As part of our community outreach initiative, where OLSC Raleigh is committed to give back to our fellow North Carolinians, we have moved our annual collaboration with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle to coincide with the LFC Foundation’s This Means More Challenge. Held from September 4-6, 2020, this global effort is something that OLSC Raleigh is extremely proud to have participated. For our campaign this year, OLSC Raleigh aimed to contribute in four different ways:
- Backpack Buddies – designed to provide children from low-income households with 10-12 pounds of nutritious, kid-friendly groceries for the weekend when free school lunches and breakfasts are not provided. The Food Shuttle works with each school system in our service county area and individual schools to identify need. School officials at each site then identify students to receive BackPack Buddies. We partner with 88 schools and 28 school pantries across our service area. Each child recipient receives 6 meals and 2 snacks. Last Fiscal Year: 96,057 BackPacks and 888,000 pounds of food were delivered.
- The Food Shuttle Farm provides locally grown, chemical-free produce for those in need. Eighty percent of the land under cultivation grows food for distribution at our School Pantries, Mobile Tastiness Machine, Mobile Markets, and Grocery Bags for Seniors, providing the freshest produce possible to those in need. The remaining 20% percent of the crop goes towards for-profit production to contribute to the farm’s financial stability. These locations engage citizens in growing techniques, food production, bee pollination, and health education. Individual or group volunteers will assist with various tasks to help maintain the farm and harvest produce for our community recipients. Tasks may include weeding, transplanting, mulching, and harvest prep for food distribution.
- Food Donations where members donated various food supplies to the local food bank, delivered over the weekend by OLSC Raleigh
- Cash Donations for those members who were unable to participate in volunteer efforts or get down to make food donations. OLSC Raleigh was proud to have donated $500 to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle in this year’s campaign.