All Good Things

The 24th annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger® Food Drive was a HUGE success! As we reported previously, more than 50,000 pounds of food was donated and collected by letter carriers in Cedarburg, Grafton, Mequon and Thiensville in May. This annual drive helps us fill a gap - providing much-needed food for the summer months when demand rises.

As you can imagine, 50,000 pounds of food was a lot to sort! Well...with the help of a MANY of people - WE HAVE SORTED IT ALL!!! We are grateful to all the wonderful people who helped us sort, check expiration dates and organize all of that food!

We tried some new approaches to sorting this year and have refined our process - thanks to helpful feedback and creative brainstorming. We sort food year-round , so these changes will be beneficial beyond the Postal Drive season. We're in the process of reconfiguring our pantry garage to make it easier for volunteers to help with sorting any time they want to stop by...call us and you'll see how much you can sort in one short hour...it's fun and gratifying.

Special recognition to our good friends at Portal, Inc. who diligently chipped away at that mountain of food week after week - even in the heat. And to Ozaukee Congregational Church who's team got so efficient that they sorted over 1500 pounds of food in less than two hours the last time they visited Family Sharing.

Meijer's has selected Family Sharing to be a part of their Simply Give program once again. When you shop our local Grafton Meijer store through Sept 24th we will be the recipient of all Simply Give donations. Purchase a $10 card and Family Sharing gets $20 to fight hunger!

Triple your donation by participating in the Simply Give campaign Sept 1- 3; Meijer will not only match your $10 donation but they will double it...so you give $10 and Family Sharing receives $30 for our food pantry!!

We are currently seeking 2 EXECPTIONAL part time employees:

1. An organized, hard working dynamo to help ensure that our resale store is the best! The role includes working with our volunteers to train, schedule and make sure they know they're valued.
2. A diligent go-getter to keep our food pantry humming. Help us maximize our not-quite-big-enough space to enable us to effectively serve hundreds of families every month. It takes organization, good communication skills and muscle to keep up with the rest of the pantry team.
   

Want to know more? Please send an email to julie@familysharingozaukee.org to set up a time to talk to you about the role(s) in detail.

Mark your calendars -- November 3 is our Empty Bowls annual fundraiser.

We will provide more details in future editions of this newsletter and also on our website.

Empty Bowls is a delicious way to support our food pantry.

Watch a video from last year's Empty Bowls event.

Thank you Rob Kos and all the organizers of Gathering on the Green, as well as those who attended the festival in Rotary Park in Mequon. This year, patrons donated a whopping 525 pounds of food for our pantry shelves. Not only did attendees do something wonderful for needy families in their community, they also heard some fantastic music by the rock group Huey Lewis and The News. Thanks, everyone!

Last month we asked for a few specific household items for our clients, including dorm-sized refrigerators. We are happy to report that we received a number of small refrigerators which quickly went to families who needed them.

There are a few other items that are always high on our list for our clients:

· Bunk beds

· Working washing machines and gas dryers

· A glider chair for a new mother

If you have these items to donate, please call (262) 377-0634 and ask for Robin (or email her at robinp@familysharingozaukee.org).

Email: info@familysharingozaukee.org
Website: http://www.familysharingozaukee.org
Location: 1002 Overland Court, Grafton, WI 53024, United States
Phone: 262-377-0634
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/familysharing/
Twitter: @Family_Sharing