221st Week Update - Miles Neighborhood One Can A Week Project

Hi Folks,

Best First Quarter Totals Since 2010

When we add our current quarter totals (2,971 lbs.) to our total Miles Neighborhood donations to the Community Food Bank since January, 2009 we get 52,339.5 lbs. of food. The cash donations move up to $11,036.90.

In people terms, the food we donated fed 13,420 kids and their parents three meals in one day.

Changing the dollar figure into equivalent poundage, we fed an additional 14,716 kids and their parents three meals in one day. That’s a grand total of 28,136 people. Amazing!

No wonder we’re fired up and ready to go.


Formula for turning dollars into pounds.
Total money donated x 9 ÷ $2.25 per meal x 1.3 lbs per meal = pounds donated
Example: $11,036.90 x 9 = $99,332.10 ÷ $2.25 = 44,147.60 x 1.3 = 57,391.88 lbs. donated
http://www.licares.com/staff/information/LIC_Meal_Cost_Calculation.pdf

Blame It On the Truck

Thursday’s Food Bank Delivery

Monday’s Food Bank Delivery

Ever since the truck arrived in early January, a new One Can A Week energy began to take hold here and around the country. Mayor Rothschild’s One Can A Meeting program sparked interest moments after he typed in a note in his scheduling emails to donate. Gary and Karen Hardey from Academy Village called to say they are working with the Vail High School on a One Can A Week campaign. And near Philadelphia, a sophomore at Swarthmore College won a $20,000 scholarship to build a One Can A Week contribution/social website.

On Wednesday, Maen Mdanat of Axis fame, collected $200 over the past quarter and decided to purchase 2 for $1.00 Libby vegetables at Albertson’s. That deal netted 408 cans weighing in at 436 lbs. (See top photo.)

Then Thursday, Davis Bauer, junior and marketing director for the UA Campus Pantry called to say he worked out a deal with his board members to donate to Miles now for later consideration. They just received 264 lbs. of food from the Immanuel Presbyterian Church Deacons and
the Presbyterian Campus Ministry. The storage space the Pantry has available would not accommodate the gift and besides the semester ends in a little over a month.

Davis said we can have the food if in the fall they can call on us to help replenish their supplies. That deal is already set up with the Rincon Market so yes, of course, we’ll take the food. (See photo just above.)

Obviously, it’s the truck. Why? Because it never fails … once a person gets a truck, neighbors just seem to hatch new ways to help him or her fill it up.

Become a One Can A Week Sponsor

Most charities lump everything together under donations. This can be confusing and unsettling for the donor. Especially when he or she thought the gift was to feed someone and instead an office chair was purchased or a salary paid. With this concern in mind, One Can A Week is creating a new model of trust when it comes to donations.

One Can A Week will not become a 501(c)3* nonprofit. For tax purposes this type of business structure is required to file quarterly reports. In turn, those reports mandate lawyers and accountants.

Unfortunately, without a 501(c)3 status, it is difficult to raise operational funds because organizations and companies that award grants and gifts insist on a charity being a 501(c)3 before they will get involved. More tax motivated behavior.

To keep One Can A Week operational costs as simple as the One Can A Week concept itself, I pay for everything out of my monthly $1,500 social security check and freelance computer training work. And those costs are so low I do not itemize deductions.

The good new is One Can A Week is expanding locally and nationally. The distressing news on my part is operational cost such as truck maintenance, printing and lunch meetings with potential participants, etc. are also expanding beyond my ability to pay.

Since every can and every penny donated to One Can A Week is given directly to the Community Food Bank, I need some help paying for operational costs. I call that help sponsorship. A sponsor’s donation becomes my personal income for tax purposes and is used to keep our One Can A Week program and me moving forward. (If your annual donation is over $600 you can issue a 1099 because I am an independent contractor who is working on the One Can A Week program.)

And in keeping with the One Can A Week philosophy, the donations should be small and consistent. Of course, I will keep meticulous accounting records and produce quarterly reports as I do for the food and dollar donations to the Community Food Bank.

In addition your name and donation will be protected with every fiber of my body. That is why I chose PayPal. They are trusted and you can either donate with your PayPal account or most credit cards.

Thanks for listening and I hope you can become a sponsor. If not, just know that I will always press forward even if it’s slower than I like.

To become a sponsor just click on the donor button in the upper right column. It will take you to the One Can A Week blog and you can then click the Donate button in the upper right column.


Special Note: As I have written about in earlier posts, the Community Food Bank operates on 3% of revenues donated and that is incredible. They are one of the very best “good guys” in the nonprofit business.

*This is the IRS tax regulation governing nonprofits.

Only A Two Column Photo Would Do This week there was lots of food and a new precedent had to be set. A single column photo could not cover so much generosity.

All the produce in the front of the cart was donated by Miles Neighbors. All the rest of the food outside the cart was donated by the UA Campus Pantry, the Immanuel Presbyterian Church Deacons and the Presbyterian Campus Ministry.

We collected a total of 888 lbs. of food. The money we donated amounted to $66.00, two checks for $55.00 and $11.00 in cash.

See you Sunday,

Peter