather (as it was this morning). I, however, found myself in great company and the time flew by! Jack and Jerry are two of the most talkative and friendly people I have met, which is perfect for me, because I am a communication major at NC State – aka, I love to interact with and talk to people. We found that the three of us have a lot in common, despite the major age difference. We all love music, art, the theater, and to travel, especially in Europe. We even found a common love for Swedish food! Jerry grew up in a mostly Swedish neighborhood in Chicago, Jack traveled to Gothenburg to purchase a Volvo, and I am half-Swedish so I travel there quite often. Needless to say, despite all of the hard work, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the truck and can’t wait to see what else is in store for me this semester!

Guest Bloggin’ for AHA!

We’ve been guest blogging this month for our friends Advocates for Health in Action. Check it out here. In honor of our first guest blogging spot, we made a new Food Dude Video. If you loved him in “Where’s Riley?”, you’ll go bonkers for “Energy Boost”. Enjoy it below. Do us a favor and go ahead and pass this link around to your friends and family. We’re building the framework for an Oscar nomination for 2011 and we need to get some buzz going.

MLK Day of Service in Durham

Yesterday was not only a wonderful day of service in Raleigh at the Food Shuttle, but it was an exciting day at our Durham Service Center, too! The 70+ volunteers were unbelievable yesterday helping pack 150 grocery bags for seniors, and another group of volunteers conducted 10 food drives across the Greater Triangle for BackPack Buddies! After the food from the drive came in, volunteers helped sort and pack about 300 BackPacks! 2010 is going to be an exciting year in Durham. Let Jerome know if you’d like to join the Food Shuttle in fighting hunger in Durham by sending him an email to DurhamCoord@foodshuttle.org

Watch this video to get a glimpse of the excitement surrounding the day of service yesterday in Durham.

To view photos from the day, click here!