Did you follow along with us on our social channels as we celebrated the 12 Days of Food Banking? Don’t worry if you missed it! We’ve gathered all of that information here for you to learn from and enjoy! You can also reread 2018’s 12 Days of Food Banking.
The First Day of Food Banking
Our partner organizations are the best! We work to provide food to community pantries, soup kitchens, children’s snack and meal programs, shelters, senior programs, and healthcare organizations in 50 counties in Central and Eastern Kentucky. Our partners serve their communities faithfully and go above and beyond to make sure good food makes its way to those who need it.
What’s on our wish list this year? Support for our partners! Many of our partners need more volunteers, more food donations, and more financial support to continue to serve their neighbors. Contact an organization you are familiar with this season and ask how you can help them fight hunger.
Lists of our partner organizations can be found at https://godspantry.org/help/.
If you would like to become a partner organization visit https://godspantry.org/partnerresources/join/.
The Second Day of Food Banking
Events are one of the ways that we raise funds to support our mission of fighting hunger in Central and Eastern Kentucky, and are a favorite because they let us spend time with you! Tickets are available now for the first event of 2020 – Chili Wars! We’ll be bringing this exciting competition back to the Morehead Conference Center on February 1, and our wish is that everyone in the Morehead area will join us for a fun and festive event.
http://www.chiliwars.org/
The Third Day of Food Banking
One of the most common things volunteers do at our Lexington warehouse is repacking bulk foods. We get lots of nonperishable items in extremely large quantities, and to get that food on pantry shelves it must be repacked into quantities that are appropriate for individuals and families. Volunteers repack everything from cereal and crackers to beans and rice, making sure that this surplus food makes its way to people who need it.
Warehouse shifts happen on Tuesday evenings and Saturdays, and groups can be accommodated on weekdays by request. To learn more and sign up, visit our website!
https://godspantry.org/getinvolved/volunteer/
The Fourth Day of Food Banking
A very important role that volunteers fill at God’s Pantry Food Bank is staffing Central Intake. This team takes calls from individuals in need of food, helps with referrals to our pantry program, and sets up times for pantry visitors to fill their carts with filling and nutritious food for their families.
These volunteers make a long-term commitment to being a part of the Central Intake Team, and many of them are here several times each week. Victor, who currently volunteers three times every week, does it because there are so many people who need a little help. He says, “People are so kind and grateful that there is some help when they need it. It makes me thankful for what I have and reminds me that anyone can find themselves in need of food.”
If you have weekday availability and would like to spend some time with us, learn more on our website.
https://godspantry.org/getinvolved/volunteer/
The Fifth Day of Food Banking
Have we got a gift for you! From now until the end of the year use the code GIFT40 to receive $10 off Taste of the Bluegrass general admission tickets. Taste tickets make the perfect gift for your favorite foodies, the family member who has everything, or for yourself! It’s the 40th anniversary of Lexington’s longest-running tasting event, and we’re cooking up something special!
www.tasteofthebluegrass.org
The Sixth Day of Food Banking
Many businesses and organizations help God’s Pantry Food Bank through fundraisers and food drives. Whether it’s rounding up at the register, donating while dining, or donating a nonperishable food item as an entry fee or to receive a discount, there are lots of opportunities year-round to support the Food Bank while doing things you do every day.
Two easy things you can do all year to support the Food Bank are enrolling in the Kroger Community Rewards Program and choosing us as your nonprofit of choice and shopping through Amazon Smile and directing your donations to us. Both are easy and cost you nothing!
Learn about both programs and other opportunities to support us as they happen on our website.
https://godspantry.org/getinvolved/otherwaystohelp/
The Seventh Day of Food Banking
Food drives are a very important way that we supplement the food that we purchase. Food drives allow us to offer additional variety in our pantries and can be a fun way to help fight hunger in your community. Food that you donate stays in the county where you host the food drive, so your support stays right in your neighborhood.
We are honored to have the support of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels and are excited to be able to provide food drive boxes to individuals and organizations that want to host food drives. We also appreciate the volunteers who spend their valuable time with us, sorting food that we receive from food drives and other collection points like Kroger stores throughout our service area.
www.godspantry.org/getinvolved/fooddrive/
The Eighth Day of Food Banking
The reason we are here is to help anyone in Central and Eastern Kentucky who is struggling with food insecurity. Whether you need support only once or for a longer stretch of time, our goal is to make sure that no one has to go even one day without a meal. If you or someone you know needs assistance, call our intake team at 859-259-2308 or visit our website at godspantry.org/help/.
The Ninth Day of Food Banking
Food rescue is a growing way that food banks, pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters receive food. Not only do we rescue from grocery stores like Kroger and Aldi and other retail establishments like Walmart and Target, but lots of other places have joined the rescue movement. Food manufacturers and distribution centers and even farms make up the network of businesses that have committed to making sure that their surplus food reaches individuals in need.
A special category of food rescue that is growing quickly is prepared foods that are donated by restaurants, caterers, coffee shops, bakeries, and convenience stores that have excess edible food available. Our SHIFT program uses volunteers who have received a short training session to pick up food in their own vehicles and deliver it directly to organizations that can serve it within a very short timeframe like homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and other emergency service providers. Following food safety guidelines and getting food quickly from the donor to the receiving agency has saved thousands of pounds of food from the landfill and helped someone struggling with food insecurity.
More volunteers are needed for the SHIFT program in the Lexington area and will be needed in other areas in the future as we expand throughout our 50 county service area. Contact us for more information or to sign up for a training session!
https://godspantry.org/getinvolved/volunteer/
The Tenth Day of Food Banking
What’s wrong with this carrot? Nothing!
In the United States, 72 billion pounds of edible food is wasted every year! That’s more than enough food to feed everyone who is hungry, and the impact of waste is both financial and environmental. Ugly produce is just one kind of food that we rescue from the landfill. Our food rescue team sets up regular relationships to rescue surplus food from groceries, restaurants, caterers, convenience stores, food manufacturers, and any kind of business that might have “leftovers.”
Take a look at your personal food waste and look for ways to reduce what you throw away from your own kitchen!
The Eleventh Day of Food Banking
From January 1 through November 30, God’s Pantry Food Bank distributed nearly 37.5 million pounds of food! As 2019 comes to a close, pounds distributed this calendar year will be very close to 40 million pounds, if not more.
Thank you for your support in 2019. Without donors, volunteers, and everyone who spreads the word about our work we wouldn’t be able to make sure this food – much of it edible food that would have ended up in the landfill – makes its way to Kentuckians struggling with food insecurity.
The Twelfth Day of Food Banking
From all of us at God’s Pantry Food Bank, we wish you happiness and good health. No matter how you celebrate the seas
