September 2022: The Latest from PORCH

• Did you know we have an advocacy program, Food for Thought? It raises awareness about food insecurity and strives to engage the community in grassroots, system solutions to address hunger. In just a few short minutes, you can join us by writing postcards to your elected officials, urging them to advocate for meaningful change. 

Get involved with Food for Thought by emailing us: chc@porchcommunities.org

• We are so fortunate to have amazing partners, like Book Harvest, Diaper Bank of North Carolina, Transplanting Traditions Community Farm, and The Produce Box – to name just a few! Check out our Partners page for more information.

• In August, our volunteers packed a total of 388 Food For Families non-perishable bags, including 15 Halal bags that our volunteer Sarah – a nutrition graduate student at UNC – so carefully assembled. We were able to share 121 additional non-perishable food bags with 10 local food pantries. Plus, 520 PORCH families each received a 40-pound box of fresh produce, a gallon of milk, two dozen eggs, a watermelon from Farmer Foodshare, a Food Lion gift card, and extra vegetables from Transplanting Traditions Farm. Great work, everyone! 
  
• “Every time I hear a ‘thank you,’ I feel so happy and full.” Get to know Lucky, one of our Spanish interpreters!

• Giving non-perishables to PORCH this month? We would be especially grateful for contributions of rice, peanut butter, pasta sauce, and cereal. Thank you in advance for helping to fight hunger in our community! 

• PORCH hearts pups! A couple of Neighborhood Coordinators brought their dogs along as they dropped off the food they collected. They were so adorable – we had to get pictures.

• At the end of August, social workers from all schools in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools system each picked up $500 worth of snacks through our Food for Schools program. The snacks include apples, protein and granola bars, cheese crackers, and other non-perishables – so that students can keep their bodies and minds nourished, eliminating distraction due to hunger. Many of the social workers commented that the need for the snacks was already apparent during the first couple of days of the 2022-2023 school year. Pictured below are Chapel Hill High social worker Teresa Pitts; Estes Hills Elementary social worker Betsy Booth; Northside Elementary social worker Sarah Litzinger; Janet Cherry, the district’s mental health and wellness director; and Chapel Hill High social worker Linda Martinez-Cervantes. Our generous 2022 Food for Schools sponsors make this vital program possible. Members of Chapel Hill High School’s PORCH club helped sort the products so that the pick-up process would run efficiently. Another $500 worth of snacks will go to each school in January. Read more about Food for Schools.

• New Neighborhood Coordinator Jenn reported that she had a great time going door to door (along with her husband and their dog) handing out paper bags and information cards to explain how PORCH pick ups work. They met lots of neighbors who are excited to donate non-perishable food items! We have more than 125 fabulous Neighborhood Coordinators throughout Chapel Hill and Carrboro who organize monthly food collections for a neighborhood or street. They are responsible for spreading the word about the designated day for the monthly food drives, picking up donations from neighborhood porches, and getting the non-perishable bags of food to a central location.Interested in becoming a Neighborhood Coordinator? Check out our FAQs, watch a brief video about what this role entails, and then reach out to us for more info!