Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors In Need |
Monthly Newsletter - April 2024 |
We NEED Your Help!
Summer is difficult for our food insecure families because their children aren’t receiving meals at school and the rising cost of everything does not help! If you are able, please help by sponsoring a family in need for the summer (every little bit helps!).
Currently, we have 102 families that need summer food support. - 14 families have been sponsored thus far.
- 88 families still need to be supported.
- 14% of sponsorship slots are full!
- Please help us get to 100% by Friday, May 3rd.
Each family will receive a grocery gift card for a certain amount determined by family size. You can sponsor one or more families or a portion (1/3 of summer increments) of a family's need for the summer by yourself, with a friend, another family, neighbors, co-workers, a company or even a sports team could come together.
NEW to the process this year: - We’ve arranged tabs at the top of the sign up genius to make it easier for you to select which school you would like to help support.
- We’ve added the option to process credit cards to give you more options to pay for your sponsorship.
Our community has done amazing things so far – let’s come together and make a HUGE impact for many Ballantyne families this summer. We can do this!
Thank you in advance for your support!
Heather and Team |
Thank You from a Ballantyne Families Recipient |
“I feel no one really understands special needs until you have it in your family… today was a heavy day I need to confess. I got home and I got your (spring break) delivery. It made me cry because we got what we needed, we have helping hands here and there … I appreciate your work and help, so much, from the bottom of my heart.” |
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March has been a great month for the Ballantyne Helping Neighbors in Need Food Pantry. We have been able to shop and deliver weekly groceries to families in need 53 times over the last month!
Each standard shop per family contains at least 32 items including proteins, vegetables, fruits, starches, breakfast items, lunch items, snacks, drinks and even dessert! That means in the month of March we have given out over 1,696 items of food! This pantry would not be successful without your help and kindness! Thank you so much for all your donations and volunteer hours! There are several items that we use and replace almost weekly! On average we are shopping for 15 families each week. One group of items we always need are canned fruits including, fruit cocktail, pears, peaches, mandarin oranges, pineapples, and applesauce cups.
Other items that are requested weekly include vegetable oil, pancake mix/syrup and instant oatmeal. These items are harder to collect and keep in stock. If you would like to donate canned fruit, vegetable oil, pancake mix/syrup or instant oatmeal packets, you can do so by visiting our amazon wish list which ships directly to our pantry OR by shopping at any store and dropping off items in the PTO Room at Community House Middle School. Thanks again for all you do! Erin, Sheilah, and Tammy
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Food Drives/Partnership Update |
Our March food drives provided much needed replenishment for our pantry after our spring break bags of food were given out. AK sophomore Alyssa Pupo led a food drive at Miller Street Dance Academy where she dances. Denise Oswald and her daughter held a food drive at Girl Scout Meck 13’s World Thinking Day. Girl Scouts learned about BFHNIN, donated food and made cards for our recipients.
This month we are thankful for the help of VT Seva’s local chapter in Charlotte, a volunteer driven non-profit that promotes youth volunteering and philanthropy within our community. Special thank you to Pravitha Menon for coordinating this drive.
We are looking for groups who would like to hold a food drive in August so that we can open our pantry at the start of the 2024 school year fully stocked. Please reach out to Lauren Rosenbaum at lauren@ballantynefamilies.org. for more information about this volunteer opportunity.
Sincerely, Lauren Rosenbaum |
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Melissa Graham and Denise Oswald Melissa and Denise are co-chairs of our Spring and Summer Givings for the second year and have done an amazing job coordinating and communicating to garner support for over 100 families for each giving. Melissa is also a dedicated pantry volunteer showing up to pack the weekly requests for food and then delivering them to the requesting school. Melissa has 3 kids that went through and are currently attending Ardrey Kell High School. She is a volunteer extraordinaire with many years of service to her children’s schools and sporting events. We are blessed to have her can- do, follow through attitude and her heart for service. Denise designated Ballantyne Families as the recipient of the Girl Scouts Cookies for a Cause from her daughter’s troop, donating 96 boxes for the Spring family food bags. Along with being a monthly volunteer at our food pantry, she led food drives in her Kingston Forest neighborhood as well as at Jay M Robinson Middle School delivering donations to restock the pantry. Denise recently spread the word about our wonderful organization at the Girl Scout World Thinking Day held on March 23rd with the local Meck 13 Council. The girl scouts in attendance created encouraging notes and decorated envelopes which will be given to families for our upcoming Summer Giving. We are thankful for Denise and Melissa’s can-do attitude, dedication and passion to make a difference in our community! |
School Counselor Spotlight |
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Taletha Williams - Endhaven Elementary School Counselor Some facts from Taletha: - Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, moved to Charlotte in 2007.
- I am a mother of two rambunctious boys who attend a K-8 language school in CMS.
- I'm married to my childhood sweetheart whom I've known since we were 10 years old.
- I graduated from Bradley University with degrees in Psychology (B.A.) and Elementary Education (B.S.) and from Lindenwood University with a degree in School Counseling (M.A.).
- This is my 3rd year with CMS and my 2nd year at Endhaven Elementary School. Previously, I worked in Union County as a School Counselor at an Early College.
- I enjoy traveling to see my family and loved ones and serving at my church.
- Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors In Need is such an amazing organization and I feel so fortunate to help support them. I believe in the mission of Ballantyne Families and enjoy helping families receive food when times are tough. It is very heartwarming to see an organization helping their neighbors.
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- Summer Giving Campaign– Now – May 3
- This is our largest fundraising campaign of the year. We will need to raise over $45,000 to make sure that all 102 identified families receive food support for the summer. Please help us to spread the word so no one goes hungry this summer (www.tinyurl.com/bfsummer2024)!
- Summer Giving Distribution – May 31
- The school counselors/social worker will receive the summer support and distribute to the families before the end of the school year.
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- - Marketing/Public Relations – We need expertise in looking at our entire branding to make sure that everything aligns and that we are doing everything that we should. If interested, please contact Heather at heather@ballantynefamilies.org
- - People Connectors – We need people to join our grants and corporate relations team. Looking for people who are willing to look for grant opportunities with local companies and connect with different Charlotte charities who give donations to nonprofits like Ballantyne Families. You don’t have to have experience – just the willingness to try! If interested, please contact Heather at heather@ballantynefamilies.org.
- Corporate Sponsors – does your company provide help to local nonprofits? We need corporate sponsors to help with our summer food support. We also could use help spreading the word about our summer giving campaign (www.tinyurl.com/bfsummer2024). Would your company be willing to publicize our summer giving campaign through your company’s communication channels? Please email heather@ballantynefamilies.org if you have questions or think that your company could help.
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- Thanks to the following people who volunteered this month in the food pantry: Alyssa Cowell, Amulya Deepak, Serina DelGuzzo, Kerry Doub, Rebecca Fagan, Heather Fray, Amanda Freeman, Melissa Graham, Dominique Greve, Denise Oswald, Lisa Pera, Kim Ransom, Michelle Recalde-Vasco, Lauren Rosenbaum, Pooja Satija, Brooke and Emerson Schonfeld, Sara Seamann, Susan Hicks and especially our amazing pantry leadership team: Erin Furey, Sheilah White and Tammy Menzel.
- Thank you to the South Charlotte Neighbors magazine for putting us in their April edition (page 31).
- Thanks to the many people who have purchased food items for the pantry and the spring break bags through the Amazon Wish List. You have really helped to fill our pantry shelves!
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