May 2022: The Latest from PORCH

• A special thank you to Natalie Marrone Homes, who hosted Festa Della Terra in late April. Guests brought more than 100 bags of non-perishable food and collected cash donations for PORCH! In addition to Natalie, Pamela and James Smith are pictured. They delivered a car full of food that the festival guests donated. The “artful food drive” featured live music by Will Ridenour on the African harp as well as art installations.

• We are pleased to announce that PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro has been awarded $6,000 through the RTI International 2022 Community Partnerships Program. These funds will help us provide fresh food to 120 families (475 individuals)! Community partnerships such as this amplify our impact. We are grateful that we have received RTI’s support every year since 2013 through this program. RTI employees – like Chris Buchholtz, Josh Bashara, and others – serve as volunteers for PORCH and advocate for RTI’s support of our mission. RTI is an independent nonprofit research organization dedicated to improving the human condition through research, development, and technical services. Based in Research Triangle Park, they have 17 regional offices around the world.

• Southern Village Pharmacy launched in 2013 and has been voted as “Best of Chapel Hill” for six consecutive years. They’ve also been a Food for Schools (FFS) sponsor since 2015! FFS allows PORCH to provide supplemental food to students attending Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools who are hungry and struggling to concentrate in the classroom. David Smithwick, the pharmacy’s owner, recently told us: “Supporting PORCH is a perfect fit for us. Helping provide non-perishable foods to fight hunger at the local level is a good thing to do. We focus our philanthropic efforts on initiatives that allow us to directly impact the local area and supporting PORCH at [Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools] is a great example of a great local cause that we are fortunate to be a part of.” We are so appreciative of this support! Read more about David and his team at Southern Village Pharmacy in this blog post.

• A special thank you to Griffin Sansbury and the UNC Senior Marshals. They hosted a graduation celebration and collected non-perishable food for PORCH! We really appreciate their generous support and wish to congratulate all of the UNC seniors graduating this month.

• Remember that as we enter this season of graduations, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, family gatherings, and more – you can honor a loved one with a tax-deductible gift to PORCH! We will send the honoree a letter acknowledging your generous contribution. Donate online and check the box next to “I would like to dedicate this donation.” Or mail a check (PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro, P.O. Box 16363, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-6363) and include a note with the name and mailing address of the person you’re honoring. 

• We recently took a trip to Transplanting Traditions to see what’s growing! We met a few of the farmers (pictured are Jue Htoo and Tha Dah in the greenhouse and Paw Moo in the garden) and checked out the seedlings and plants getting started in their greenhouse. Starting this month, we will once again distribute the beautiful locally grown traditional Asian vegetables and herbs to our families. To learn more about Transplanting Traditions Community Farm and our partnership, check out transplantingtraditions.org. 

• Day officially made! We love receiving notes like this – thank you for your support, kids! Your generous spirits are truly inspiring! 
  𝘗𝘖𝘙𝘊𝘏, 

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 52 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 75 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘈𝘯𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴. 

𝘉𝘺𝘦!

• We recently had a conservation with a Food for Families program participant who wanted to pass along her gratitude to our donors, volunteers, and partners. She is the mother of four kids, ages 14, 12, 2, and 9 months.
  
  She went on to say: “Your program truly kept my kids from going hungry and also helped me with making sure that I could feed them not just any meal, but healthy meals. The [grocery] gift cards and everything helped us in so many ways. And it took one worry off my plate. Thank you all soooooo much. … I pray for your program, all the volunteers, and everyone you help that we all will continue to grow and flourish and make it another day. You all are truly making a difference.” 
  
  Thank you to community members like you for your enduring support – it is reassuring to know that we have the ability to be there for the neighbors who depend on us. Together, we are making a difference for local kids and families!

• We are so proud to share PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro’s 2021 Impact Report!
  
  This era remains one that is full of uncertainty and unprecedented challenges, but our community has stepped up to help its neighbors, as we knew you would. 
  
  To meet the increased need for our services, in 2021, we provided a record amount of hunger relief – $823,874 in fresh food, non-perishable food, and grocery gift card support. That’s a 14% increase compared to 2020, when we nearly doubled our impact over the previous year! Each month, about 200 volunteers served an all-time high of 506 families and 2,135 individuals.
  
  Contained within our impact report you’ll find short stories on our major programs and our partners, such as Transplanting Traditions Community Farm and Redeye. You’ll also hear from PORCH’s participants and volunteers about what this organization means to them.
  
  We are so proud of your commitment to this vital work. Thank you. We look forward to the work ahead.

• Four Harris Teeter locations – Harris Teeter North, University Place, Meadowmont, and Carrboro – offer PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro about 700 complimentary bags per month so that we can package all donated food before our distribution and delivery days. This is a huge money saver for us!
  
  

• One of our favorite things to do is to share local, seasonal produce with our families every month. It’s May, and this strawberry season has been an incredible one, so we were delighted to distribute 508 pounds of strawberries to 508 families! We had lots of happy responses, such as “My kids love strawberries, and I do too!” Thanks to The Produce Box and Farmer Foodshare for sourcing our fruit this month. 
  
  Through PORCH Cooks, we provide recipes and nutrition information to our families each month. Check out this recipe that incorporate the berries! 
  
  We want families to utilize all the fresh produce we provide. Offering recipes is key to that endeavor. They are also a fun way to engage children in the cooking process and create family conversations around healthy eating habits. We work with a dietitian, Katie Clarke, who helps create professional materials for us to share every month with our program participants. With accessibility in mind, we also translate them to Spanish.