Food deliveries to non-profit hunger relief organizations in north central Minnesota are now more efficient thanks to Rotary Clubs and other donors in the region. Second Harvest North Central Food Bank, the region’s Feeding America Food Bank, was the recipient of $61,000 from six area Rotary Clubs, an individual Rotarian and Rotary District 5580. Additional funding from Feeding America and Hallett Charitable Trusts made up the $119,000 needed for the 26’ refrigerated truck. The truck arrived in March 2009 and signage was applied by Edward Eck Designs in May. This vehicle is now on the road delivering food to agencies served by Second Harvest Food Bank five days a week, 52 weeks a year.
Hunger relief is needed now, more than ever before. The current economic crisis is causing increasing numbers of people to seek help from local food shelves and soup kitchens. The truck could not have come at a better time, according to Sue Estee, Executive Director at Second Harvest. “In order to respond to the spike in need our agencies are experiencing, a larger, more efficient delivery vehicle is vitally important. We can haul larger loads and make fewer trips to deliver food to hunger relief organizations in the seven counties we serve,” she says.
The Grand Rapids Rotary Clubs provided the impetus for the new truck, according to Steve Arbour, member of Grand Rapids Centennial Rotary Club and chairman of the 2008 and 2009 Reverse Lottery Committee. “I couldn’t be more proud of the Rotarians and the Rotary Clubs that participated in this project. It was definitely a team effort that involved many Rotarians from Grand Rapids and all across the region.”
After a rigorous application process, the Second Harvest Truck Project was chosen by the Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Centennial Rotary Clubs as the recipient of the 2008 Reverse Lottery fundraising event held that March. The $25,000 raised at this event became the seed money for applying for additional funding from the other six Rotary Clubs in the area served by the food bank and for matching grants from the regional Rotary District 5580.
Rotary Clubs in Walker, International Falls, Central Lakes (Pequot Lakes) and Brainerd Sunrise have also contributed to the Rotary Hunger Relief Truck. A Grand Rapids Rotarian made an individual contribution. Two grants from Rotary District 5580 brought the Rotary contribution to $61,000. Grants from Feeding America and Hallett Charitable Trusts made up the balance of the $119,700 needed to purchase the 2009 4400 International Truck with a 26’ refrigerated cargo box.
Edward Eck of Eck Designs, Marble, MN, created the design and applied the signage for the truck. Ed and his father, Phil, donated their time (on the weekend of opening fishing) to apply the signage on the truck. Ed’s wife, Jennifer, assisted with producing the extensive signage on both sides of the 26’ box, endgate and doors. The design consists of large scale Second Harvest, Feeding America and Rotary International logos on the upper portion of the sides and back of the white truck. On the sides, below the logos, in a green and orange “swoosh”, are the names of the six contributing Rotary Clubs, Hallett Charitable Trusts and Feeding America.
Every weekday the Rotary Hunger Relief Truck drives a regular route in the north central region. A typical day could be Deer River, Northome, Big Falls, Little Fork and International Falls or Hill City, Onamia, Milaca and Princeton. Each stop is at a local food shelf, commodity distribution site or other community hunger relief program. Over 31,500 individuals seek emergency food assistance from 145 food bank member agencies. This year, due to the economic crisis, rising unemployment and high costs for basic needs, this number is likely to increase by more than 10%. Many area food shelves are already seeing double digit increases in the numbers of people coming for food.
Hunger relief is needed now, more than ever before. The current economic crisis is causing increasing numbers of people to seek help from local food shelves and soup kitchens. The truck could not have come at a better time, according to Sue Estee, Executive Director at Second Harvest. “In order to respond to the spike in need our agencies are experiencing, a larger, more efficient delivery vehicle is vitally important. We can haul larger loads and make fewer trips to deliver food to hunger relief organizations in the seven counties we serve,” she says.
The Grand Rapids Rotary Clubs provided the impetus for the new truck, according to Steve Arbour, member of Grand Rapids Centennial Rotary Club and chairman of the 2008 and 2009 Reverse Lottery Committee. “I couldn’t be more proud of the Rotarians and the Rotary Clubs that participated in this project. It was definitely a team effort that involved many Rotarians from Grand Rapids and all across the region.”
After a rigorous application process, the Second Harvest Truck Project was chosen by the Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Centennial Rotary Clubs as the recipient of the 2008 Reverse Lottery fundraising event held that March. The $25,000 raised at this event became the seed money for applying for additional funding from the other six Rotary Clubs in the area served by the food bank and for matching grants from the regional Rotary District 5580.
Rotary Clubs in Walker, International Falls, Central Lakes (Pequot Lakes) and Brainerd Sunrise have also contributed to the Rotary Hunger Relief Truck. A Grand Rapids Rotarian made an individual contribution. Two grants from Rotary District 5580 brought the Rotary contribution to $61,000. Grants from Feeding America and Hallett Charitable Trusts made up the balance of the $119,700 needed to purchase the 2009 4400 International Truck with a 26’ refrigerated cargo box.
Edward Eck of Eck Designs, Marble, MN, created the design and applied the signage for the truck. Ed and his father, Phil, donated their time (on the weekend of opening fishing) to apply the signage on the truck. Ed’s wife, Jennifer, assisted with producing the extensive signage on both sides of the 26’ box, endgate and doors. The design consists of large scale Second Harvest, Feeding America and Rotary International logos on the upper portion of the sides and back of the white truck. On the sides, below the logos, in a green and orange “swoosh”, are the names of the six contributing Rotary Clubs, Hallett Charitable Trusts and Feeding America.
Every weekday the Rotary Hunger Relief Truck drives a regular route in the north central region. A typical day could be Deer River, Northome, Big Falls, Little Fork and International Falls or Hill City, Onamia, Milaca and Princeton. Each stop is at a local food shelf, commodity distribution site or other community hunger relief program. Over 31,500 individuals seek emergency food assistance from 145 food bank member agencies. This year, due to the economic crisis, rising unemployment and high costs for basic needs, this number is likely to increase by more than 10%. Many area food shelves are already seeing double digit increases in the numbers of people coming for food.
Hi,
ReplyDelete• We have just added your latest post "Rotary Hunger Relief Truck On The Road" to our Directory of Grant Programs . You can check the inclusion of the post here . We are delighted to invite you to submit all your future posts to the directory for getting a huge base of visitors to your website and gaining a valuable backlink to your site.
Warm Regards
Project Grant Team
http://projectgrant.info