170th Week Update - Miles Neighborhood Food Collection Project

Hi Folks,

A Positive One Can A Week Week

Concord University in Athens, W. VA.

On March 12th I received an email from a college student in West Virginia.

“My name is Emily and I attend a college in a small town called Athens in southern West Virginia. I am in a political science class this semester and we are trying to implement a One Can A Week program in the town.”

That day I sent Emily a bunch of information and then forgot about it. Friday I got another email from Emily.

“We have implemented the program and have collected food for the past 3 weeks. We have about 90 regular participants and we have collected almost 500 pounds of food in all.

“We are presenting our program to our local Lion’s club in a week so that they can continue the project once we have graduated in May, and we were wondering if you guys had any videos that we could present to them.”

The Lion’s Club holds its biweekly meetings in the Concord
United Methodist Church in Athens. On Monday, April 16th,
Emily and her classmates will present their One Can A Week
program to the club and hopefully the members will pick
up the gauntlet.

We don’t have a video at this time, but we (meaning Molly and her crew) are working very diligently on one so I brought her into the email loop. Molly responded to Emily in a heartbeat.

Hi Emily,

Thanks for your interest in One Can A Week. It has become an issue near and dear to my heart as well.

I'm afraid that is not very much time for me to put a rough cut together. I am still shooting the interviews and have not even gone through my existing footage. I will try to get you a short clip of Peter's interview and the director of the Food Bank. At least that way you can have something to show, but it will not be a complete overview and it will be very rudimentary.

I hope the meeting will be a success for you. Good luck. I'll be in touch.

Molly

Email is so great especially when dealing with pros. Molly got right back to Emily and will have something ready for the April 16th meeting. But what impressed me most was Molly’s comment that One Can A Week is “near and dear to her heart.” It is one thing to have a documentarian to tell your story but quite another to have such a pro on your side. We’re quite lucky and I have to say, I’m quite grateful.

A Little Box With A Big Job 

New, Rosemary designed Community Food Bank collection box at the
Sunflower Farmers Market on Speedway and Swan.

Rosemary Chacon, the Events/Marketing coordinator at the Speedway Sunflower Farmers Market wasn’t kidding those many months ago when she said she loves helping the Community Food Bank and will bring back the collection box as soon as possible. On Tuesday, I got her anticipated email.

“Hi Peter,
It seems like it has been a long time since we’ve touched base, I know that I have been extra busy as I’m sure you have been also.

I have a full box of food items in the box up front for you when you get a chance to come this way.

Have a good day and I’ll see you soon,

Rosemary “

In keeping with Rosemary’s strategy, the box is small and attractive. Also it is in a very high traffic area where customers see it coming and going.

The first pickup the next day netted 76 lbs. and Saturday’s pickup amounted to 6 lbs. That’s 86 lbs in one week.

Welcome back, Rosemary, we really did miss you.

Old Fort Lowell Neighborhood

San Pedro Chapel and neighborhood association meeting place.

Recently retired Frank Flasch has been building a One Can A Week program in his neighborhood. It’s especially challenging since there are three Home Owner Associations to organize.

Frank’s email last week describes the task before him coordinating several gated communities at once.

“For the month of March, 3 HOA's have contributed to the One can a week = Four Cans per month program, over 110 lbs of foods

Those 3 HOA include the Fort Lowell Estates, La Sonrisa and Orchard River.

“As you know the food bank is in constant need of food. So please if at all possible contribute to this program. I would be glad to meet with each of the HOA groups to explain the details of the program and help each of (the) HOA's create a champion to carry the program on in your area.”

The best advice I can offer Frank is never go away. Neighbors like that kind of behavior when it comes to helping them learn to get and stay involved in community service.

The One Can A Week Plate Poster

Just Published

It’s a sure thing, all of the neighbors in the Miles Neighborhood will receive a glossy

11" x 17" plate poster. What is not so sure is the timing of delivery to your front door. It’s
a budgetary thing.

Outstanding Food
The parking area leading to the Community Food Bank warehouse docks was just resurfaced and now the food really stands out in the shopping cart. No more grey cracks and bumps in the background.

We collected a total of 198 lbs. of food. The money we donated amounted to $55.81, a $50.00 check and $5.81 in cash.

See you Sunday,

Peter