Thank you - Hospitality House Food Pantry

www.hospitalityhousefoodpantry.org
January 2012
Hospitality House
Food Pantry
Hospitality House: a member agency of Gleaner’s Community Food Bank of
Southeastern MI, feeding the hungry in the Walled Lake Area.
SANTA SHOP PROVIDES TOYS AND
STOCKINGS FOR OVER 600 CHILDREN
Our History
Hospitality House, a food
pantry founded in February,
2002 serves families in need
who live in the Lakes Area.
A variety of healthy nonperishable foods, frozen
meats, breads, eggs and
fresh produce are generally
available.
Hospitality House is funded
by generous support of
individuals, local churches,
and businesses, while staffed
by volunteers who donate
their time and smiling faces.
Non-perishable food items
and monetary contributions
are donated by schools in
the Walled Lake and West
Bloomfield School
Districts, churches,
businesses, food drives, and
you!
Thank you for your
Support!
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St. Matthew Lutheran Church of Walled Lake was transformed into
the North Pole again this year. Hospitality House’s Santa Shop on
December 10th was a magical scene of toys, elves, stocking and
Christmas trees. The 270 families were able to select gifts for over
600 children. There were trucks from American Plastics in Walled
Lake, dolls, soccer balls, books, games, crafts, stuffed animals, hats,
mittens and so much more. We are astonished by the generosity of
our community. It starts with the outpouring of gifts that are
collected at schools, churches and businesses in our neighborhood.
Then comes the joy of organizing all the toys at the Mini Storage
Depot on Pontiac Trail. The evening before Santa Shop brings the
chaos of moving thousands of gifts. At the end of that evening a
simple gymnasium is converted to a enchanted sight. By the end of
Santa Shop on Saturday night over 250 volunteers helped provide a
special day of celebration for our neighbors in need.
Hospitality House
Get
Involved
Email our
Volunteer
Coordinator
Shawn.Anderson@
hospitalityhousefoodpantry.org
Or call
248-960-9975
In 2011, we had
over 6,500 visits
from families
who needed help
with food.
361 new families
“shopped” at the
pantry, selecting
from available
canned foods,
fresh produce,
breads, meats
and other food
items.
Many
individuals
provided close
to 6,000 hours
of time at the
pantry,
maintaining
records and
picking-up food.
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Hi. My name is Shawn Anderson and I am honored to accept the
position of board president. I have been involved in the Pantry for 4
years, working with clients and volunteers. I’ve also been a member of
the board for the last year.
The board has many challenges ahead of us in the coming year. The
economy has made it difficult for our clients to have steady, sufficient
and affordable food choices for their families. Increases in the food
commodity markets have caused food prices to rise dramatically.
Choices are down, prices are up. Not a good situation. It is our goal to
continue to provide healthier food choices and secure adequate
quantities to meet the needs of our pantry.
We will be focusing our efforts on identifying new food sources and
increasing our fund raising efforts to help pay for the increased
need. I look forward to working with all of you in the community to
make this happen..
OFF THE SHELF:
Written by Jerry Anderson, Warehouse Manager
Every year after the holiday celebrations are over and
the last decoration is put away, I have an opportunity
to look back on the year to see where we are and
where we are going. This makes me think of the youth
and young adults who step up to help replenish our
shelves and do whatever we ask of them. A great big
thanks to all who came in to unload trucks, boxes and
pallets of food. Thanks to all of our wonderful lady
volunteers who shop our clients and make sure they
are getting a balance of foods. All in all, we have such
wonderful people involved here—and from the bottom
of my heart, thank you one and all. Have a safe,
healthy, and successful New Year! ~ Jerry
www.hospitalityhousefoodpantry.org
Would You Like To Know More About
What We Do Here At
Hospitality House???
If you, your family, staff or organization is
interested in helping feed your community by
collecting money, volunteering, or conducting a
food drive, please call to arrange a tour and
personal meeting with one of our directors. If
you have any fundraising ideas, we will put you in
touch with our fundraising team. There are so
many ways that you can lend a hand…. from
collecting grocery bags, loose change, employee
donations for a “blue jean day” at work, “back to
school” supply collection, “Souper Bowl” canned
soup collection and many more.
Easy Money
Okay, now that I have your attention let me say I
am writing to address a painless way to raise
money for hungry people...just tell me about yourself. Do you work for a company that donates to
nonprofits, maybe even has their own charitable
foundation? Do you work for a company that
encourages their employees to volunteer? If the
answer to either of these question is yes, I'd like
to hear from you. Please write to me, Peggy Black,
at nipdo@earthlink.net. I will be happy to team
with you and your company to complete their
application process on behalf of Hospitality House.
I'm happy to report, that volunteer Kelly Weaver
got us off to a great start on the quest for corporate
donations. Her company's nonprofit arm, The
Allstate Foundation recently contributed $1,000 to
Hospitality House! Thank you Allstate and
Kelly! I know that are many more opportunities
out there, so don't be shy, drop me a line so I can
get started.
The Donation From Your Pocket
Adopt-A-Bill
While donations of time and food are appreciated, your
cash donation will go the furthest!
Thank you to those
$10 cash donated can be used by us to purchase 40 pounds of
food at Gleaners Community Food Bank, versus your own
purchase of 6 pounds of food.
For example, Hospitality House is able to buy 24 cans of chicken
noodle soup for $1.10 and one case of pasta for $0.60!
Just $20 is enough money to purchase food for one person for a
whole month!
Donations of unexpired food are appreciated. But
Remember –over 172,000 pounds of food were donated in 2011,
but your donations allowed us to purchase
200,000 pounds of food.
More than 440,700 pounds of food were distributed in all.
who pledged funds to assist
with DTE and Consumers
Power bills.
Monthly Expenses
Phone: $85
Rent: $2,300
Gleaners $5,000+
CAN YOU HELP?
Please contact Kristy at
248-960-9975 or
kristyb96@yahoo.com
Thank you to Donors for providing cash and food to help feed the hungry.
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www.hospitalityhousefoodpantry.org
Bayside Christmas Dinner ~ Thank you to Johni and Jewell
Semma, owners at Bayside Sports Grille on Walled Lake. For the 3rd
year in a row, they invited our clients to a complimentary holiday feast
with a special visit from Santa and toys for every child. Everyone had
a great time! God Bless your family and staff for all that you do!
Dear Hospitality House, My family would like to thank you for your kindness and we
thank God that he gave us favor in your eyes. We will never forget what you did for
our family this Christmas. God Bless you all!! Sincerely ~ Brenda L. and her boys
Thank you very much to all Hospitality House volunteers for all you do.
We celebrated together at the Walled Lake Eagles Club on Dec 3rd for
the 2nd Annual Volunteer Christmas Party. We are blessed to have so
many friends helping in various ways. Together we are helping to stop
hunger in our community and you are appreciated by so many!
Dear Hospitality House,
On behalf of Grace Church Commerce, thank you sincerely for working with us for our 1st
annual “Outrun Hunger” charity event on Saturday, November 5th 2011. Your time and efforts
helped make it possible to feed families in need this holiday season and we could not have done
it without you.
Last spring our church family decided to host our first ever 5k race named "Outrun Hunger." The
goal was to raise enough money to help feed 100 families in our community during
Thanksgiving and Christmas. By the grace of God, we were able to accomplish more than we
ever dreamed would be possible. Below is a summary of what happened on November 5, 2011.
• 283 people from our church and community participated
• 56 volunteers supported the race
• Over $7,400 was raised for our outstanding partner organizations (Hospitality House in Walled
Lake and Open Door Outreach Center in Waterford)
• 296 families in the Lakes Region enjoyed a hot meal because of the fundraiser
We hope “Outrun Hunger” will become an annual charity event that is both fun and meaningful
for our community.
Sincerely, Kari Cotter
Race Director-Grace Church
PS. Your team was a pleasure to work with.
View “Outrun Hunger” photos at: http://photographybyshelley.com/p157125735
Visit our church website at: www.gracechurchinfo.net
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Hospitality House
Eleven years ago about this time, two friends attending St. Anne's Episcopal Church walked across the street and started a
simple conversation about helping the community with the Pastor of United Methodist Church. We started meeting for
coffee to compare notes and determine what was the greatest need. It quickly became evident that many deserving people
were unable to access food assistance and that should be our focus. The challenge was that out of the six original
founders, none of us had any experience in opening a food pantry or creating a not-for-profit organization. So what do
you do when you don't know where to start? You put your heads together and start asking questions.
After a great deal of planning, networking, a little creative thinking and an enormous amount of faith, we created "United
We Serve", a 501c3.
One year and four days after that first cup of coffee, we officially opened our first food pantry in the back rooms of the
First Baptist Church. The volunteers used to bring their knitting in case nobody came. Well, you know what they say, "if
you build it they will come", and they kept coming.
As part of a member agency of Gleaners, we had to keep inventory. In the first months we were counting each can and
box. We quickly evolved from counting the canned goods to weighing the food on a bathroom scale. Clearly when we
started getting thousands of pounds instead of hundreds, we needed a new scale system!
We moved around a little as we grew. The pantry spent about a month in St. Anne's Parish house and several months in
the basement of the Walled Lake Church of Christ. We quickly outgrew everyone's church facility and needed to find a
more permanent home. Just in time (as it seemed everything happened) an individual donor gave us enough money to
back up our rent, and a local business came forward and funded the rent for about a year. Because of this generosity, we
were able to move the pantry to the facility we are in currently. We started with just 1800 sq. feet, and then exploded into
the other half of what now is 3600 sq. feet
I don't believe any of the original founders could have imagined that these simple beginnings would evolve into the
Hospitality House Food Pantry that we know and love today. Talk about a dream come true!
What makes the heart of this 'original' volunteer sing is the fact that so many people stepped up and happily volunteered
their time, energy and money with out a second thought. What still never ceases to amaze me is the fact that anytime we
needed anything it appeared through some generous donor. Wish we had a freezer - poof - how about a walk in
freezer? Wouldn't it be nice to have coolers for fresh food - Voila!
To anyone thinking they cannot make a difference - I say think again! This
experience was one of the greatest joys in my life and I believe any of the founding
members and early volunteers will tell you the same.
And to those past and present volunteers and donors - God Bless You and Thank
You! Without all of you, we would not be celebrating this most exciting 10 year
anniversary in our community!
Thank you for allowing me to share these memories with you.
Pam Janson ~ Founding Member, Past President
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Hospitality House
Donations have been made in loving memory of:
Mary Perkins
Ruth
Mary Pickens
Angela Kistler
Kroger Community Rewards requires annual re-registration.
Please visit http://www.kroger.com/mykroger/Pages/community_rewards.aspx
For instructions on how to register your Kroger plus card online so that hospitality
house will continue to receive community reward money at no cost to you!
Regular Business
Hours
Mondays 12-8
Thursdays 10-2
Saturdays 11-2
1600 W. West Maple
Suite B
Walled Lake, MI
48390
(248) 960-9975
Our Mission:
To end hunger in our
community by providing food to those in
need. We pledge to help anyone in true need
while maintaining the utmost respect for the
dignity of the individual.
If you know of a family in need of food assistance,
please let them know about us. If they live outside of
our service area, we will be happy to help them with
emergency food and give them a list of food pantries
in their area.
YOUR AD COULD BE HERE: We are accepting a limited number of paid
advertisers for our quarterly newsletter and providing a link for donor business websites on our website. For additional information or if you would like
to advertise in our newsletter please contact us.
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