Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors In Need |
Monthly Newsletter - January 2024 |
Happy New Year! Over the holiday break, I took some time to reflect on how our community responded to a major need over 3 ½ years ago; - Saturday, March 14, 2020 – the school district communicated that schools were possibly closing because of the coronavirus
- 1:00 pm, Sunday, March 15, 2020– an email was sent to a group of 200 people who had helped put Thanksgiving bags together in 2019 to bring food to Community House Middle School to help feed children who would normally get free breakfast and lunch at school.
- 9:30 am, Monday, March 16 – the CHMS cafeteria was full of food and volunteers!!
- 11:30 am, Monday, March 16 – 100 families in need were given over 350 bags of food!
Within that 24-hour period, we realized that in the SAME community we have families who are in need and families who are willing and energized to help! And that is how Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors In Need was born!
As I sit to think about what to share with you in this first letter of 2024, two words come to mind, Gratitude and Excitement.
I am grateful to live in a community that 3 ½ years later continues to show passion that was present on the 1st day of March 16, 2020!! That support allowed us to add a Food Pantry in February of 2022 and it has been amazing to see that grow and flourish. Our community is living out what Ballantyne Families has done from that first day…feeding our families in need so no one in our community is hungry.
I am excited that we have a very strong base of volunteers and supporters that have helped us grow through the years. I’m also excited that we can help so many more people today than when we got started. Our food pantry has helped 68% more families this school year to date than last. This past December holiday giving, we helped 121 families, that is a 27% increase over any giving we have done before. If you want to see some thank you notes from some of the families that we helped over the holidays, please go to: https://hmcafee.smugmug.com/2023-Holiday-Giving-Thank-yous/n-4XG49X
To keep supporting our families, we need two things. First, we need to continue to educate people that there is a need in our community (1 in almost 5 students in the AK feeder pattern are eligible for free or reduced lunch). Second, we need to continue to get more volunteers and donors to meet the need.
To get a better understanding of what Ballantyne Families does and how you can help, please consider coming to the Ballantyne Families’ Pantry Open House on Saturday, January 20 from 10am – noon at Community House Middle School. To RSVP, go to: https://form.jotform.com/233468279452163
Thank you for your continued support and looking forward to a great 2024!
Heather McAfee
Heather@ballantynefamilies.org
PS – Make sure to check out our new website – www.ballantynefamilies.org |
Thank You from a Ballantyne Families Recipient |
“I truly appreciate the support this year. We are still homeless and spending Xmas in our hotel room. Every year we are able to see family over winter break but due to my work schedule, we will not have that opportunity. With this gift card, we will be able to make a nice meal and spend Xmas together. Thank you very much to your sponsors. Their generosity truly makes a difference.” |
|
We are beginning 2024 with much gratitude! When we returned from Winter Break, we were pleasantly surprised to find over 20 Amazon packages filled with items from our Pantry Wishlist waiting for us to unpack, inventory and re-stock. We want to thank everyone who has contributed items to refill our shelves either through our Wishlist or a food drive at your school or organization this school year. Our pantry team and the receiving families appreciate it very much!
We would like to give a special thank you to Sally Pickard for volunteering her time to meet with the students at Charlotte Latin and for delivering their donations to the pantry. Also, thanks to the Rosenbaum family for sorting and shelving all the donated items over the break.
Our weekly pantry requests continue to grow. From Aug-Dec of 2022, we filled 66 requests for groceries. From the same period this school year, we filled 205 requests. That’s a 68% increase! We could not fill these orders without your generous food donations, nor could we deliver them to the families without those of you who volunteer your time each week.
We appreciate you all!
The Pantry Team,
Erin, Tammy, and Sheilah |
Food Drives/Partnership Update |
Food Drive:
Thank you to Charlotte Latin’s middle school students for collecting food during December and inviting us to their school to speak about our organization and how their donations provide help to our neighbors in need. Another thank-you to SwimMAC whose Marlin 3 group collected food for the pantry as well.
We also want to say thank you to Stroll Magazine for featuring us in their December magazine for Ballantyne Country Club. Board member, Julie White, hosted a food drive in BCC during December and the magazine featured our pantry along with a list of most needed pantry items.
Coming up in January, we have our first neighborhood collection! Kingston Forest will be collecting food for our pantry. We’d love to involve more neighborhoods.
|
|
Nadia LawrenceNadia Lawrence is a volunteer who works in the Ballantyne Food Pantry. Her willingness to help others in so many ways continue to inspire us all! Nadia is a mother to two children, Ashley and Caleb, and a fur baby named Max. Along with raising her children she also works at both, Novant Health at Ballantyne Medical Center, and Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory.
Nadia is a firm believer that no one should ever be hungry. That is why she volunteers her time and resources at the Ballantyne Families’ Food Pantry. She has a dream to open a soup kitchen one day, and we believe she will make this happen! On Nadia’s first day packing food in the pantry, she witnessed the great need in our community, and it nearly brought her to tears. She learned about the value of every donation, and this is now a daily reminder to appreciate the things you have. We would like to take this time to honor Nadia and thank her for her time, dedication, and for making such a positive impact in our community!
|
|
Jon Rochester - Ardrey Kell High School Social Worker
Some facts from Jon: - This is my 10th year as a school social worker in CMS. I worked at Ranson Middle School for 7 years and this is my 3rd year at Ardrey Kell as a school Social Worker.
- Graduated from Appalachian State University in 1995 with a BA in Psychology, UNCC with a master’s in social work in 2014. Being a school social worker is my second career as I spent over 15 years in sales in the tech industry prior to getting into social work. I spent time volunteering at Friendship Trays and the Urban Ministry prior to getting into social work.
- Married with no children but have 3 amazing rescue dogs. My wife, Dawn, is from Syracuse and works as the Creative Services Director of an International Company. I am a Charlotte native and grew up in South Charlotte. I went through the CMS system attending Old Providence Elementary, Barringer Middle School, Carmel Jr. High, and Myers Park HS.
- I love exercising almost daily and being outside is important to me. Some outdoor activities I enjoy include mountain biking, hiking, and you might even catch me playing a round of disc golf.
- I am honored to work with Ballantyne Families to help me assist families that struggle in our community. Prior to coming to AK, I would try to build relationships with organizations similar to BF but there was nothing like this in other parts of our community. I am proud to be able to meet the needs of families that struggle through this partnership!
|
- Ballantyne Families’ Pantry Open House, Saturday, January 20th from 10am – noon 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 need corporate sponsors to help with our summer food support. We estimate that we will need to raise over $50,000 to fill all the slots for the identified families. Please email heather@ballantynefamilies 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! https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/WIUTGN2U4O9I
- Sign up volunteer opportunities for you and/or your children, go to www.tinyurl.com/bfvolunteers2023-2024.
- 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
|
Thanks to the following people who volunteered this month in the food pantry: Alyssa Cowell, Sara Seamann, Dominque Greve, Denise Oswald, Sally Pickard Sheilah White, Tammy Johnson, Audi Naftzger, and Erin Furey. An extra thank you to the Rosenbaum family (Lauren, David, Connor, Caroline and Caleb) for coming into the pantry over the holidays to sort and inventory food from several food drives! Thank you to Angela Stewart, Becky Rogers and Ryan Neelsen who work in the front office of Community House Middle School and graciously accept and move all of the Amazon packages that we receive for the pantry along with working with all of the extra people who come to the school to work with Ballantyne Families. 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! |
|
