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Community Corner

Welch's Support Brings Family-to-Family's Hunger Relief Programs to Baltimore, Maryland

With major support from Welch’s, Family-to-Family, a national nonprofit hunger relief organization, is bringing its three core hunger relief programs to struggling families in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

Family-to-Family, Inc. has joined forces with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore to provide groceries (and a few friendly words of support) every month to Baltimore families in need through its flagship “Sponsor A Family” program.  The program links donor families to families in need in a direct, hands-on way, with donors providing “their” family with groceries for at least 7 dinner-type meals every month.

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With a quarter of the city’s population living in poverty. Baltimore has the highest poverty rate in Maryland.

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“It is wonderful to work with partners who not only understand the needs of our families, but are also willing to go the extra mile” says Kenneth R. Darden, President and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore.

 

As Baltimore’s local coordinating organization for Family-to-Family, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore will identify families in need, and Family-to-Family will match them with sponsors from across the country.  Each sponsor will make a monthly donation of $35 to Family-to-Family, and donated funds will be used to provide each family with a monthly grocery gift card from a local food store.   

 

The program encourages sponsors to also shop for and send other basic items (e.g., toothbrushes or school supplies), to “their” family, along with a monthly letter, making the connection more personal. Grocery cards and shipped packages are distributed to recipient families the third week of every month, when money and SNAP (formerly food stamps) benefits often run out.

 

“Sponsor A Family” will launch on July 23rd at 1pm at the Webster Kendrick Boys & Girls Club at 4130 Callaway Avenue in Baltimore, where participating families will pick up their grocery gift cards, along with bottles of 100% Grape Juice donated by Welch’s. At the event, each recipient family will receive information about the family sponsoring them and be given the opportunity to sit down to write a letter to that family, sharing with them a little of their own personal story. 

 

“Family-to-Family, with the support of Welch’s, is proud to bring our organization to the Baltimore community,” says Pam Koner, Executive Director of Family-to-Family. “In fact, Welch's support and partnership is helping us to expand our efforts and reach families across all 50 states.”

 

“Welch’s shares Family-to-Family’s belief in the importance of family moments and connecting over a meal,” comments Karen Mitchell, Director of Marketing at Welch’s.  “We’re thrilled to be partners with Family-to-Family and help extend their terrific work to more communities.”     

 

In addition to its flagship “Sponsor A Family” program, Family-to-Family’s “Let’s Do Dinner!” project is also slated to serve Baltimore. Through “Let’s Do Dinner!,” volunteers bring a monthly grocery bag filled with ingredients to make one family’s dinner, along with a corresponding recipe, to churches and other drop-off locations. Collected bags are delivered to a local food pantry. A third program, an in-school monthly food drive called “Kids Can!,” will launch in August at Baltimore’s Brooklyn O’Malley Boys & Girls Club.    

 

The three efforts combined are intended to ease food insecurity for Baltimore area families in a reliable, ongoing way throughout the year. 

 

Family-to-Family was started nine years ago by Koner, a Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. mom and entrepreneur, who was heartsick after reading a newspaper article about the impoverished community of Pembroke, Illinois. She convinced 16 neighbors to join her in buying and sending groceries to 17 needy Pembroke families. Since then, Family-to-Family has expanded to over 400 donating families who provide food and friendship to hungry families in 25 communities across the United States.

 

To learn more about its community assistance programs, visit Family-to-Family at www.family-to-family.org.

 

About Family-to-Family

Family-to-Family, Inc. is a grassroots nonprofit 501(c)(3) hunger and poverty relief organization dedicated to providing food and other basic life essentials to American families struggling with the challenges of poverty. By connecting donors one-to-one with specific families in need, Family-to-Family brings a large and seemingly intractable problem – poverty – into personal focus, making proactive, attainable results possible…one family at a time.

 

About Welch’s

Headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts, Welch’s is the processing and marketing subsidiary of the National Grape Cooperative. Welch’s is owned by 1,000 family farmers across America and in Ontario, Canada, who make up this cooperative and who grow the delicious and inherently healthy Concord grapes used in Welch’s juices and other grape-based products. Welch’s is committed to research and development that will meet the growing demand for products that address consumers’ health and nutrition needs. Welch’s products are sold throughout the United States and in approximately 40 countries around the globe. Welch’s is an Equal Opportunity Employer – Minorities/Female/Disabled/Veterans.
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