Potluck - Food Rescue

When there's good food going unused, what could make more sense than rescuing it?

CORKS

& FORKS

a Perfect Pairing

of Wine and Food

benefiting

Potluck – Food Rescue

Thursday, October 8

6:30 to 9 pm

on the Grounds of the

Arkansas Governor’s Mansion

$100 per person

(Check, VISA/MC)

Please call Potluck, 371.0303, for more

information or to make your reservation.

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Summer 2009

Today's Lunch Special

Without Potluck, Arkansas’ only food rescue organization, “Today’s Lunch

Special” represents a tiny portion of nearly 2.5 million pounds of food rescued during the first six months of the year and includes over 4,400 fresh meat sandwiches, wraps, panini and subs; 220 gallons of soup and chili, 35 tons of fresh fruit, vegetables, slaws and salads – and more than 77,000 pounds of baked goods (sweet treats & bread) – that would havegone to waste – but were rescued and put to good use instead, helping feed at-risk Arkansans.

Today's Lunch Special will help feed children at KIDS’ PANTRY sites; be delivered in meal boxes to homebound seniors; served to newly laid off workers at soup kitchens; provide working men and women temporarily living in shelters with lunch on the job; put meals on the tables of families struggling to make ends meet, and more – tomorrow.

Potluck makes having daily meals throughout the year an option for over 7,000 children at KIDS’ PANTRY sites in un- and/or under-served areas of Little Rock, El Dorado, Texarkana & Eudora in addition to putting weekly meals on the tables of at-risk adults, families, the elderly and disabled in economically distressed communities in central, south, southeast and southwest Arkansas.

Statewide, over 350,000 Arkansans – approximately half of them children and the elderly – look to help from emergency feeding programs with their next meal – yet in central Arkansas alone, hundreds of thousands of pounds of good food goes to waste each and every month.

When there’s good food that’s going unused – what could possibly make more sense than rescuing it and putting it into the hands of those who need it the most instead? Potluck is proof that the smart idea of food rescue can be transformed into a fully-functioning, efficient operation that helps feed at-risk children and adults locally and throughout the state.

Putting Good Food to Good Use

From January through June, Potluck rescued a wide variety nearly 2.5 million pounds of nutritious food to include the following partial list of gifts that helpedfeed at-risk Arkansans.(Potluck rescues food from hundreds of donors to include: restaurants, hospitals, hotels, caterers, cafeterias, corporate dining rooms, schools, country clubs, farmers, farmer’s markets, gourmet to-go stores, groceries, dairies, wholesalers, other foodservice businesses and more.) Frozen includes case goods of un-cooked food.

410,000 lbs. of prepared chicken, beef, pork and turkey & 48,000 lbs. of frozen chicken, pork, duck, lamb & deli meat
266,000 lbs. of prepared and frozen meat, seafood & vegetable meals (made with pasta, rice or potatoes)
210,000 lbs. of prepared vegetables, rice and pasta; 68,500 lbs. of fresh produce & 4,000 lbs. of frozen vegetables & fruit.
48,000 lbs. of prepared and frozen catfish, crawfish, perch, trout, shrimp, lobster, salmon, tilapia, flounder, halibut & grouper.
32,000 prepared and fresh pizzas; 9,000 lbs. of fresh breakfast buffet food & 4,500 lbs. of frozen breakfast meals.

The Kids' Pantry

Good nutrition is essential for effective learning every day, all year long. Just as learning doesn’t end when school lets out for summer,

neither does the need for good nutrition. (2009, U.S.D.A. Food News)

For the past twelve years, the KIDS’ PANTRY has been working to ensure that children living in poverty and at risk of hunger have the same opportunities other youngsters in different circumstances do – the ability to count on receiving nutritious food for daily meals throughout the year.

The food deliveries we receive each week are absolutely wonderful. We’re able to put good food for meals on the table every day for our kids, and then some. The KIDS’ PANTRY is a gift and a much-needed resource that’s benefited our youngsters with improved attitudes and academic performance during the school year – their families and the entire community.

– Pastor Barbara Douglas

"We Can!"

First United Methodist Church,

Sweet Home, Arkansas

KIDS’ PANTRY site

More than 7,300 at-risk youngsters from five to 16 years of age benefit annually from the KIDS’ PANTRY by receiving good food for daily dinner meals during the school year and lunch and dinner meals over the holidays and during the summer at sites in under-served communities in central, southeast and southwest Arkansas.

KIDS’ PANTRY sites are community programs developed to better meet the needs of youngsters at-risk where they live. Programs are located in neighborhood churches, community centers, housing projects, and other facilities that are easily accessible to kids and provide services free of charge.

Each PANTRY site is unique and offers children a variety of academic and/or enrichment activities such as tutoring, mentoring, literacy training, computer skills, art and social skills development. By providing youngsters with nutritious food for meals coupled with positive activities, these programs contribute to improved health and well-being, reduced behavior problems and improved school performance of children.

Food distribution is tailored to meet the needs of youngsters at each KIDS’ PANTRY site. Every program receives a variety of food to include meat(s) and meat dishes; fresh fruit and other produce when available, vegetables, side dishes, bakery items and other food so children can rely on having nutritious and well-rounded meals each and every day when school is not in session – after school, over the holidays and during the summer.

The KIDS’ PANTRY is Arkansas’ only charitable out-of-school meal program exclusively developed to provide youngsters at-risk with good food for meals each and every day throughout the year.

Kids Cookin' for a Cause

Kids Cookin’ For a Cause is the brainchild of Faith Anaya who has shared her cooking/baking expertise and nutritional know-how for the past six years with children of all ages at schools in Little Rock via her Kids Cook! program.

In 2008, Kids Cook! teamed up with Potluck to help feed at-risk youngsters by cooking for a cause and donating food prepared in classes to the KIDS’ PANTRY. Approximately 1,800 dinner rolls, scones and over 200 lbs. of meat and pasta meals were shared with hundreds of children at KP sites locally and throughout the state.

Some host Kids Cook! schools for the upcoming year include: Episcopal Collegiate School, Pulaski Academy, eSTEM, The Cathedral School, Pulaski Academy, JA Fair High School, Henderson Middle School, Little Rock Montessori School.

For more information about Kids Cook! and how your child too can “cook for a cause” (and perhaps earn community service hours in the process), contact Faith Anaya at 769-7629 or info@kidscookarkansas.com.

Food Rescue = Urban Gleaning

Food rescue and gleaning are both are smart, sensible solutions to alleviating hunger that are each built on the principle of waste not – want not.

Gleaning is collecting surplus crops directly from the field – while Potluck rescues its excess fruit and other produce directly from farmer’s markets, groceries, wholesalers and other food service businesses and puts it into the hands of those who need it the most within 24 hours or less.

The 34 tons of fresh sweet corn, radishes, peaches, spinach, broccoli, zucchini, squash, green beans, snap peas, eggplant, lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, oranges, strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, watermelon and potatoes rescued to date have been welcome additions to meals at KIDS’ PANTRY sites, soup kitchens, shelters and in food pantry bags.

Increasing the amount of fresh produce Potluck distributes to community food programs is an ongoing challenge we are continually striving to overcome.

From the Director

Rescuing excess food to help feed the hungry just makes good sense, but it’s often difficult for individuals to put a face on rescued food. Here’s what over 400 lbs. of food looks like:

Pasta primavera (with chicken)

Brisket

Shredded pork (with bar-b-que sauce)

Fried chicken

Beef stew

Chicken and dumplings

Sliced turkey

Sandwiches & wraps (75)

Spaghetti & meat balls

Tuna salad

Rice, mac & cheese & potato salad

Asparagus, mixed vegetables, green beans,

baked beans, spinach, peas & carrots

Lettuce, carrots, onions, baby eggplants,

blueberries, strawberries & oranges

Bread (wheat, multi-grain, hamburger buns & French bread)

Pies, cookies, sunflower seeds & handmade pretzels

All of the above prepared, fresh and frozen food was distributed to Lita’s Place, a KIDS’ PANTRY site in McAlmont, a severely under-served area in North Little Rock to provide more than 70 kids with lunch and dinner for the week. (All KIDS’ PANTRY sites receive weekly deliveries).

Potluck is extremely grateful for the growing number of incredibly high quality food donors who have chosen not to throw away their opportunity to help feed children, families and the elderly by donating their excess food to Potluck.

So too are we eternally thankful for our generous supporters who wholeheartedly embrace the logic of rescuing excess food to feed the hungry by helping us keep our wheels in motion to put good food to use by getting it into the hands of children, adults, families and seniors who otherwise would go without.

Your help in feeding hungry Arkansans is greatly appreciated.

Carol Herzog

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Photographs by Nancy Nolan Photography