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chapelhill.porchcommunities.org |
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The NC Huddle – April 2022 |
Hello!
Welcome to PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro's quarterly message that we send to all Neighborhood Coordinators (NCs), hoping that it will provide support and inspiration for the incredible work that you do.
In the first quarter of 2022, you collected $48,060 worth of non-perishable food items. This month, we served 508 families in our Food for Families program – a record. Tremendous work! Thank you! With costs rising, more and more families are in need of assistance. We are already preparing for the summer months, when donations typically decline a bit due to vacations and school breaks. Don’t forget that all 2022 PORCH dates can be found on our website.
Here are this edition's helpful hints:
– When sending your monthly collection reminders to your neighbors, it's always nice to add a personal message to the email. Messages that are simple and relevant to PORCH seem to get a great response from your neighborhood donors!
– When following up with your neighborhood donors about the food collected in previous weeks, it’s beneficial to bring the dollar value to light. We estimate that one bag of food translates to $20. So you can figure out your dollar amount based on how many bags you collected, and then do the math on how many families that helped – $50 provides 10 days’ worth of food to one family. For example, if you collect 15 bags of food, that equals $300 worth (because $20 x 15 = $300). Then you can say, “That means that 6 families in our community had more than a week’s worth of food because of our neighborhood” (because $300 divided by 50 equals 6). If you keep a running tab of your neighborhood’s non-perishable contributions over time, it will be so meaningful to report what you’ve done in 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc.
– Take a picture of your donations on a cart when you come to drop the items off and include that image in your correspondences. Feel free to walk into Extraordinary Ventures to take photos of all the food that's been collected in recent weeks as well as the bags that volunteers are filling for Food for Families. Help your neighbors visualize the difference they are making by being part of our community-wide effort!
– Keep in mind, if you are contacting a neighbor and they aren’t responding or handing food or a check to you, it doesn’t mean they aren’t interested or involved. They might be giving PORCH a monthly donation online because of your communications. You are spreading awareness – which is such valuable work!
– Did you know that Neighborhood Coordinators can drop off food donations on Sundays from 3 to 7 p.m. at Extraordinary Ventures? In fact, getting donations on Sunday really helps us get the non-perishables sorted early so we can plan for how much food we can pack in our Food For Families bags! So if Sunday is an option for you, please consider dropping off then. Sunday won’t work? No problem! We can still use your donations, and you can drop off from 8 to 10 a.m. on Mondays. A reminder that the May drop-off dates are Sunday, May 15 (3-7 p.m.) and Monday, May 16 (8-10 a.m.).
– When you come to Extraordinary Ventures in May, be sure to check out our PORCH Swag Station. Pick out some (free!) PORCH merchandise that is designed to assist you in your role as NC so you can recruit and retain donors, communicate effectively, and thank your neighbors. We have vinyl stickers, T-shirts, yard signs, yard sign toppers, postcards that allow you to introduce yourself as NC, thank you postcards, and car magnets. See photos of the available items.
As always, if you are interested in scheduling a one-on-one consultation with our team to discuss ways you can inject energy into your neighborhood’s PORCH activities, please email us at chc@porchcommunities.org. We’d be happy to brainstorm with you! Thank you for all you do for PORCH!
Best,
The PORCH Team
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PORCH Fact Sheet
Here are some key facts and statistics about PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro that you may want to pass along to donors and potential donors as you introduce them to our mission and correspond about upcoming food pick-up dates:
– PORCH’s vision: Each person in our Chapel Hill-Carrboro community will have access to sufficient nutritious food to meet their dietary needs for an active, productive, and healthy lifestyle.
– Our mission: PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro fights hunger by mobilizing our neighbors to provide non-perishable and fresh food for families, schools, and pantries.
– What difference does a monetary donation make? $5 provides milk and eggs to one family; $25 provides chicken, milk and eggs for two families; $50 provides 10 days’ worth of fresh food to one family; $300 sponsors a family for six months; and $600 sponsors a family for a year.
– In 2021, we provided a record amount of hunger relief – $760,911 in fresh and non-perishable food – a 4% increase compared to 2020, when we doubled our impact over the previous year! This translates to 250,000 pounds of fresh food that went directly to 485 families (2,100 individuals) and 6,489 bags of non-perishable food that went to families as well as 15 local pantries.
– Since our founding in 2010, PORCH has provided $4.5 million in hunger relief to residents in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community.
– 200 people volunteer with PORCH each month.
– Over 10.8% of adults and 12.2% of children in Orange County are food insecure, meaning that they lack sufficient food for an active, healthy life.
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Meet Your Fellow NCs
The following NCs have come on board in recent months. We are so glad to have them as part of this remarkable team!
Kate Chou, Glenbrooke*
Laurie Hinzman White, Glendale*
Michelle Auyeung & Kim Hodulik, Larkspur
Grace Kim, Montclair Way*
Dahlia Gitelson, The Oaks*
Lani Reyes, Parkslope*
Elizabeth Kunz, Westwood/W. University
* new neighborhood as well as a new NC!
We are always seeking additional NCs. If you know of someone outside of your neighborhood who may be well suited for the role of Neighborhood Coordinator, please send them a compelling note explaining why you do this work and how rewarded you feel by it. You can pass along the link to our Neighborhood Coordinator information page, which gets into the nuts and bolts of what NCs do; it includes this very handy video.
Encourage anyone interested in becoming a Neighborhood Coordinator to get in
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Welcome, Erica!
In March, Erica Brierley joined us as our full-time program manager. She manages, maintains, and develops all aspects of our programs, including Food for Families, Food for Pantries, and Food for Schools. Erica has worked in policy research, environmentalism, domestic violence, volunteer management – and now hunger relief!
Read more about Erica on our blog. She can’t wait to meet you soon at Extraordinary Ventures.
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So Fresh
Based in the Triangle, The Produce Box offers access to the best local produce, meats, seafood, and artisan specialty items from North Carolina, delivered to your home.
Friends of PORCH can use the code PORCH15 when signing up for The Produce Box to get $15 off your first order. This coupon code is good through April 30.
We are so grateful for The Produce Box’s partnership. A few months ago, when customers ordered a box of produce, they could also “buy” a box of produce for PORCH. This generated nearly $9,000 for our organization, enabling us to provide more fresh ingredients for our Food for Families participants!
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PO Box 16363
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
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