COMMUNITY HARVEST FOOD BANK OF NORTHEAST INDIANA, INC.
2007-2008 Annual Report
...seeking to alleviate hunger through the full use of donated food and other resources
Jane Avery, Executive Director
Dear Friends,
July 2008
This has been quite a year for Community Harvest Food Bank. Many challenges, many changes and many wonderful opportunities! While the mortgage crisis and the rising cost of fuel and food has affected all of us, it has only made matters worse for the folks already struggling in northeast Indiana. If you were to visit our warehouse today you would see the impact. I celebrated my 12 th anniversary as Executive Director recently and I can say without hesitation that I have never seen our warehouse so empty. Yes, we’re serving more hungry people. But we’re also seeing fewer food donations as food retailers have had to tighten their belts. One short walk out into the warehouse motivates us to work even harder to identify more resources so no needy person is ever turned away. With that in mind I’m thrilled to report several new partnerships with area food retailers. We have been working with our friends at Kroger on an exciting project that will deliver frozen meat and baked goods to our clients called the Perishable Donation Partnership (PDP). Soon we will be picking up this high quality food at all Kroger locations in our service area. We have already begun picking up similar product from Sam’s Club and we were contacted just recently by Aldi’s to begin a PDP program with their stores. We can’t thank those retailers enough for their generosity! Last year I told you about the extraordinary donation by the Azar family of their former commissary and corporate office site. Thanks to the Azar family, a number of board members, staff and generous donations by the Tippmann family and the Wal-Mart Distribution Center, great progress has been made to renovate the property. Early this fall we will be storing a majority of our PDP product in the huge cooler and freezer at that site. The timing just couldn’t have been any better! We continue to work with Farmers & Hunters Feeding the Hungry (FHFH). Last year that partnership resulted in nearly 17,000 pounds of venison. This year their goal is 34,000 pounds! We’re encouraging area growers to donate a portion of their harvest to the hungry and already have a number of farmers on board with a promise of many acres of sweet corn, green beans, hogs, chickens and cows. We’re also working with FHFH and 4-H to encourage companies and individuals who receive the winning bids at our area 4H Fair Livestock Auctions to donate the meat to CHFB. We expect great things because the individuals spearheading this campaign are passionately supportive of our mission and we are so grateful! One of our goals is to expand and enhance the outreach out in our 9 county service area and we have good news on that front. We have been working with a DeKalb County church who is very interested in turning their former parsonage into a Community Cupboard. That will be a much needed addition to the services that community now offers. And now, with the PDP a reality, we’ll be able to take donations right from the retailers to agencies in their respective counties. We’re also encouraging existing agencies to expand their hours of operation to be able to serve more hungry people. Along with the expanded outreach is the addition of Joy Parker our new Food Stamp Outreach and Member Agency Liaison. Through the 2006 Hunger Study we learned that there are many individuals in our area who qualify for Food Stamps but do not participate for various reasons. Joy will help educate our agencies and their clients on the Food Stamp program so that more hungry families can take advantage of this government assistance program. The name has changed from Food Stamps to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. The name change may also cause some confusion so the addition of Joy to our staff will be quite beneficial. Speaking of the Hunger Study, we’re in the process of gearing up for the next study to begin early in 2009. This is a tremendous undertaking, however, the data that is collected is invaluable. The study will provide us with a very accurate picture of who we serve now, and what their needs truly are. The last Hunger Study came out in 2006 and we know there have been changes so we’re very interested to see the results. We have made great strides this year in our disaster planning with many of our staff participating in training workshops. As a result of our proactive approach and our past experience working disasters like Katrina, Operations Director Bill Hoover and I were sent to Waterloo, Iowa by the national office of America’s Second Harvest to assess the food assistance needs for the flooding victims there. We were quite humbled to witness first-hand the kindness and gratitude of those hit hardest by the rising waters. We’ve had many positive experiences during this difficult year and we expect many more as we begin our new fiscal year. America’s Second Harvest will change their name to Feeding America beginning September 1 st, which will give us a renewed opportunity to get the word out to our nine county area that Community Harvest Food Bank is feeding northeast Indiana! And we couldn’t do it without our dedicated staff and board of directors, member agencies and donors who understand and believe in our mission to alleviate hunger. I assure you we’re working hard every day towards that goal. Respectfully, Jane Avery, Executive Director
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97 cents of every dollar helps to alleviate hunger.
Direct Mail Campaigns 2007-08
Grants 2007-2008
Funding generated from grants is a key source of our revenue. Our goal is to cover at least 50% of our program expenses through grants, and the remainder through donations and fundraising. For fiscal year 2007/08, on average 46.5% of our program expenses were met through grants. Our foundation partners serve a vital role in the ability of our food bank to respond to the increased need for food assistance. As competition for grants continues to grow, we continually seek out new sources of grant opportunities. Last year we received 14% of the new grant funds for which we applied. Diane Dillman, Grant Writer
Special Events 2007-2008
Indiana’s NewsCenter partnered with us for a one day (18 hours!) Holiday Turkey-Rally on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007. More than 200 Turkeys, around 5,000 dollars and 1100 pounds in boxed and canned foods were collected. Our 19th annual “An Evening of the Clubs” premier fundraiser was held Feb. 9, 2008 at the Fort Wayne Marriott Ballroom celebrating our 25th anniversary and honoring our late founder, Charles B. Fine. This was our most profitable EOC to date with a net profit of $71,999. Our second annual Canstruction, April 18 – 27 at Glenbrook Mall was made possible by our steering committee, volunteers (architects, engineers, designers, contractors, students and families). Three Rivers Federal Credit Union sponsored the event which was expanded to a full week of exhibition. Over 88,000 cans were collected with cash donations totaling over $3,000 – a 68% increase from last year’s food collection! Karen Richards, Special Events Coordinator
Community Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Indiana, Inc. Fort Wayne, Indiana
Our Vision We seek to be a dynamic, responsive and charitable leader in the effort to alleviate hunger and its causes in our service area. Our Mission We alleviate hunger in Northeast Indiana through the full use of donated food and other resources, and to increase public awareness of and involvement in solutions to hunger. Our Initiatives While our feeding programs remain the same for 2008, we have grouped them into 3 key initiatives. This approach aligns our initiatives with the interests of our food bank partners and better reflects our strategic approach to solving the problem of hunger in Northeast Indiana. Childhood Hunger Initiative Kids Cafe provides nutritious meals for children after school and during the summer. BackPack Program provides backpacks filled with nutritious child-friendly food for schoolchildren on weekends and holidays. Feeding Seniors Initiative SeniorPak delivers groceries to homebound, low-income seniors every other week.
Healthy Families Initiative Farm Wagon delivers fresh produce, dairy Community Cupboard allows patrons to select products and other perishables directly to food of their choice from our mom & pop type inner city and rural neighborhoods in need. “grocery store” through sponsoring agencies. Holiday Meals are given to families in need during November and December. Crisis Assistance offers emergency food assistance for families in immediate, urgent need.
Community Harvest Food Bank
999 E. Tillman Road PO Box 10967 Fort Wayne, IN 46855 Phone: 260-447-3696 www.chfb.org
Community Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Indiana, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the alleviation of hunger through the full use of donated food and other resources. We collect and distribute nearly 10 million pounds of donated food annually through a network of 500 + human service member agencies. These agencies offer assistance to hungry people, acting as a safety net to ensure that everyone receives their daily bread with dignity. Community Harvest Food Bank also seeks to increase public awareness and involvement in solutions to area hunger.
Jane Avery Executive Director 2008 Board of Directors Officers Kathy Peterson President John Wolf Vice President Shannon McNett-Silcox Secretary Dave Fee Treasurer Kevin Bleed Matt Brady Chad Doty Dr. James Edlund Lucy Gase Phil GiaQuinta Christopher Guerin Ronnie Irwin Michael O’Neil Rosalind Peggins John B. Powell Ed Starks Jerry Tippmann Deb Treesh Stan Ziherl
Revenue Statement 2007/08
Commodities CACFP Kids Café Comm Cup Farm Wagon
Senior Pak
Shared Maint. Pur Food Fund Raising General Programs Misc