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Today's THV Summer Cereal Drive
It’s that time of year! Today’s THV and the Arkansas Foodbank Network are partnering once again for the Summer Cereal Drive. 100 teams from across central Arkansas will be collecting healthy breakfast items such as cereal, oatmeal, Pop-Tarts and cereal bars for hungry Arkansas children and families. Made up of businesses, churches, civic organizations and more, these teams will collect cereal from May 31st through June 25th, competing against one another for the title of Cereal Champion! 2010 marks the 10th year for the Summer Cereal Drive, and we hope to collect our one millionth box this year. To do so, we'll need to collect 177,208 breakfast items. We know our teams are up for the challenge! Follow the drive's progress every morning on Today's THV This Morning with Charles, Alyson and Tom. For more information, or to find out when the Summer Cereal Drive will be coming to a community near you, click here.
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Thank you to our sponsors:
Stamp Out Hunger!
On Saturday, May 8th, the National Association of Letter Carriers held its 17th annual Stamp Out Hunger! food drive. Postal customers were asked to place non-perishable food items in or near their mailboxes. Letter carriers took care of the rest, collecting the donations and delivering them to local food banks and other hunger relief organizations whose inventories become depleted during the summer months.
Central Arkansas postal customers opened their hearts and their pantries, donating an incredible 116,000 pounds of food for hungry Arkansans! This is a huge increase - in 2009, the drive brought in 78,000 pounds!
All items collected in Central Arkansas will be distributed through the partner agencies of the Arkansas Foodbank Network.
International Greek Food Festival a Smashing Success
The Arkansas Foodbank Network was chosen this year as one of the non-profit organizations to benefit from the proceeds from the International Greek Food Festival, held at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Little Rock. More than 75 friends of the Foodbank volunteered their time and helped staff the event. Many thanks to the members of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church and the organizers of the International Greek Food Festival for their generosity!!
Empty Bowls
Empty Bowls 2010 was a smashing success! The event, held at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church on Thursday, April 8th, saw over 400 guests and raised $52,800 to help feed hungry Arkansans! Empty Bowls is planned, organized and staffed by Harvesters, the Arkansas Foodbank Network's young professionals group. They did a fabulous job on this year's event, and it would not have been possible without their hard work and dedication! Special thanks to Tess Hardin and Sarah Bernhardt for serving as event co-chairs.
AFN Board Member Representative Kathy Local watercolor artist and owner of AFN Board Member and former Harvester
Webb with event guests Marlane Gallery 726 in Hot Springs, Barbara Will Montgomery attended Empty Bowls
Stakemiller and First Lady of Arkansas Siebel painted live at Empty Bowls. with family and friends.
Ginger Beebe.
Auctioneer Brad Wooley collects bids while Guests at Empty Bowls were able Harvesters (from left to right) Chelsye
Today's THV'sTom Brannon entices event to bid on a variety of art by Arkansas Garrett, Leighanne Alford, and Whitney
attendees tobid on MeredithMitchell's hand- artists, including ceramic bowls, Foster worked tireless to ensure a
painted bowl (sponsored by The Painted Pig beautiful paintings, jewelry and more! seamless check-in and checkout!
Studio in Little Rock) that he accidentally
broke on Today's THV This Morning just
days before Empty Bowls! Miraculously,
the bids poured in for Meredith's unique bowl!
Click here to view the photos of Empty Bowls taken by Sync Weekly's Lauren Clark (who just so happens to be a Harvester!).
Click here to view the photos of Empty Bowls taken by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Cary Jenkins.
Event sponsors included Gold Sponsors Bennett Davis Group, Glazer’s, Kroger, Performance Foodservice Little Rock; Silver Sponsor Dr. Loren Bartole and Bronze Sponsors Bank of the Ozarks, Bird and Bear Medical, JPMX Cox PLLC, Mitchell Williams and Regions insurance.
2010 marked the inaugural year for the Empty Bowls Host Committee of Arkansas Foodbank Network supporters who helped sponsor Empty Bowls. Committee members included Tanya and Dr. Lowry Barnes; Connie and Ed Bennett; BNI Uptown Referral; Jenny and Lev Bradford; Janis and Alan Brooke; Susan and Nick Brown; Catherine and Jesse Burks; Cleburne Country Farm Bureau Women’s Committee; Judi and Steve Copley; Lee Covington and Rogers Davis; Susan and Greg Farque; Faulkner County Farm Bureau (Larry Marshall); Friends of Blanche Lincoln; Arkansas Foodbank Network Harvesters; Phyllis Haynes and Bud Thurman; Dr. Boo Heflin; Sharon Heflin; Alicia and Keith Hughes; Shelly and Doug Lane; Anne and Dr. Larry Miller; Dr. Karla and Will Montgomery; Rosemary and Randy Parker; Angela and Rogerich Paylor; Sue Price; Ashley and Nick Roach; Jennifer D. and D. Trent Roberts; Elizabeth and Tom Small; Marlane Stakemiller and Leo Hauser; Peggy and Earl Vickers; Danyelle and Edward Walker; Dr. Tracy Windham; and Amanda Zulch.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Day of Service
On Monday, January 18, 2010 the Arkansas Foodbank Network held a volunteer workday to commemorate the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. 30 volunteers helped label peaches, sort donations, and stock shelves. We are grateful for everyone who came out to serve! To see the Foodbank's Chief Operations Officer discuss the event, click here.
THANK YOU TO ALL VOLUNTEERS!!!
Santa Feeds America
Santa Claus handed out some extra credit this holiday season to good boys and girls of all ages who brought the gift of non-perishable food to Park Plaza Mall during November and December. Park Plaza teamed up with Santa and his elves to collect food and financial donations for the Arkansas Foodbank Network. This drive was part of Santa Feeds America, the largest nationwide canned food drive ever conducted by a shopping center developer. Park Plaza joined more than 80 CBL properties across the country to collect non-perishable food for distribution through local food banks. Santa Feeds America at Park Plaza Mall raised 352 pounds of food for hungry Arkansans!
The Santa Feeds America campaign, conducted in partnership with WHY (World Hunger Year), is designed to provide meals to those who need them most and stock empty cupboards across the nation during the holiday season. Due to the strained economy, hunger relief organizations are striving to meet greater demand for aid with fewer resources than ever before. 49 million Americans, including 17 million children struggle with hunger in this country every day.
Turkey Bowl
Turkey Bowl VII was a smashing success! The event raised $2,311.60 and 1,013 pounds of food! We are especially grateful to the 19 teams who participated in Turkey Bowl and local celebrities David Bazzell, Tommy Smith, Danny-Joe Crofford, Justin Acri, Pat Bradley, Joe Franklin, Steve Sheilds, Joe Kleine, Anthony Lucas, Ray Tucker, Kevin McReynolds, Steve Sullivan, Melinda Mayo, Clint Stoerner, Anne Jansen and our very own Harvester Lauren Clark for donating their time! To check out Lauren's take on the evening, click here.
Special thanks go out to City Market for donating turkeys to all the folks who rolled a strike on the frozen turkey bowling lane. We had 8 in all!
Congratulations to the Turkey Bowl VII winners:
First Place – Team White
- John White
- Brianne Simmons
- Danny Payne
- John Paul White
- Kevin McReynolds
Second Place – All Jacked Up Team
- Doug Jones
- Sandy Jones
- Lawrence Dimas
- Johnny Dimas
- Ray Tucker
Third Place – Airways Medical Team
- Rocky Hardy
- Greg Hensley
- Brooks McMillan
- Ryan Jordon
- Anthony Lucas
To check out the winners, click here
To see all the photos from Turkey Bowl VII, click here
Libby's Get Back to the Table
This holiday season, Libby’s Vegetables launced the first-ever Virtual Canned Food Drive through its "Get Back to the Table" initiative to support Feeding America and the increased demand on its network food banks. Families who raised $1,000 or more for Feeding America through the drive had their pantries stocked up with a year’s supply of canned vegetables from Libby’s! In total, the Virtual Canned Food Drive raised $50,000 for Feeding America - enough to provide more than 290,000 meals to hungry Americans! Learn more about Libby's at http://www.getbacktothetable.com. The Arkansas Foodbank Network is a proud member of Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger relief organization.
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Howlin' for Growlin' Arkansans Radiothon
On November 19th and 20th, Clear Channel station 105.1 The Wolf, your home for All Things Country, hosted “Howlin’ for Growlin’ Arkansans, a radiothon to benefit hungry Arkansans through the Arkansas Foodbank Network. Wolf deejays Bob Terrell, Jim Cameron and Terri England urged listeners to open their pantries and pocketbooks to donate food and funds to the Foodbank. The event raised nearly $2,500 and 1,500 pounds of food! We love The Wolf and its listeners and are so grateful for everyone’s generosity! We couldn't have done it without our fabulous phonebank and food collection volunteers. Thank you so much to everyone who helped out!
Special thanks to Krispy Kreme, The Meat Shoppe, Bill Fitts Auto, Trina Truitt and the crew from Klassy Kutz, and Chad Heritage with KSSN 96!
Tyson Foods Names Erma Smith A Hunger All-Star
On October 28, 2009 Tyson Foods named Ms. Erma Smith a Hunger All-Star for her work in the fight against hunger in our state. In her honor, Tyson Foods donated more than 18 tons of much-needed protein to be distributed through the Arkansas Foodbank Network. Erma has been a Hunger All-Star for nearly 25 years. She volunteered for the Southwest Arkansas Foodbank, a Redistribution Organization (RDO) of the Arkansas Foodbank Network for 12 years, before serving as Executive Director for another 12 years. She only retired for health reasons at her doctor's insistence, but continues to serve the Foodbank as a volunteer. In her work with the Southwest Arkansas Foodbank she provided food to 100 food pantries, soup kitchens and other organizations, distributing about 1.5 million pounds a year. Erma has "worn many hats" as a Hunger All-Star, including forklift driver, lifter, order puller and ambassador for her organization. She is truly an inspiration to us all!
Above: Erma Smith (center) pictured with Vicki Escarra, President and CEO of Feeding America, and Ed Nicholson of Tyson Foods.
Governor Beebe spoke at the event to honor Erma. According to the Governor, Erma “exemplifies that spirit of compassion, empathy, sympathy and aid and assistance to those less fortunate. You judge a society and you judge a people by how they treat those less fortunate, how they treat those who otherwise cannot necessarily help themselves and she exemplifies that."
Above: Arkansas Foodbank network Executive Director Phyllis Haynes presents Erma Smith with the Tyson Foods Hunger All-Star Award. As Erma accepted the award, she said she was humbled to receive an award "for something that we are all commanded to do, and that’s to love our neighbor."
Have you had your Tyson today? Thanks to the generosity of Tyson Foods, many hungry Arkansans will be able to answer, "Yes!" Above: a portion of the 65-foot long truck that contained 28 palletes of high-quality protein products.
To read more about Erma Smith's work, please visit http://hungerrelief.tyson.com/AllStars/?id=1439
To view an interview with Erma Smith, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWugo9hAJXo
Congratulations Sonja Miller - Volunteer of the Week
Sonja Miller has been chosen as the KSSN, Discount Trophies and Eggland’s Best “Volunteer of the Week.” Sonja began volunteering through the North Little Rock Junior League helping with some of our food drive collection points and working Saturday Workdays. She soon became one of our dependable volunteers. She was even brave enough to come help us out with 60 middle school kids one Saturday this past spring. We appreciate Sonja’s dedication and commitment to helping feed hungry Arkansans.
