Funding & Service Update

Thank you for your amazing support and encouragement over these past few months! It is with great happiness that we announce that, effective October 15^th, Moveable Feast was able to return our clients to full service.  While the federal financial delays created a lot of initial uncertainty, they also forced us to reevaluate our priorities and services, which have resulted in a few noteworthy changes:

1.       Moveable Feast will make the move that many Association of Nutrition Service Agencies (ANSA) programs have done to reduce grocery foods and provide a more healthy and nutritious balance of prepared foods, groceries and fresh produce. This will result in a 30% increase in our meal production and a decreased distribution of canned goods.

2.       Clients demonstrating the greatest need will receive 18 prepared meals, delivered twice weekly.

3.       Other clients will receive 12 prepared meals per week consisting of lunch and dinner entrees, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables as available.

4.       Children and caregivers will be added back to service on an individual need basis.

 With these adjustments, we believe we can better serve our clients and assure the fulfillment of our mission. Thank you for proving how strong and enthusiastic a support base we really have here at Moveable Feast.

Only together can we FEED people | FIGHT disease | FOSTER hope.

Food Day

If you visit Moveable Feast today, you’ll notice something a little different when you walk into the building: a welcome table set up with all sorts of information about food stamps, nutrition and a collection of a week’s worth of food that you can buy with $30 (the average SNAP benefit in Maryland).



To see the list of food purchased and more on the Food Stamp Challenge, click here.



This display celebrates Food Day- October 24^th- as a day to “push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way.” Sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food Day furthers the following goals:

1.       Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods

2.       Support sustainable farms & limit subsidies to big agribusiness

3.       Expand access to food and alleviate hunger

4.       Protect the environment & animals by reforming factory farms

5.       Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids

6.       Support fair conditions for food and farm workers

At Moveable Feast, food is central to our mission, and every day we witness the powerful effects that access to good nutrition has on the health of our clients and their families. Join us in observing Food Day by attending a local event, signing a petition and spreading the word!

A few Food Day events around the city include:

Food Day Teach-In: Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future is hosting a series of food-related presentations, ending at 3pm.

National Food Day Event in Pigtown: Check out activities emphasizing healthy eating and talk to representatives from various Baltimore organizations that work to improve access to healthy foods. 2:30 @ George Washington Elementary School

Vegetarian—Food Day Dinner: A dinner hosted by The VRG for World Food Day at 5pm tonight @ Mr. Chan’s Szechuan Restaurant (registration required).

Find out more ways to get involved on the Food Day website.

Guest Blog: Moveable Feast's Recipe for Successful Volunteer Management

A few weeks ago, Volunteer Maryland’s latest crew of Americorps members (part of their Volunteer Maryland Coordinators program) spent a full day at Moveable Feast volunteering and thinking about the “best practices” of volunteer management. Barb Cooke, a VMC peer leader, was kind enough to share her blog post reflecting on the day and, more specifically, on the recipe for a successful volunteer program. You can find her full blog post here.

Here is how Moveable Feast makes it happen:

Ingredients:
~heartfelt passion
~a solid understanding of the community need and agency mission
~a handful of humility
~knowledge of staff/volunteer investment, policies and documentation
~heaping helping of flexibility
~effective recruitment, orientation/training, and recognition
~healthy sprinkling humor

 

Directions:
1) Have Volunteer Coordinator, Tom Patrick, share his passion and that of Moveable Feast with you. He began “helping out” over 20 years ago and continues to carry the mission of volunteer work at Moveable Feast forward.
2) Choose from several areas in which to commit your time. Our volunteers were divided between the kitchen, garden and office. However, it rained. . .and then it poured. No worries, Tom was quite masterful at finding alternative tasks crucial to the program. Because Moveable Feast’s volunteer procedures and position descriptions are clear and well-defined, the garden group easily took on other responsibilities including, follow-up phone calls and writing Thank You letters to volunteers.
3) Tom was adept at weaving our service that day into the rich tapestry of Moveable Feast history. We also received training in required procedures, were invited (recruited) to return for upcoming events and, walked out feeling like we had made a real difference.
4) If you’re interested in “tasting” Moveable Feast’s recipe for volunteering first hand, contact Tom and add yourself; groups are welcome!

At the conclusion of our Service Day, the Volunteer Maryland Peer Leaders, Joy and I, facilitated small group discussions with the Volunteer Maryland Coordinators reflecting on what we had learned at Moveable Feast. The reflections acknowledged the importance of including flexibility, humor and structure in a successful volunteer program. Each group prepared a demonstration that symbolized their experience. The demonstrations included group spoken word, ingredients to build a volunteer cupcake (Did you wonder where I got the idea for this post?) and a family convincing reluctant teenagers to get involved in service. This opportunity gave the Volunteer Maryland Coordinators personal practice in a successful volunteer experience. Now, they are putting this process into practice as they recruit and manage volunteer programs at their Service Sites.

  

2nd Annual B'More Aware of HIV: The Living Red Ribbon

The free meals Moveable Feast delivers to our neighbors help to give them the strength to fight HIV or AIDS, but we don’t just stop there. We work with AIRS and Chase Brexton (forming the Partnership for Life) to raise awareness about this disease so that less people need our meals in the future.

You can help.

Join us for the Partnership for Life’s B’More Aware of HIV: The Living Red Ribbon event:

When:  World AIDS Day, Thursday, December 1st

 9am-3pm | Living Red Ribbon at 12:30pm

Where: Coppin State University - Physical Education Complex

Why:    To raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the Baltimore Community, to share available resources and information, and to provide a safe space for free HIV testing

Click image to see full details

Last year, we had hundreds of community members come out for the health fair, speeches, entertainment, free HIV testing, and formation of a living red ribbon. This year, we’re calling on even more people to stand with us in red.

For more information:

• Read a volunteer’s reflections about last year’s event here
• Peruse the front page B’More Aware article in our Fall Newsletter here
• Visit: http://bmoreaware.kintera.org/ or call AIRS at 410.576.5070

AIRS Takes on People On The Move

For the past 12 years, Moveable Feast has developed and grown the program, People on the Move, a free driver training program and shuttle transportation system for people who are experiencing homelessness. Monday through Friday, our drivers made stops at numerous homeless shelters, picking up individuals and dropping them off at different resource centers around Baltimore City, including Health Care for the Homeless, Chase Brexton and the Department of Social Services. 

This week, we are happy to announce that AIRS, a non-profit that provides supportive housing services, will be taking over the facilitation of People on the Move (POTM). POTM has helped to connect countless people to resources which have helped them to get back on their feet, and now AIRS will ensure that many more continue to benefit from this service. 

 To learn more about POTM through AIRS, please contact:

Linda Richardson

Operations Manager

410.576.5070 x31

To learn more about AIRS, click here.

Turning "Likes" into Meals

How can carpet, hardwood and glass translate into meals for Marylanders in need? Floors Etc. is making it happen with your help. Floors Etc. is a local flooring boutique that has been serving Baltimore for 120 years. They’ve been voted “Baltimore’s Best Flooring Company” twice by Baltimore Magazine, and over the next three months, they are taking their customer and community service to a new level: Facebook.

From now until the end of December, Floors-Etc will donate $1 to Moveable Feast for every person that “likes” their facebook page. With our strong network of online supporters, this simple challenge could provide a lot more meals for men and women struggling with serious illnesses. So take a second to “like” Floors Etc.’s facebook page and spread the word!

Black Dragon's Dress to Impress Banquet

For the past three years, Black Dragon, a charismatic motorcycle group, has put their time and energy into staffing our final Ride for the Feast pit stop at the American Visionary Art Museum. They provide our riders with the motivation and encouragement to bike the final miles to our Mfeast offices in East Baltimore. Now they want to do more! Join Black Dragon members Too Hot, Kiss, Diva and Bouncie on Saturday, October 22^nd for their Dress to Impress Banquet. From 8pm-12pm at The Forum (4210 Primrose Ave, Baltimore), expect great food, an open bar, DJ Sugar Chris, door prizes and more! 

 (click to enlarge)

A portion of the proceeds will come back to benefit Moveable Feast!