271st Week Update - Miles Neighborhood One Can A Week Project

Hi Folks,

When Somebody Cares,

Everybody Starts to Care

The CEO of Starbucks speaks up about equality a year or so ago and then recently Guinness, Heineken and Sam Adams step up, too. Even the president is initiating minimum wage hikes and equal pay. With much of the perils of the recession behind us, many folks are looking around, paying attention to and helping others who are still at risk. One Can A Week taking hold in the Sprouts Farmers Markets is another example of folks reaching out to those in need. 

Mayor Jonathan Rothschild started his own One Can A Meeting program in 2012. On each and every email his office sends out to schedule meetings these words greet the recipient:  “You can join the Mayor's "One Can a Meeting" program. Just bring a non-perishable food item to your meeting. There's a Food Bank collection box right in the conference room.”

For years the Mayor has been helping those in need through his volunteer work with Deep Freeze, a program to shelter the homeless when the temperature drops below 40 degrees. He personally set up cots and prepared his synagogue’s overflow shelter to receive guests. On top of that he has been Board President of Casa de los Niños, Handmaker Services for the Aging and Temple Emanu-el.

Now his work with One Can A Meeting is beginning to pay off nicely. Just this week he received a 110 lbs. food donation and $5.00 in cash.

We’re seeing an increase in folks getting involved in serving the community at large because it’s not only the right thing to do, but more important, they are looking to leaders such as Mayor Rothschild and Howard Shultz of Starbucks to show them the way.

Special Note:  Another leader who cares, Dot Kret, President and Founder, DKA Associates, is celebrating her 60^th Birthday—the new 40 for someone with so much energy—and she is asking everyone to bring food for the Community Food Bank to her party on Saturday instead of gifts. I know Dot is expecting a great response to her birthday wish because she told me to bring my pickup truck, too.

Fresh Produce Increases Weekly Trips

to the Food Bank

8^th Truck Load – 2014

 This is the 11^th week of the first quarter and we’ve had eight weeks where we’ve donated over 500 lbs. per week. And lately we’ve had to make extra trips to the food bank. The reason is Sprouts Farmers Market. Their produce is so good and their prices so low, I’m encouraging many of their Oracle customers to donate things like bananas, strawberries (left photo next to the big green can in the foreground) and carrots. Their wonderful Idaho potatoes in ten-pound bags cost 35 cents per pound. That’s very close to being free.

This means the food I get on Wednesday at the Sprouts-Oracle store gets delivered to the food bank on Thursday. Since the Food Bank is only a couple of miles away from my home, I gladly rush the fresh produce to their back door.

This week’s donations amounted to 636 lbs. and included River View Estates, 26 lbs.; Mayor Rothschild, 110 lbs.; Sprouts (Speedway), 106 lbs.; Sprouts (Oracle), 138 lbs.; Shiva Vista, 60 lbs. and Miles Neighborhood, 196 lbs. 

Good Corporate Citizen Revisited

In the early 90’s corporations called themselves “good corporate citizens” in an effort to enhance their images. It often meant little more than staying out of the headlines. Today we now have companies like CVS that are making good decisions even though their actions will adversely affect their bottom line. By October 1, 2014 CVS will no longer sell tobacco products. With CVS’s announce 14 state attorneys general have requested other businesses follow

their lead. In the end, if tobacco consumption is dramatically reduced consumers will have more money for food and health care costs will be significantly reduced.

Tonight I shifted my prescriptions from Walgreens to the CVS pharmacy on University Place. It is going to cost a little bit more but nowhere near the billions CVS stands to loose. To support CVS and help them balance their books, maybe there are more folks like me who don’t mind chipping in a little to make America a healthier place to live and breath.

We collected a total of 196 lbs. of food. The money we donated amounted to $8.00 in cash.

See you Sunday,

Peter