Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors In Need |
Monthly Newsletter - December 2023 |
121 Ballantyne families will have a December holiday meal because of you We did it again! Thanks to the generosity of our community and the support of our volunteers, we were able to deliver 182 bags of food, over $9,000 in grocery gift cards, 121 holiday napkins, 333 encouraging notes, and many chocolate treat bags to nine schools to help make the holidays a bit brighter for all of these Ballantyne families!
We are feeling the holiday spirit and immense gratitude for all the ways our community showed up to make this happen. Together, we can do so much. We are making a difference!
Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday season and a safe and happy winter break!
Heather McAfee Heather@ballantynefamilies.org
PS – Make sure to check out our new website – www.ballantynefamilies.org! |
Thank You from a Ballantyne Families Recipient |
“On behalf of my family, I would (like to) take this moment to extend our gratitude to each and every one that contributed to and made holiday support possible. We were touched beyond words at the outpouring of such kind generosity and thoughtfulness. Thank you for making our Thanksgiving holiday obtainable with the grocery gift card. In addition, the students' homemade envelope and Thanksgiving Day card we received were amazing, absolutely priceless. My heart is still smiling. It is our wish that you and your families were equally blessed with continued blessings throughout the rest of the holiday season.”
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We would like to celebrate our school counselors and social worker who partner with us every week! And we would like to celebrate our amazing volunteers who generously give their time and effort each week at the pantry. Since the beginning of December, we have shopped and delivered groceries to more than 41 families. Last week alone, we had 23 families, which is our biggest weekly amount ever. Since the beginning of school, we have filled 206 pantry requests for the school. We are consistently seeing an increase in the number of requests coming into our pantry, there is a growing need in our community!
This month, we are especially grateful for the many groups who had food drives for the pantry.
Sincerely, Audi, Erin, Tammy and Sheilah Pantry Managers |
Food Drives/Partnership Update |
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November was a busy month with many groups collecting food for our pantry. First off, a big thank you to Novant Health Ballantyne Medical Center for collecting food and presenting Ballantyne Families with a $5000 check. Their leadership team visited the pantry to drop off their collection and see how our pantry works! We want to extend a special thank you to the Jones family who have lived in Ballantyne since 2004, with all three children enrolled in CMS, including two graduates of Ardrey Kell. They started the Ardrey neighborhood Jingle Jog four years ago with a small run on Thanksgiving morning. The next year, it became more organized with t-shirts and selecting a charity to receive donations. Molly Jones (now 8th grade at Community House) designs the t-shirt each year and liked the idea of supporting local families -- so they chose Ballantyne Families that year and have continued their annual support. The Ardrey neighborhood “appreciates that they are supporting families and students in our local Ballantyne community.” We thank you for your generous support to the pantry with over 250 donated food items and more than $2000 raised for Ballantyne Families. Thank you to SwimMAC’s Shark 2 and Dolphin 2 groups, Community House Middle School’s Let Me Run club, band and orchestra and the Ardrey neighborhood for all of their food donations as well! We also want to say thank you to South Meck Presbyterian Church for including us in their Alternative Gift Market at the beginning of December. Finally, we are excited to be included in the Stroll Magazine as one of our volunteers will be hosting a food drive for Ballantyne Country Club. The demand for the pantry is increasing and having these community groups support us with food donations is critical to keeping the pantry up and running. If you or an organization you are a part of would like to hold a food drive, please contact Lauren Rosenbaum through email at lauren@ballantynefamilies.org. |
Audi Naftzger is one of our two pantry managers and has been in this role since the inception of the pantry in February 2022. Since day one, she jumped in with both feet and has been an amazing leader for Ballantyne Families! She is a thought-leader and doer who is always thinking ahead and figuring out how we can do things better while serving families in need. She has spent countless hours in the pantry and continues to think how Ballantyne Families can get better. We are grateful for her leadership and thankful for her generosity of her time and talents!
As she focuses more time on her family, Audi is going to step away from the pantry. We will certainly miss her! Her finger prints are all over many of the things that make our pantry so successful. Thank you so much for all you have done for our organization and our community! |
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Melissa Stevenson - Polo Ridge Elementary School Counselor
Some facts from Melissa: - I was born and raised in Holyoke, Massachusetts and earned my bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and my Master's Degree in School Counseling from Westfield State University. Go Owls!
- This is my 10th year with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. I moved to Charlotte without a job right after grad school and I was fortunate to land at Polo Ridge Elementary, where I've been since starting in CMS. Both my parents are retired educators and I have worked with children for as long as I can remember.
- In 2018 I earned my National Boards Certification in School Counseling and renewed the certification in 2022.
- I live in Charlotte with my husband and our dog, Nash. When I'm not at school, I enjoy being outside, hanging out with friends and family, and crafting. I always have some type of DIY project in the works.
- Ballantyne Families is such an incredible organization, and I am so proud to be part of it. It is amazing to see the community come together time after time to help support families in need. My work with BFHNIN has allowed me to strengthen relationships with my students and families. I have also met so many wonderful people who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure our families receive the assistance they need. We are so fortunate to have this truly amazing resource in our community!
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School counselors will start surveying families to see who needs support for spring break and summer giving in the new year. Pantry Open House - January 20th, Saturday from 10 – 12 pm in Villa #13 at Community House Middle School. This will be a great opportunity to meet some of our great Ballantyne Families’ volunteers, see the pantry and find out more for you to get involved. To RSVP: https://form.jotform.com/233468279452163 |
- Corporate Sponsors – does your company provide help to local nonprofits? We are in need of corporate sponsors to help with our summer food support. We estimate that we will need to raise over $50,000 to support families this year. Please email heather@ballantynefamilies.com if you have questions or think that your company could help.
- Purchase items – Amazon Wish List for the pantry – these items go directly to the pantry and are a BIG help! We will gratefully receive Amazon Wishlist items beginning Jan 03. (as school will be closed and unable to accept delivery). https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/WIUTGN2U4O9I
- Volunteering time - We are in need of help in the following areas: If you are interested, please email – heather@ballantynefamilies.org.
- Admin – Highly Organized / Technology savvy / Proactive
- Grants/Corporate Partnerships team – Self Starter / Explorer
- Publicity – Creative / Self Starter
- Marketing helper – Creative /Self Starter
- Food drive team – Organized / Communicator / Detail oriented
- Neighborhood champion – Organized / Communicator / Team builder
- Appreciation team – Communicator / Thoughtful / Proactive
- Special Projects – Self Starter / Multitasker
- Other Volunteer opportunities for yourself and children / at home and in person – go to www.tinyurl.com/bfvolunteers2023-2024
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Tammy Menzel and Jen Smith were awesome at leading their very first Ballantyne Families’ Holiday Food Drive! They did a great job communicating and coordinating everything from working with the schools and Brighthouse Financial on resources to working with all the volunteers to successfully collect and distribute the support for Thanksgiving and the December holidays! Thanks to the following people who made December encouraging notes and decorated envelopes: Brighthouse Financial, Novant Health, Darci Giglio, Ann Del Vecchio, Ajita Bakshi and Family, Adarsh Ananth, Joseph Piedra, Ella Piedra, Yuni Piedra, Cathy Gamble, Lisa Hunt, Agastya Kumar, Twisha Shetty, Olivia White, Sidra Shirolkar, Dakota Davids, Ilyas Ahmed, Logan Morrow, Peyton Collins, Vimmi Borkar, Mini Kartha and Family, Vidhya Anand, Trina Ridenhour and Family, Ashwin Guru, Angelica Flanigan and Family, Natasha Murillo-Gil, Joshil Dave, and Reshma Patel-Dave. Thanks to Dakota Davids who helped with a Candy Cane project for our South Meck Presbyterian Church event and to Dakota Davids and Twisha Shetty who put Hershey Kisses into bags for each family who received December Holiday Support A special thanks to Julie White who coordinates all the volunteers for the encouraging notes, envelopes and special projects! Thanks to the following people who volunteered to help with preparing and delivering the holiday food support: Denise Oswald, Jackie Gyoerke, Kate Macrone, Melissa Graham, Pooja Satija, Kerry Doub, Heather McAfee, Jen Smith, Tammy Menzel, Brooke Schonfeld, Sara Seamann, Victoria Cerrato, Tasha Anderson, Carmen Cain, Cathie Weeden, Yuni Piedra, and Amy Brown Thanks to our amazing school counselors and social workers who make all our work possible. They distributed all our holiday support. It takes a lot of time and effort to coordinate with the families! Thank you to Jon Rochester (Ardrey Kell), Lisa Smith (JM Robinson), Valerie Johnson (Community House), Amber Heine (Rea Farms), Nicki Elkins (Ballantyne), Amber Brown (Elon Park), Taletha Williams (Endhaven), Mary Bleich (Hawk Ridge), and Melissa Stevenson (Polo Ridge). Another HUGE thank you to Geoff Parish for creating our new website: www.ballantynefamilies.org We are grateful for his willingness and generosity to share his time and talents!! We can’t say thank you enough!
Thanks to the following people who volunteered this month in the food pantry: Vimmi Borkar, Alyssa Cowell, Amulya Deepak, Dominique Greve, Vicky Irvine, Pooja Satija, Brooke Schonfeld, Sara Seamann, Susan Hicks, Sheilah White, Leigh Ann Kelley, Tammy Johnson, Audi Naftzger, and Erin Furey. An extra thank you to our amazing pantry team: Tammy Menzel, Sheilah White, Erin Furey and Audi Naftzger!
Thanks to the many people who have purchased food items for the pantry through the Amazon Wish List. You have really helped to fill our pantry shelves! |
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