A sprinkle of news, a dash of information and smore from Feeding The Valley Food Bank

Fall 2015

Feeding The Valley Food Bank Newsletter

We Did It!
Feeding The Valley just became AIB certified! This is the gold
standard certification in food safely and our warehouse team
passed a rigid audit and inspection with a glowing score of 955
out of a possible 1000. This certification is comparable to an IOS
certification in the manufacturing environment and is mandated
by Feeding America. We are the third Georgia food bank to pass
and be certified. This will go a long way in terms of our credibility
with our major food donors and will help increase food donations
from our retail partners such as Walmart, Sams Club, Publix,
Winn-Dixie, Target, Kroger, Smuckers, Kraft Foods and the many
others. Hats off to the FTV team, this is a big milestone!

What is AIB?

[Our logo is] fresh, crisp, and

boldly conveys that gathering

food to feed those in need is

our passion and in our hearts.

American Institute of Baking International focuses on

empowering organizations
and people worldwide to
elevate food safety standards. Scoring well on our AIB
Inspection shows that we are
committed to doing all we
can to provide clean, safe
products.

Check us out!
Columbus:
facebook.com/Feeding-the-valley-206451742698993
LaGrange:
facebook.com/feedingthevalley
Twitter:
Twitter.com/feedingthevally

In This Issue

We Did It!

Thanks, 18,000
Times!

Help Feed the

Need!

Feeding the
Valley in ...

Hunger Action
Month

Thank You
Robinson
Grimes & Co.

Hunger
Doesnt take
the Weekend
Off

AIB Inspected: Reaching the Gold Standard

Its Time to
GROW!

Rock Star
Readers at
Kids Caf

Thanks,
18,000 Times!

Denn Muncy and Daniel Saunders at Feeding the Valley LaGrange

Feeding the Valley in ...

We cannot say thanks enough to the

teams of volunteers who come through
our warehouse on a weekly basis. With
a small staff, and a tight budget, we
could not pack and deliver 7,000 mobile pantry boxes monthly without
them. Last year we logged more than
18,000 volunteer hours, so volunteers
are the life blood of our mission and we
are grateful for their service. In the last
few months we have enjoyed having
volunteers from TSYS, Synovus, Fort
Benning, House of T.I.M.E., Easter
Seals and church youth groups. You
are all a part of the Feeding the Valley
team!

Did you know that we opened a warehouse in LaGrange in 2014? With this satellite
warehouse, we have a laser-beam focus on serving Troup, Harris, Meriwether and
Talbot counties in a more efficient manner.

The LaGrange Team

Denn Muncy is our warehouse coordinator and Daniel Saunders is our warehouse
assistant /driver. They are a team of two and in its first year of operation, more than 1
million pounds of food has been distributed from this warehouse. AIB impacts the LaGrange warehouse also. In early October, they went through the AIB training audit.
The final audit is scheduled to occur in January 2016.

Reaching New Heights

Denn is establishing new relationships in all of these communities and reaching out
to churches and non-profits and introducing them to Feeding the Valley. If you know of
a church or non-profit in these counties that has a food program or would like to start a
food program, please reach out to them and let them know about Feeding the Valley
and our convenient location in LaGrange.
Phone: 706-298-7388

Address: 118 Gordon Commercial Drive, LaGrange, GA

Feeding the Valley

LaGrange Warehouse
Serving:
Troup
Harris
Talbot and
Meriwether counties

18,000 Thanks to Our Volunteers!

Rock Star Readers

Things have been rockin at Kids Caf since summer. This summer, we increased our KC sites to 17 and averaged 1,500 meals
per day. Now that school is in session, we have 13 sites and average 6,225 meals a week. During the summer months, the
Chattahoochee Valley Library began an outreach program at
some of our KC sites. Ms. Lyn Seaman,
a retired library employee, has started
the Rock Star Readers Program and
brings books to life and sparks the imagination of kids with arts and crafts. What
a great partnership and we hope it will
expand even more to enhance the time
we have these children under our wings!
It does take a village!
Ms. Lyn Seaman and the Rock Star Readers Program

Its Time to GROW!

In the last six years, our food distribution has increased by 400%. We have been in our current location since June
1992, and we are land locked there is nowhere else to grow! We need to expand in order to be more efficient and
offer more cold and frozen storage. Plans are underway to raise local funds in order to be considered for two major
grants being offered to Georgia food banks.
Our new facility will model a state-of-the-art facility built in Thomasville, GA that has won approval by the Georgia Food Bank Association. Our new location wont be far from our present location! It will be located on 5.5 acres near Highway 80 and Manchester Expressway, which is convenient highway access for our trucks. Plans are for it to be a 31,000 square foot facility with a five level racking system that will increase our food storage capacity from 750,000 lbs. to 1.5 million lbs. of food and will include refrigeration space
that quadruples storage capacity for meats and produce. And it will offer plenty of parking! Keep us in your prayers that we will receive the necessary funding for this new facility!

Help Feed
the Need!
Tis the season for food
drives. Food drives are
essential to help us keep
our shelves full. We receive food drive donations from generous
retailers, companies,
schools, church groups,
civic organizations and
many others.

Most Needed
Our most needed foods
are those that are high in
protein such as peanut
butter, jelly, tuna,
canned meats, soups,
fruits, vegetables, macaroni and cheese, rice,
pasta, beans, cereal,
oatmeal and crackers.

September was
Hunger Action
Month
Orange is the symbolic color to represent Hunger and we enjoyed seeing
many orange spoon photos on our Facebook page. One in five adults and one
in four children are considered food insecure in Georgia and this is a higher
statistic than the national average. Anything we can do even sticking an orange spoon on our nose, to raise hunger awareness in important! Imagine a
world without hunger!

Thank You to
Robinson Grimes
and Company
Columbus largest accounting firm, Robinson
Grimes and Company participated in the Georgia Accountants Food Fight and raised $1025
and donated 125 pounds of peanut butter and
jelly.

Perfect Items
PB&J were the perfect food items for the start
of the school year
because we dont
always get these
food products from
our national retailers. Peanut butter
has high nutritional
value as well as
being a good
source of protein.
We are always
happy to have peanut butter on our
shelves for our
partner agencies.

Feeding the Valley is Gathering & Distributing Food to Feed the Hungry

Plan a Food
Drive ...

Hunger Doesnt Take the Weekend Off

Let us know if you or

your organization wants
to plan a food drive. We
can supply the containers and coordinate pick
up.

As students across Georgia prepare for the upcoming holidays, we are reminded of the many struggling families living in our community. Parents with low
incomes have the added stress of finding ways to afford healthy snacks and meals for their children. A
new backpack, lunch box may not seem like much, but
if your budget is already stretched to its limit, every
extra expense means cutting back in other areas
including food.

Contact: swatson@
feedingthevalley.org

Fortunately, our schools provide nutritious breakfasts

and lunches through free and reduced priced meal
programs. This resource ensures that students have
the fuel to focus on their studies from the first bell
through the last class of the day. But what happens
after the school day ends? Thats where friends like
you come in.
Churches, community organizations and clubs can
sponsor our Buddy Pack program. Kid friendly snacks
are delivered to the schools and packed in backpacks
on Fridays for students identified by school administration to ensure privacy. Happy kids leave school on Friday with food for the weekend.
If you are interested in supporting this program, contact
us. staff@feedingthevalley.org