28th Week Update - Miles Neighborhood Food Collection Project

Hi Folks,

A Little More Limelight
On Sunday, Pauline Hechler, Vice President of Development at the Community Food Bank, wrote an article entitled “The journey to end hunger starts with a single can” which appeared in the Opinion section of the Arizona Daily Star. (http://www.azstarnet.com/opinion/301295)

Her focus was on the Miles Neighborhood, One Can A Week and me. It’s a good read and I’m glad the Miles Neighborhood is getting a little recognition for helping out so many needy folks in the past 6 months.

Serve.gov
The Corporation for National and Community Service also put up an article on their Serve.gov website about our Miles Neighborhood One Can A Week food donation program. Forty-eight hours later I received a response from Karen who lives in a little town in Northern Illinois. I sent her all of our collateral material which includes the Thank You and Sorry We Missed You cards. (http://www.serve.gov/stories_detail.asp?tbl_servestories_id=2323)

She again responded and I was very touched by her story. This is what she wrote: “I am excited to start on a new adventure that allows me
to give back
to the community.
A few years back my husband fell at work and hurt his back. He had surgery and his body has really not been the same since. During our extremely tough time many people in our church community gave things I never expected and I was utilizing the local food pantry. We are now in a much better situation with his acquisition of two seasonal jobs (one for summer, one for winter, it snows a lot here!), and my most recent promotion. The Lord has provided for us and I know it is my time to start giving back.”

I think Karen is going to do very well with One Can A Week because she knows—even better than I—what it is like to really need help. She also knows how important it is for people to step up to provide that help until someone can get back on his or her feet. Yep, Karen is going to be good at helping her community help people in need.

Rotary Club Update
On Wednesday, August 26th, I’ve been invited to make a One Can A Week presentation to The Casas Adobes Rotary Club at La Paloma Country Club. Actually, Pauline’s article made this happen because a friend of hers read her piece on Sunday and emailed her on Monday. I’m really looking forward to this breakfast meeting because The Rotary Club is a powerful force here in Tucson and if all 20 clubs get involved with One Can A Week, food will really begin to pile up in the Community Food Bank warehouse again.

On the other side of town The Rotary Club of South Tucson is finalizing their plans on how they want to participate in the One Can A Week food donation program. Debbie Haddock, the new president of South Tucson, contacted me for a little more information and clarification. This is a good sign and I hope to hear from Debbie in a week or so.

Collection Uptick

The temperature was a bit hotter this past weekend and so were the donations. We collected 160 lbs. of food, 2 lbs. of non food items and $10.00 in cash. This beats last week’s donations by 30 lbs. Vacations or not, the Miles neighbors always seen to be doing their part no matter what the weather.

Howard Needs a Little Good Cheer

The second week I delivered our donation to the Community Food Bank I met Howard Payenson. He’s fast and keeps his head down when working, as this photo shows. Howard has a great demeanor and is very helpful at the weigh-in. Recently he was mugged at his apartment complex and injured. He sustained a couple of broken ribs and an eye injury. He’s okay and on the mend but I think we can speed his recovery process if we send him some get well messages. Please address them to:
Howard Payenson
Community Food Bank
P.O. Box 26727
Tucson, AZ 85726

Thanks, I can’t wait for Howard to get back to work.

See you Sunday.

Peter