At this time of year, the emphasis is on joy, peace, community, family and giving. We would like to remind you of the consequences of that giving…the good things that your giving makes possible. A portion of the funds donated to the Alliance each year are used to provide capacity building grants to our member pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and other non-profit hunger agencies around the state. In 2014 we awarded $192,527 in grants.

The Mountain Home Food Basket is a 100% volunteer, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping those in need of food assistance.  They had a regular sized stand-alone refrigerator and a freezer. As helpful as the old stand-alones were, they didn’t have the capacity needed to take advantage of the fresh seasonal fruits, vegetables and meat that came their way. They needed a means to safely store their summer bounty for distribution throughout the year. With help from an Alliance grant, the Mountain Home Food Basket was able to purchase a 10’ x 20’walk-in refrigerator/freezer. Now they can accept greater quantities of more diverse food donations for their neighbors in need.

LifeSource International offers food, clothing, adult education programs, after school and summer camp programs that feed children when school is out, counseling, Senior Saturday lunches and community outreach meals to families in Fayetteville. They, like other hunger agencies, receive shipments and deliveries of donated food on a regular basis. Unloading that food can be a back-breaking and time consuming process, especially when many volunteers are seniors. With their Alliance grant, LifeSource International was able to purchase a fork lift. “This has allowed us to better serve our families and community by cutting the amount of time it takes to unload and shelve donations and deliveries’” said Jimmie Conduff of LifeSource International.

The First Baptist Bread of Life Food Pantry serves a large number of food insecure families in the Morrilton area. Transporting food from the food bank and off-loading it at the pantry is a huge undertaking. They were able to purchase a heavy duty utility cart, a 3-in-1 aluminum hand truck with flat wheels, and a cooler in 2014. They were also able to put signage on the trailer they purchased last year with their grant from the Alliance. These items will assist their volunteers and staff in unloading food efficiently and shelving the large quantity of food they receive from donors around the area.

These are just a few examples of the good work that hunger agencies are doing on behalf of the many thousands of Arkansans who cannot provide food for themselves and their families. So many people and organizations depend on the resources the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance makes available to them through the generosity of our donors. Donations to the Alliance have real consequences in our efforts to reduce hunger in a state that consistently ranks among the highest in the nation in food insecurity.

We hope you will include the Alliance in your year-end gift giving so we can support the hunger relief efforts of our member food banks, food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and food rescue organizations all around the state.