Our pantry is packed with special holiday provisions -- stuffing, canned yams, cranberry sauce, and of course: turkeys!
On Monday, we'll see a line out the door as the first rush of people come bright and early to claim their Holiday Helpings package. We're able to be there for these people -- and for the thousands more who will turn to us in the next two months -- because of the incredible generosity of people like you.
In order to meet this year's goal of distributing 8,000 holiday meals in the next 8 weeks, we need your help.
The great thing about Holiday Helpings is the way that everyone chips in together. The bulk of our food and financial contributions come through the efforts of individuals who turn to their own communities -- be they workplaces, schools, civic associations, apartment buildings or private businesses -- to bring friends and colleagues into the act. It's not too late to sign up your community group to join in Holiday Helpings right along with us!
In just the past week, 5 groups have signed up to run Holiday Helpings cash and food drives. If we can sign up 5 more by next week, we'll have 30 groups participating -- our highest number ever!
Some groups round up box after box of food for our pantry. Some groups focus on raising money, since it's sometimes easier to just bring a checkbook than a bag of groceries. This year, we're encouraging groups to round up reusable bags along with their other donations. (Please know that 100% of the money we receive for Holiday Helpings goes directly to our food pantry. And, because we can purchase food in bulk--at greatly reduced prices--we can stretch a dollar much farther than you can at a grocery store.)
However Holiday Helpings happens, we hear all the time that folks find it to be an easy, fun, and rewarding way to share their holiday spirit with those in need.
So can we count on your support? You can email me or call me at 202.386.7611. I'm happy to answer any questions, brainstorm ideas, or just pass along our very simple set of guidelines.
And, of course, the most immediate way to support Holiday Helpings is to make a donation directly. Just $29 will provide Holiday Helpings to a family of four — and we want to provide for more than 8,000 families, so we've got a lot of work ahead of us! Please give today.
Here come the Holidays. Thank you for making them happen!
In the coming months, our beloved Holiday Helpings program will provide more than 8,000 clients with complete holiday meals -- a turkey and all the trimmings.
That’s a whole lot of turkeys!
In the past, Holiday Helpings has consumed tens of thousands of single-use bags to package them all. (Since each package is heavy, we need to provide one paper bag and two plastic bags each.) So this time around, we intend to be better to our environment, by distributing as many reusable cloth bags as possible.
We've been running a reusable bag drive for much of this year -- ever since the passage of the Bag Tax (which levied a fee of 5 cents per bag). Thanks to our food pantry and dozens of generous donors, thousands of our clients have already received reusable bags for our their grocery shopping and other needs. That helps their wallets, since those nickels can really add up against a limited income.
With our food pantry about to kick into high gear, reusable bag drives are a great way to help Bread for the City this holiday season.
Many of us have extra totes at home, work, or in the car. Please consider donating these idle bags to our clients. You can even pick up a few extras at the grocery store for us.
Even better, set up a Holiday Helpings drive in your community or workplace, and help us bring in many more bags, food, and cash for our holiday season. Bag drives are easy; and the average drive brings in nearly 100 bags! Please contact Nathan LaBorie or 202.386.7611 if you would like to set up a drive.
And in the meantime, of course, please give directly to Holiday Helpings — just $29 will provide our special holiday package to a family of four.
Most of the food in Bread for the City's pantry is purchased directly by us from the Capital Area Food Bank – putting your donated dollars to great bulk-scale use. (And it's not too early to give to our Holiday Helpings campaign, which starts next week!)
We also receive private donations of food, through organized food drives and individuals' pantry-purging -- especially during the holiday season.
We truly value the generosity of our donors. Yet because we also highly value the health of our clients, we hope to channel the energy and commitment of our donors to ensure that clients receive foods that best support their health.
This year we want to remind our community that not all foodstuffs are nourishing – and there are some that we simply cannot accept.
Research shows that there is a much higher incidence of diabetes and heart disease among populations that include our clients . These diseases are largely preventable through lifestyle changes like diet and exercise. By contributing foods that do not contribute to these diseases, donors can help Bread for the City be a part of the solution to this community health crisis.
With this in mind, we respectfully share our updated nutrition guidelines for donations.
Please keep in mind that we cannot accept the following: • canned or boxed soups that are not labeled low-fat, low-sodium • ramen noodles • pastry items, candy, other sweet snacks (cookies, Jell-o) • drinks that are highly sweetened or artificially sweetened (sweetened fruit juice, soda, sports drinks, sweet tea) • cake and brownie mixes • boxed macaroni and cheese
Instead we encourage:
• canned vegetables and beans that are labeled low-sodium or no salt added • olive oil • dry beans • fruit canned in natural juices • canned salmon, tuna, sardines, or chicken, especially unsalted and packed in water • 100% pure juice • whole grain flour and cereal that is whole grain, not highly sweetened (plain oatmeal, original Cheerios)
And we discourage but will accept: • canned vegetables and beans that are not labeled low-sodium or unsalted • fruit canned in light or heavy syrup • sweetened cereal (Raisin Bran, Honey Nut Cheerios)
Thank you for joining us in this broad effort to improve the health of our community! To sign up to run a Holiday Helpings drive in your workplace or community, please contact Nathan LaBorie at nlaborie@breadforthecity.org or 202.386.7611.
Next week marks the launch of Holiday Helpings! In the coming months, Bread for the City will distribute more than 8,000 special holiday packages, including a whole turkey and all the trimmings, to all of our food pantry's clients. Just $29 will bring Holiday Helpings to a family of four — you can help us start strong by making a donation here. We're also still signing up participants for community and workplace drives -- email us to learn more.
To start this year off, we asked Bread for the City board member (and all-time high-scoring Holiday Helpings all-star) Paul Taskier, of Dickstein Shapiro LLP, to share with us his reflections on fifteen years of this beloved program. Paul's story is below.
My name is Paul Taskier. I am a father of three, a citizen of the District for over 30 years, a partner at Dickstein Shapiro LLP, and a volunteer and long-time supporter of Bread for the City.
I have been blessed and lucky. My parents escaped the Nazis, and fled to America – my mother with one suitcase and my father with $12 in his pocket.
The day after he arrived, my father found work in a mailroom; my mother received a college scholarship for war refugees. They found great opportunity in this country, and worked hard all their lives to build a better future for their children.
As I grew up, attended college and then law school, I carried on from my parents a sense of great responsibility to the communities that had given us so much. It was this sense of responsibility that led me, gratefully, to Bread for the City.
Bread for the City helps people who, in many cases, never had the kinds of opportunities that my family found. People who’ve grown up under a broken educational system, a faltering economy, domestic violence, racism and other hardships. People who worked all their lives but now struggle with illness and the rising cost of trying to make ends meet.
I first came to Bread for the City in 1996, when the chief judge of the DC Superior Court asked my law firm, Dickstein Shapiro, to provide pro bono legal services to Bread for the City’s clients. I’d known about Bread for the City’s food pantry (the largest in the city) and its medical clinic (one of only a handful of free clinics in the city) and it was clear that our lawyers could really make a difference here. My colleagues and I signed up.
Years later, with pride and pain, I remember one case vividly: Beth. She’d been a drug abuser and an alcoholic in the past, but had since sobered up and found work as a restaurant dishwasher.
Beth was just one day younger than I—yet she looked as if she was 25 years my senior. By the time she came to Bread for the City, diabetes and years of upright labor had taken a severe toll. Beth was hardly able to walk, let alone stand and work.
Despite this clear disability, however, the Social Security Administration had denied Beth the disability benefits that she needed to survive. We litigated her case through the appeals process, and we were successful. (Bread for the City has a success rate of well over 90% for public benefits appeals.)
But though we won the appeal, we still lost Beth: the circulation in her legs collapsed, and they needed to be amputated. To our despair, Beth died on the operating table.
Right then I could see how, for people in need, so much depends upon receiving the right help at the right time. In Bread for the City, I’d found a place that provides all kinds of help to anyone who needs it.
[Holiday Helpings 2010 promo clip developed by BFC's Nate LaBorie]
My first year as a volunteer also happened to be the very first year of Holiday Helpings. The food pantry decided to try to raise enough money to provide a complete holiday meal – a turkey and all the trimmings – to all of its clients.
When I saw a flyer describing the program, I realized that for these families I'd been helping, a true holiday celebration would otherwise be an unaffordable luxury.
That brought to mind my own family’s holiday meals. For my family, Thanksgiving was often the only time when all of us would come together in one space. With so many of our relatives lost in the Holocaust, these holidays were truly life-affirming. I could see my mother’s great joy at having her children, parents, and cousins all at one table, giving thanks. These were the times that gave us hope, and made us strong. So I immediately felt that this program was important.
There I was, about to write a check that would buy dinner for 10 families. Then I realized: I could really make a difference by appealing to my colleagues of like mind.
I walked the halls of the law firm and went into every partner’s office, telling each of them about this great organization and its holiday drive. In just a few days, I raised $10,000! When I called Bread for the City to let them know, they were shocked. George Jones, Bread’s Executive Director, told me the entire Holiday Helpings budget was just $20,000.
Well, this set a fire under me. The next year the members and staff of my firm gave $20,000, and the following year we helped raise $40,000. The numbers grew each year thereafter. Holiday Helpings kept growing too: last year Bread for the City provided holiday meals to 8,000 families in need – and Dickstein Shapiro’s staff and lawyers contributed more than $145,000.
Last year, even as we broke our own fundraising records, the importance of Bread for the City’s Holiday Helpings was most profoundly brought home to me by a small note accompanying a modest gift. A very junior member of our staff wrote:
“When I was growing up, the only time we ever had a holiday meal with a turkey was when my mom got one from Bread for the City. Without that help, we never would have had a real Thanksgiving. I don't have a lot to spare, but I feel like God has given me the chance to give something back. So please take this contribution so that some other kid can have a real Thanksgiving like I had.”
When I read this note from our employee—once a Bread for the City client, and now a donor—I thought of my parents when they’d just arrived in America. My father working long days in the mailroom, my mother setting the Thanksgiving table for four generations of our family that had escaped a terrible fate.
In that moment, the true value of Holiday Helpings became even more real to me.
Even the poorest among us deserve to enjoy a holiday meal in the sanctity of their own home, even when times are tough. Especially then. For these families, a turkey with all the trimmings is more than a meal– it’s a blessing. A chance for togetherness and strength.
You can help us work together to bring that strength to thousands of our most vulnerable neighbors. The easiest way to help is by donating directly: $29 will bring Holiday Helpings to a family of four.
But you, too, can go above and beyond. I’ve found that community fundraising drives are a fun and very effective way to make a huge difference during Holiday Helpings. You can multiply your impact by bringing your friends and colleagues into the act.
Holiday Helpings starts next week--lines will form at Bread for the City bright and early on Monday, as people come for the very first turkeys. During this holiday season, Bread for the City will open its doors to more people than ever before. Please consider giving today -- and even more importantly, please consider signing up to run a Holiday Helpings Drive in your workplace, house of worship, or civic association. It's not too late to get started. To learn more, please contact Nathan LaBorie at 202.386.7611 or nlaborie@breadforthecity.org.
Happy Holidays,
Paul R. Taskier Member, Bread for the City’s Board of Directors Partner, Dickstein Shapiro LLP
With the help of several generous local farmers, Bread for the City successfully hosted our very own farmers’ market--with a twist. All the produce was free! At our Southeast Center on Monday, October 4th, we provided over 100 clients and community members with 750 lbs of fresh, free produce.
Despite taking place in our conference room (because of rain outside) the market had an authentic feel, complete with cooking demonstrations, taster samples, and volunteer ‘vendors’ staffing the produce stands. For clients, it was an opportunity to learn more about the fruits and veggies that (thanks to Glean for the City) now fill our food pantry shelves.
Staff Nutrition Consultant Sharon Gruber prepared healthy, delicious samples; including a fresh beet salad and tasty apple dish. Staff and volunteers discussed options with folks as they browsed the wide selection of fresh produce. And while spirits were high, we made sure to recruit attendees to attend our monthly cooking and nutrition workshops.
With bags of fresh, free produce and delicious samples in hand, people were eager to talk about food. We discussed the high cost and inequitable access to fresh produce, the overwhelming health benefits of fresh versus canned, and the initial barriers to cooking fresh produce. One client stated: “Whole Foods and Teeters have the best options, but they are too darn expensive.” One client exclaimed to another: “It’s good for your heart! It’s good for your blood.” Another, after talking food shop with Sharon, noted: “recipes and education is key - some folks just don’t know how to cook the fresh veggies. But if you show them how, they will try it.”
Everyone clearly took pride in having their very own market; and they embraced the opportunity to learn about nutrition. In fact, many clients signed up for our nutrition and cooking classes and to be involved in our SE rooftop garden so that they could become more involved in our health and wellness programs.
Long time client Carol Motley summed it up best when she exclaimed, “This market is a nutrition mecca!” Ms. Motley told us that she's lost 40 lbs since switching to a vegetable-rich diet, and that she's sharing this with her children too. "But it is extremely hard to afford. If you did the markets every month it would be HUGE for me and my family.”
We're happy to oblige. Next summer, we plan to host several Bread for the City Farmers Markets!
Well, our 5th Annual Good Hope Awards was a blast. We had a fantastic time at the National Press Club last week, honoring this year's awards recipients. Check out our highlight video featured below!
Thanks to all who joined us on Sunday for a fantastic 10.10.10 -- a day of action in which folks got together all across the city and the world to take action that will make their communities more sustainable and just.
Here at Bread for the City we hosted the Local Food Block Party, alongside the Hip Hop Caucus, Roadside Organics, Arganica, Sweetgreen, and many other venues (like Baltimarket, a mobile grocery store targeting food deserts in Baltimore, as reported on over at the DC Food For All).
The food was free, locally sourced, and delicious; the speakers were inspiring; and the music was hott! See this video that one party attendee produced on the fly, featuring a speech by the Hip Hop Caucus's Reverend Lennox Yearwood, and some clips of musical performance by DC's own Tabbi Bonney.
(Be sure to catch the last minute - a real treat from some kids with serious moves.)
(Congratulations to event MC Lauren Von Der Pool, whose "smiley face vegan sliders" have been selected to be served in DC Public Schools!)
Best of all, the event helped us raise $1,500 for our new rooftop garden project! We are still raising money for this, the first large-scale rooftop agriculture site in the District -- will you help us build it?
Bread for the City’s new and upcoming Northwest Center Expansion is chock-full of exciting upgrades for our services, but one thing about which I am personally the most excited is our upcoming Green Roof, which will be built right on the top of our new building!
Green roofs are roofs that are covered with a layer of soil and some kind of plant life. Not only do they look cool, but they also bring all kinds of environmental and financial benefits. The soil and roots absorb rainwater that would otherwise run off the roof, carrying sediment and junk into the city’s already overloaded stormwater and sewage systems. The plants on the roof absorb sunlight, and the soil insulates the building, which reduces heating and cooling costs and extends the lifespan of the roof. The garden also reflects less sunlight back into the atmosphere than a normal roof, which reduces our input to the urban heat island effect.
I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet: Bread for the City’s new green roof will include a vegetable garden! Original plans for the roof included just sedums (sturdy, low-growth plants), but as the expansion moved ahead alongside our Nutrition Initiative, we started thinking about whether we could grow edible things. Upon consultation with DC Greenworks, we realized that our building’s plans could support the additional weight of a vegetable garden, and the prospect of growing food on top of a food pantry was just too enticing to pass up.
So! Bread for the City is about to begin construction on the first large-scale roof top agriculture project (that we know of) in the DC region.
The 3,500 square foot green roof will feature between 40 and 60 raised beds growing a seasonal variety of fruits and vegetables. The plants will be anchored in an 8 inch soil base, specially blended for the elevated environment, atop layers of drainage, protection, and filter fabrics. A team of volunteers and green roof specialists will tend to the crops, ensuring a healthy yield for Bread for the City's constituents.
Check out more pictures of the construction progress here!
While the volume of food harvested from this “intensive” rooftop will not compare to the thousands of pounds of produce we acquire through our gleaning program, we expect that this garden will serve its own unique purpose.
We'll quote Sherita Evans, talking about our Southeast Center's rooftop container garden: "We lack these kinds of green spaces and educational places here in the community. We're hungry down here-- not just for food but for nourishment of the mind and the spirit. And here at Bread for the City, we're not just feeding people's bodies--we feed souls."
We know that addressing the complex needs of our community will require a multifaceted, holistic approach, and this is another opportunity to build a vision of a city in which all people have access to the resources and space they need to live lives of dignity and respect.
We will not just be planting a garden -- we will also be using the space to teach workshops on nutrition, growing one’s own food, and maybe even basic botany. In partnership with City Blossoms (which operates the Marion Street Garden directly behind Bread for the City), DC Greenworks and other organizations, we will invite volunteers, clients and community members to join us on our roof to help maintain it and to learn about growing vegetables.
And we need your help to make this rooftop garden a reality. DC Greenworks estimates that the garden will cost $50,000 to build, and $15,000 a year to maintain -- not cheap, but we belive it will be worthwhile for a space with such transformative potential.
Will you help us raise our first installment of funding by October 10, 2010? On that day, we'll be hosting a massive block party to celebrate sustainable community projects like these. So in the spirit of 10.10.10, we want to raise: one hundred donations of ten dollars each, ten donations of one hundred dollars each, and one donation of ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Will you help? Join us today by giving to:
Bread for the City was founded in 1974 by a group of volunteers who saw a need and shared a vision for addressing that need. 35 years later, many of our programs still would not exist without the faithful support and service of our dedicated volunteers. Over 1,500 volunteers serve at Bread for the City each year. The Good Hope Awards is our time to recognize their outstanding gift of self and service.
This morning we gathered at The National Press Club to pay tribute to all of our volunteers as well as recognize a select few went above and beyond over the past year (or longer!). The 2010 Good Hope Award recipients are: Corporate Partner - Jay Groff and Groff Creative, Inc.
Thanks again to all who came out this morning. We had a tremendous morning of fun, food and friends, as we celebrated the work we've accomplished together. Check out our Volunteer Slideshow after the break and view our complete photo set here.
Photography of the 5th Annual Good Hope Awards generously provided by Jessica Del Vecchio of Jessica Del Vecchio Photography. (another volunteer!)
In 2008, Leslie Bray came to Bread for the City looking for an opportunity to give back to the community. Leslie is the owner of Leslie Arnelle, a fashion styling service. Leslie believes that everyone regardless of income or ability deserves the opportunity to “Live Well and Live Fabulous.”
It’s no secret that individuals walking through our doors are not at the highest point in their lives. Experiences of poverty, hunger, illness, unemployment, and homelessness make living well and living fabulous seem like a distant memory or a far away hope. And yet, the individuals and families we serve are strong, resilient and refuse to give up. It is this perseverance that Leslie honors.
Leslie created the “Live Well and Live Fabulous giveaway” as a way of uplifting and encouraging individuals not to give up. Each month, Leslie solicits, or personally donates, a gift card to a restaurant, a movie theater, a book store, a retail store, a grocery store or some kind of special event. But Leslie doesn’t just stop there. She recognizes that when every single cent is a valuable resource, even transportation can be a barrier – so she also donates a Smartrip card to go with the gift card.
We then give these “Live Well and Live Fabulous gifts” to individuals in our case management program who are working hard toward their goals and could use a lift in their spirits. The past couple of years, we have given many of them away at our annual client achievement ceremony.
Here are just a few ways that Leslie has touched the lives of individuals:
Mr. X has two young children, and since they do not live with him, he values every moment he is with them. Through Leslie’s giveaway, he received a gift card to The Cheesecake Factory. He tells us that neither he, nor his children had ever been before and that the “grandiose dinner” was a special treat they will always remember.
Ms. J was taking classes toward an IT certification. And while this doesn’t sound so “fabulous” to me, she used her bookstore giftcard to purchase Calculus for Dummies; a book that will help support her on her journey.
Ms. S received a mother’s day boat cruise on the Potomac. She took her teenage son and the two enjoyed a relaxing day on the river and quality time with one another.
When Mr. R moved into a new apartment, he received at Target giftcard. He bought “luxuries” with it, like a new bathmat and other bathroom accessories he would have otherwise skipped.
Thank you. Leslie, for your generosity, vision, and commitment to bringing fabulous to the lives of vulnerable DC residents!
-- Thanks to Wendy Guyton, LGSW, our Northwest Social Services Supervisor, for contributing this post.
Washington, DC has more lawyers per resident than any other major city on the planet: one lawyer per 12.4 residents, with 48,456 practicing attorneys total.
Can you guess how many of those are paid legal services attorneys focused on family law for the low-income residents of the District of the Columbia?
This means that many DC residents of meager means who face stressful legal matters like child custody or domestic violence protection must deal with them pro se (unrepresented by legal counsel).
BFC’s Family Law Clinic works hard to meet as much of this great need as we can. We provide legal support to single mothers seeking to obtain child custody/support, battered women trying to free themselves from abusive relationships, disabled fathers seeking to reduce the amount of monthly child support owed when they can no longer work, and custodial parents seeking (or in need of help to maintain) public benefits like TANF. These are problems that threaten our clients’ very household stability.
For Spanish-speaking immigrants, the problems are even more complex because language and cultural barriers become involved. Thankfully, our bilingual staff attorney can help with that. Last year, our legal clinic assisted 205 individuals with family law matters, including 19 new cases opened for full representation.
Every day our Family Law Clinic assists people like Ms. O, a 46-year-old Salvadoran immigrant who was trapped in an abusive long-term relationship. Ms. O suffered a long history of domestic violence at the hands of her boyfriend of 23 years, including stalking her at work and threatening to burn down their house with the whole family inside. When his erratic and jealous behavior continued even after she obtained a Temporary Protection Order, Ms. O came to us for help. We successfully secured a Civil Protection Order that forced her boyfriend to vacate their house while continuing to pay the full monthly mortgage payments for the duration of the CPO. She also won custody of their 11-year-old daughter for the duration of the CPO—as well as use of the car, her only mode of transportation. More importantly, the CPO brought a feeling of stability to what was a very dangerous situation for Ms. O and her child.
“I can’t think of anything more important in a person’s life than family relations,” says BFC’s bilingual family law attorney, Allison Miles-Lee (who just welcomed a newborn into her own family). Allison tells us about the things that she fights for: “access to your children, the right to care for your children and make important decisions for them, freedom from abuse, being able to choose who you live with."
Su Sie Ju, BFC’s senior family law attorney, reflects: “What’s important about the work I do is that I am able to help people who either could not afford an attorney or who have barriers that prevent them from navigating our complicated legal system. It’s important to me that poverty and other barriers do not prevent meaningful access to our justice system, particularly with respect to issues like custody, divorce, and child support, which are critical to securing stability for low-income families. And it’s important for me to accomplish this all at a place like Bread for the City where I know I have the support of my colleagues to address other non-legal challenges that are facing the families I am helping.”
In fact, Su Sie’s desire to help extends to the realms of system change as well. In collaboration with partner organizations and other stakeholders, she is currently working to propose a pilot project designed to institute much needed reforms to the Paternity & Child Support Branch of DC’s Family Court, which is currently stacked against pro se litigants. Her goal is to help reform the system so that it assumes litigants are pro se, and adjusts its practices accordingly. This means translating court documents into “plain speak,” staggering court dockets (not scheduling everyone to show up at 9am), and establishing a system of limited scope representation (temporary assistance from a legal professional). All of these changes would have a huge impact on thousands of low-income litigants per year, thus assuring them a more even playing field when it comes to this branch of the judicial system.
Even though Bread for the City’s total number of family law attorneys (two) doesn’t even stack up against the number of lawyers you’d find in a typical K St. restaurant during lunch hour, the impact of their work is felt in the homes and hearts of hundreds of families for whom they’ve helped ensure safety and stability.
You can read more about our Family Law Clinic in a recent post about one of our long-time volunteers, Elena Alvarez, who will be receiving recognition for her work at this week’s Good Hope Awards ceremony.
Mission: Bread for the City provides comprehensive direct services to Washington DC's low-income communities. We envision a nurturing community where all residents have access to the resources they need to live with dignity and respect. Here at Beyond Bread, we blog that vision.
The views or opinions expressed by the content suppliers on this site are exclusive to the identified authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of Bread for the City, and acceptance or publication of these submissions does not necessarily constitute an endorsement by Bread for the City of the viewpoints expressed, regardless of whether or not the author is affiliated with Bread for the City.
Holiday Helpings cash and food drives. If we can sign up 5 more by next week, we'll have 30 groups participating -- our highest number ever!
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