 The Pantry helped feed more than 5,000 at-risk youngsters last year...  |
In 2008, Potluck’s Kids’ Pantry program put thousands of pounds of vegetables – to include carrots – on children’s plates, in addition to green beans, peas, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, beets, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes – and fruit, like apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, pineapples and melons. The Pantry helped feed more than 5,000 at-risk youngsters last year by rescuing 1.78 million pounds of a wide variety of food and distributing it free of charge to 39 partner sites throughout under-served areas of Pulaski County and one site in El Dorado, Arkansas to help put over 2.5 million breakfast, lunch and/or dinner meals on the table for kids after school and during the summer. The Kids’ Pantry has been helping youngsters living in poverty and at risk of hunger get the nutritious food they need since the program’s inception in 1997. The Pantry is Arkansas’ only charitable out-of-school meal program that ensures youngsters who might otherwise go without, have to opportunity to receive good food for meals when school is not in session – after school, over the holidays and during the summer – throughout the year. During its first year of operation the Pantry served 123 children at one site in downtown Little Rock – and over the last 12 years, more than 35,000 vulnerable children – and their families have benefited from the program. To learn more about this unique year-round out of school meal program, call Potluck, 501.371.0303. Nutrition Education Workshop
While food rescue is the heart of what we do, to better meet community needs, Potluck also develops additional hunger-relief programs like the Nutrition Education Workshop (NEW) to complement our work. NEW is a one-of-a-kind interactive cooking demonstration and nutrition education program created to promote long-term solutions to hunger and under-nutrition by helping families with limited resources make healthy, economical food choices using a wide variety of foods that are commonly available in stores and/or from emergency food providers. Chef Peter Brave volunteered his time and incredible talent to lead a nutrition workshop for residents of Our House and Women & Children First and demonstrated how to create six hearty and nutritious family meals for $5 each. Peter’s mantra throughout the class was “eating healthy, doesn’t mean spending a lot of money” and showed students how they could stretch $30 of basic groceries – a whole chicken, a package of cubed beef, pork slices, rice and a variety of fresh and canned vegetables – into six filling, easy to prepare andnutritious main meals that would each serve a family of four to five (with fresh vegetables left over to start and/or accompany another meal). Workshop attendees each received a NEW guidebook with low-cost recipes, practical nutrition information and food budgeting strategies that individuals can use right away – plus a $25 grocery gift card to replicate meals demonstrated at the workshop or in the guidebook. The next NEW workshop will host the Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Pulaski County. To learn more about the Nutrition Education Workshop, call Potluck, 501.371.0303. Holiday Food Share  MaineStay A gift of kindness from Josephine Smith has gone a long way toward improving the lives of Arkansans at risk by supporting Potluck’s pantry program that works in cooperation with local helping organizations to directly provide families in crisis with immediate, emergency food assistance to help them meet basic needs and maximize their limited resources while they get back on their feet. More than 2,000 pounds of food a month is distributed through the pantry and because it’s fast becoming a foundation of support for a growing number of families, we named the program MaineStay to pay homage to Josie’s memory by acknowledging her special love/connection to the state, and home to a beloved family retreat. For more information about MaineStay, please call Potluck, 501.371.0303. From the Director... 2008 was by far one of Potluck’s busiest and most challenging years ever, and unless there’s an immediate and sharp upturn in the economy, we anticipate 2009 to be equally demanding as well. Arkansans who never thought they would need food assistance are standing in soup kitchen and food pantry lines to feed themselves and their families, and the demand for additional food among all of our agencies has literally exploded. To better meet great and growing community needs, a number of our food partners have found it necessary to change up operations a bit and we’re in the process of doing that as well to keep pace with their increasing food needs. Some of our pantries that have kitchen facilities are also cooking and serving a breakfast or lunch meal on site; several homeless shelters have opened their doors at lunch time to share what’s on the table with their neighbors – and a pastor of a church in North Little Rock that’s a Kids’ Pantry site said she began boxing up meals to hand out to folks from the neighborhood who were lining up at her door each time the Potluck truck made a delivery, to see if she had any extra food. We currently have nine agencies on a waiting list – including a large soup kitchen in Texarkana that’s willing to make the four-hour round-trip drive to retrieve food – that will require us to re-vamp food distribution to improve our ability to better meet the challenges of this new reality. Your support in 2008 was greatly appreciated, and we look forward to your continuing help in 2009. The food and programs you help Potluck provide to agencies are a lifeline for so many families, including a growing number who never though they’d need it. Photographs by Nancy Nolan Photography |
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