Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors In Need |
Monthly Newsletter - October 2023 |
Our 3rd Annual Ballantyne Families’ Holiday Food Drive is almost here! The school counselors and social worker have identified 101 families in the Ballantyne area who need food support for Thanksgiving and the December Holidays. This is the most families that we have ever had!!
Between October 23 – November 3rd, Brighthouse Financial, Ardrey Kell High School, Rea Farms Steam Academy, Elon Park Elementary School and Community House Middle School’s National Junior Honor Society will collect food to make a holiday meal for these families. Be on the lookout if you are a part of these groups! We are most in need of over $15,000 worth of grocery gift cards to be given out to each family for their perishable items during the holidays. For each holiday, families will receive encouraging notes from the community, a resource guide, holiday napkins and: - Elementary/middle school families - $50 grocery gift card and at least one bag of food to make a holiday meal.
- High school families - $150 grocery gift card (we don’t want high schoolers carrying food on the bus in front of their peers)
If you are able, please consider donating so we can ensure the needs of our community are met. Below are the three ways you can denote: I am continually amazed by our village! Thank you in advance for helping to make the holidays brighter for our neighbors in need!
Heather
heather@ballantynefamilies.org |
Thank You from a Ballantyne Families Recipient |
“Thank you very much for everything. I’m grateful for being a part of this community, thank God for putting you in my way. Today, I received a lot of blessings, something very personal. Yesterday, I did not have money to buy food and with what I received, today I can. I still cannot believe it, thanks.” |
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Over this past summer, we provided groceries to families at the front of Community House Middle School. Why is it important to lead with that statement in an October newsletter? It’s important because we got to connect with the families we serve – to see the need when they arrived with their children in the car – and to see the beautiful smile on a little girl who helped carry the bags of groceries.
We could give you stats and numbers about how many vegetables and pasta sauce we have given out since school started in August (a lot!), but what really matters is that YOUR donations are essential, YOUR donations are gratefully received, and that YOUR donations of each item truly make a big difference at a family’s dinner table!
We are in awe of how many choose to support our pantry with donations, food drives, volunteer time, and purchases from the to serve families in our community. And we would like to thank the team of volunteers who give of their time each week to pack, organize, and transport groceries to all the schools.
We would like to share just one set of numbers to put the need in perspective. In 2022, we served 14 families over a four-week period beginning mid-September. This year, 2023, we have served 51 families, over the same four-week period. THANK YOU for helping us fill this need for our neighbors. We would like to thank the counselors and Ardrey Kell social worker we partner with each week. We would like to say thank you to our generous community. If you would like to support the Pantry, here is our Amazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/WIUTGN2U4O9I\\ Sincerely,Audi Naftzger and Erin Furey
Pantry Managers |
Food Drives/Partnership Update |
Food Drive:
Thank you to the kid’s ministry at Forest Hill Church – Ballantyne for collecting food and gift cards for our pantry during the month of September. The children also made colorful, encouraging notes which will go out with food bags over the next few weeks.
For the month of October, we are excited to partner with Ballantyne and Endhaven Elementary Schools as they will be hosting food drives at their schools to benefit our food pantry.
If you or an organization you are a part of would like to hold a food drive, please reach out to Lauren Rosenbaum through email at lauren@ballantynefamilies.org. Partnerships:
We are excited to announce that Novant Health awarded Ballantyne Families’ a gift of $5,000 to partner with us “to improve the health of our community one person at a time.” In addition to this gift, the Novant Health Ballantyne Medical Center will be holding a food drive on their campus to benefit our food pantry from Oct. 30-Nov. 16th.
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Julie White serves in many important Ballantyne Families’ roles! She creates a quarterly Ballantyne Families’ Resource Guide that goes out with each of our givings in English and Spanish. This is an incredible resource of social services for our families!
She also is our Notes Coordinator. She works with many different groups and individuals and has them create notes of encouragement and decorated envelopes that lift the spirits of our families in need.
Not only does Julie do a great job, but she does it with a HUGE giving heart and always goes the extra mile! We are thankful for Julie’s passion and heart for Ballantyne Families! |
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Amber Brown, Elon Park Elementary School Counselor! Some facts from Amber:- Graduated from Marshall University with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, 2005 and a Master's Degree in Mental Health Counseling in 2008; Graduated from Winthrop University with a Post Master's Certificate in School Counseling, 2017.
- This is my 10th year with CMS and my 8th year at Elon Park Elementary School. Before working in schools, I was a foster care/adoption services social worker for a non-profit agency in the state of Virginia for 5 years.
- I have always had a passion for working with children and helping others. I am blessed to do what I love every day at a wonderful school in such a caring community.
- In my spare time, I enjoy traveling, fashion, makeup, cooking, going to church, and working out at the YMCA.
- Family is very important to me, and I love going home to West Virginia to visit my parents, siblings, grandma, and my nieces and nephews as often as possible.
- Working with Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors in Need as helped me to make even stronger and deeper connections to my students and families. It has also given me the opportunity to building relationships with other kind and caring individuals in our community. It is a privilege and true joy to be a part of this amazing group of people!
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Once the holiday drive is over, Thanksgiving food support will be delivered to the school counselors/social worker on November 16 and December food support will be delivered on December 8th. |
HUGE NEED - Please help us purchase over $15,0000 worth of grocery gift cards for the holiday food drive by November 3rd! We REALLY need everyone’s participation to make sure all needs are met. You can use: 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\\- Admin – Highly Organized / Technology savvy / Proactive
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Grants/Corporate Partnerships team – Self Starter / Explorer
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Publicity – Creative / Self Starter
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Food drive team – Organized / Communicator / Detail oriented
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Neighborhood champion – Organized / Communicator / Team builder
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Appreciation team – Communicator / Thoughtful / Proactive
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Special Projects – Self Starter / Multitasker
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Other Volunteer opportunities for yourself and children / at home and in person : tinyurl.com/bfvolunteers2023-2024
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Tammy Menzel and Jen Smith are doing a great job leading the ENTIRE holiday food drive this year! We are grateful for the time, energy, and dedication to ensuring that all of our families have a brighter holiday season!
Thanks to the following people who volunteered this month in the food pantry: Amulya Deepak, Dominique Greve, Honey Batra Kumar, Kerry Doub, Melissa Graham, Sara Seamann, Vicky Irvine and Vimmi Borkar. 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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