August 2021: The Latest from PORCH

• Thank you to the farmers of Transplanting Traditions for growing beautiful, traditional Asian items like bittermelon, roselle, and long beans for PORCH this month. We have been partnering with Transplanting Traditions for years to provide a “taste of home” to 120 refugee families from Burma. With grant funds from Orange County and Duke Doing Good, as well as funds raised through Transplanting Tradition’s Share A Share program, we will distribute this locally-grown produce from May through October. For more information, check out transplantingtraditions.org.

• 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐, 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 ____, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰’𝒎 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 [𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑪𝑰𝑻𝒀], 𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒂.”
  
  Here’s a quick and easy way to make a difference – it’s also this month’s Food for Thought call to action. Food For Thought raises awareness about food insecurity, brings attention to the intersectionality of food insecurity and poverty, and strives to engage the community in grassroots, as well as systemic, solutions to address hunger.
  
  The ask: Call or write your Congressional reps today and make it known that people with disabilities deserve more! 
  
  𝑺𝑨𝑴𝑷𝑳𝑬 𝑺𝑪𝑹𝑰𝑷𝑻𝑺:
  “I’m calling to voice my support for strengthening our country’s commitment to people with disabilities. Reducing hunger among all populations certainly includes addressing the needs of this vulnerable population. Please vote to increase monthly disability income to at least a poverty level and allow increases in individual savings as well.”
  
  Dear Senator/Representative: 
  Citizens with disabilities are at high risk for food insecurity in our country. Please support these individuals. Vote to increase monthly disability income to at least a poverty level (i.e. a 30% increase) and allow increases in individual savings (to $10,000). 
  Sincerely, 
  [NAME]
  
  𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑻𝑨𝑪𝑻 𝑰𝑵𝑭𝑶:
  Senator Richard Burr
  217 Russell Senate Office Building
  Washington, DC 20510
  202-224-3154
  
  Senator Thom Tillis
  185 Dirksen Senate Office Building
  Washington, DC 20510
  202-224-6342
  
  Congressman David Price
  2108 Rayburn House Office
  Washington, DC 20515
  919-967-7924

• We wish to recognize Morghen Philippi from Equiti Foods. Morghen came out to distribute Good Bowls to families in our Food for Families program. Good Bowls are healthy, locally-sourced frozen meals with a mission. Equiti Foods, the local company that makes Good Bowls, works to combat food inequity and ensure everyone has access to healthy, tasty, local food. Learn more about these homegrown hunger heroes at https://www.eatgoodbowls.com. Partnerships like these make a real difference in our community – thanks Morghen and Equiti Foods!

• PORCH Fun Fact: We distribute two dozen eggs to over 500 families every month. That’s over 12,000 eggs 12 times a year! Thanks to our egg-cellent partner Harris Teeter for supporting our hunger relief efforts right here in our community. PORCH’s reach is really extended thanks to corporate and local small business partnerships!

• Thank you to Neighborhood Coordinator Anne Glauber and Chapel Hill Magazine for the wonderful shout-out in the July/August 2021 issue. PORCH is able to have the impact we do in our community only because of the fantastic neighborhood coordinators and other volunteers who donate, collect, pack, and distribute food for our fellow community residents.

• We are grateful to Inter-Faith Council for Social Service for sharing some of their extra food with us! Their donation of chickpeas and bags of cereal will help us provide food for 500 families in our Food For Families program. Pictured below: PORCH’s Laura Malinchock, IFC’s Allan Rosen, 900 cans of chickpeas, and 4 dozen bags of cereal. There is nothing better than collaborating with our partner hunger relief organizations to get the job done. 

• This month, Chapel Hill High senior Olivia Kornstein developed and shared wonderful flyers about nutrition and eye health with all of our families. Such an important message! We are grateful for her help.

• We recently released our 2020 annual report. Last year, we nearly doubled our impact over 2019, delivering $730,000 in hunger relief to our community members. We also launched a new program called Food for Emergencies, providing $35,000 in grocery gift cards to partner agencies including El Centro Hispano, Inc., Club Nova Community, Inc, The Marian Cheek Jackson Center for Saving and Making History, The Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, Meals on Wheels Orange County, NC, Refugee Support Center, and the Refugee Community Partnership. Read the full annual report here: https://bit.ly/3jwY3tK

• We were invited to participate in a food collection and distribution organized by Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools principals and district administrators. We were one of four local hunger relief organizations that benefited from the generosity of our school community. In addition to PORCH, The Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, Meals on Wheels Orange County, NC, and TABLE also received some much needed food to restock their shelves! Pictured below are two Chapel Hill High School assistant principals, Anna Hipps and Shelba Levins, and the mountains of food that were donated and distributed.

• What an exciting afternoon! On Monday, Aug. 16, about 300 families drove through our distribution site in town to receive: a 40-lb. box of produce sourced from The Produce Box; 1 gallon of milk from Maple View Farm Milk Company; 1 bag of nonperishable food collected by our neighborhood coordinators; and 2 dozen eggs.
  Plus, families will receive a $50 Food Lion gift card in the mail. Another 200 families were served on Wednesday, Aug. 18 with the same abundance of fresh and nonperishable food, made possible by hundred of donors in our community.