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Moving the Community from Hunger into HealthfirstFood
SPRING 2016
This week I got back in touch with Raquel Vela, a lady I first met a couple of years ago. We shared a few laughs while we were waiting in line for food at one of the Foodbank’s local Mobile Food Pantries, when I was doing one of my ‘Month on Food Stamps’ challenges...
SPRING IS HERE
Full Story on page 2
End SummEr HungEr . . . . . . 2
Food LitEracy in PrEScHooL & WindSEt FarmS . . . . . . 3
Star VoLuntEErS
. . . . . . 4
Spring is here and I should be bending your ear about lots of things: - The drought relief we had been hoping for has not appeared or shows any sign of coming, challenging our ability to bring millions of pounds of fresh produce to those in need. - We are gearing up our plans for our largest move ever to End Summer Hunger for kids through our ‘Picnic in the Park’ program this June.
Instead I wanted to share about another important issue: senior hunger. This week I got back in touch with Raquel Vela, a lady I first met a couple of years ago. We shared a few laughs while we were waiting in line for food at one of the Foodbank’s local Mobile Food Pantries, when I was doing one of my ‘Month on Food Stamps’ challenges.
Raquel came to Santa Barbara in 1965 and is now in her 80’s. She has a long history as a local volunteer in schools, and in fact was a Santa Barbara ‘Local Hero’ back in 1996. She even walked with Cesar Chavez in the Sixties. From her tiny apartment on the Westside of Santa Barbara, she is still helping other families around her. Yet, Raquel has to live on about $900 per month. With increased prescription charges, she struggles to keep enough healthy food on the table. Our programs have become quite literally a life saver for her, and she shared with me some of her tips for utilizing the fresh produce, protein and dry goods items she gets from the Foodbank. She also grows zucchini, chilies and tomatoes in a tiny patch of grass smaller than the average widescreen TV.
Over the next few years, the Foodbank and our 300 nonprofit partner agencies are going to have to do more to help Raquel and the thousands like her in Santa Barbara County. You may not realize that many people who are not even senior citizens yet already struggle, because employers often do not want to invest in training for those too near retirement age.
That’s why I take heart that the Foodbank is introducing a new program called ‘Senior Farmer’s Market’, which brings our national award-winning ‘Kids Farmer’s Market’ to low-income seniors living in mobile home parks. The plan is to add health screenings and other services to the fresh produce that will keep seniors healthy and able to enjoy life. It’s a great program and we really need your help in growing it. We owe it to local heroes like Raquel to make sure it happens. Best,
Erik TalkinCEO, Foodbankwww.hungerintohealth.com
BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Barry Spector, Board ChairFrank Abatemarco, Vice ChairVibeke Weiland, SecretaryCindy Halstead, TreasurerGeorge BeanPeter N. BrownDianne DawesNarded EquiluzWayne EliasDr. John La PumaCarla RosinBarbara TzurErwin Villegas
YOU CAN HELP END SUMMER HUNGER We are gearing up for our largest move ever to End Summer Hunger for kids this June. For many children who receive free and reduced-priced meals at school, summer can mean hunger. Each year, we support these children by operating our summer nutrition program, Picnic in the Park. The program provides free, nutritious meals, physical fitness activities and enrichment opportunities to ensure that summer is fun for all kids in our county.
Join us and our generous End Summer Hunger partners, Aera, Citrix, SB Womens Lawyers and KEYT-TV, KCOY-TV & KKFX-TV, as we provide over 35,000 meals this summer. We’ve also received an anonymous $25,000 Challenge Grant to help match your contributions.
Visit www.endsummerhunger.org to give or volunteer.
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SPRING IS HERE...
Last year, our county-wide Brown Bag program delivered 460,922 lbs of food and fresh
produce to 1,637 seniors.
2 | FOOD first
Picking up the basil and tomatoes from your local farmers market will make this recipe taste that much fresher! It’s the perfect dish for sharing at picnics or potlucks.
SERVES 4
Ingredients:
8 ounces dry whole-wheat rotini or other shaped pasta2 large tomatoes, chopped½ red onion, thinly sliced3 green onions, thinly sliced½ cup chopped fresh basil1 15-ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed1 teaspoon dried oregano2 tablespoons balsamic vinegarkosher or sea salt, to tastefreshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions:Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse. Combine pasta with remaining ingredients and let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature prior to serving.
Here is a summer recipe from our Teens Love Cooking classes, which we offer in Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Carpinteria. Try cooking this recipe with your teen at home.
YOUR NUTRITIONSummer Pasta Salad with Beans, Fresh Tomatoes and Basil
Storyteller Children’s Center is tucked away in a quiet residential neighborhood near downtown Santa Barbara. Driving past the humble home on the corner, you would never know it is a place of discovery, nurture, and learning for nearly fifty homeless and at-risk preschoolers. The Foodbank has partnered with Storyteller since 2013 to offer the Food Literacy in Preschool (FLIP) program to their students. Each month, these children are introduced to the wonders of strawberries, carrots, kale—whatever happens to be in season!
After an interactive lesson where they learn all sorts of fun facts and get to participate in an age appropriate food demonstration and tasting, the children read a book and participate in a physical activity related to this special fruit or vegetable. When their parents or guardians come to pick them up that afternoon, they receive a bilingual newsletter about the produce item, along with a generous sample of the fruit or vegetable, freshly delivered from the Foodbank.
Inside Storyteller, the instructor held up a piece of arugula, freshly picked from their
garden, and asked the children what it was. “Broccoli!” said one. “No, it’s lettuce!” another child enthusiastically replied. The instructor had them repeat the word after her, and a chorus of little voices belted out: “A-RUG-U-LA.” Today’s lesson was centered on mixed greens, and they were currently in the middle of the Foodbank FLIP curriculum’s food demonstration and tasting. One girl sprinkled a preschool-sized handful of strawberries in the bowl of mixed greens, and another boy put in avocado and fresh pears. A flat of fresh butter lettuce sat in the shade, ready for the children to take with them to share with their families.
After several months of FLIP lessons, these children already have a head start on the average American elementary-aged student that receives only 3.4 hours of nutrition education a year. At the tender age of 3 and 4, they are learning the invaluable importance of healthy, scratch made meals; experiencing the joy of munching on freshly picked veggies; and fueling their growing bodies and minds with nutrients that only nature can provide.
FOOD LITERACY IN PRESCHOOL
Food Literacy in Preschool currently runs at five locations, promoting healthy eating and
providing fresh veggies to nearly 300 preschool-age children in
Santa Barbara County.
BY JAMIE NICHOLS, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Windset Farms has been providing fresh and local produce to the Foodbank for over 3 years. Last year, Windset’s produce donations reached over 250 local non-profit organizations and helped provide an estimated 170,000 meals to our community. Specialty cucumbers and tomatoes from Windset have reached our Kid’s Farmers Market culinary and nutrition classes at Boys and Girls clubs throughout the county, and their produce has played a pivotal role in our diabetes culinary classes.
Windset Farms has been delivering fresh and beautiful produce out of its Santa Maria warehouse for over 5 years. We are proud and grateful to have their support in moving our community from hunger into health.
WINDSET FARMS
3 | FOOD first
BY BETHANY STETSON, COMMUNITY PROGRAMS MANAGER
www.foodbanksbc.orgSanta Maria Facility490 W. Foster Road
Santa Maria, CA 93455T: (805) 937-3422F: (805) 937-8750
Santa Barbara Facility4554 Hollister Avenue
Santa Barbara, CA 93110T: (805) 967-5741F: (805) 683-4951
Education & Administration Center1525 State St., Ste. 100
Santa Barbara, CA 93101T: (805) 967-5741F: (805) 683-4951
Support the Foodbank of Santa Barbara Countyand you support over 300 local non-profits and programs.
501(c)3 TAX ID # 77-0169214
BY CAITLIN HENRY, COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP COORDINATOR
“Our community is full of talented people who are passionate about nonprofit causes and want to donate their time and
talent”, says Cider Sinclair, in her article in Noozhawk, titled The Secret to Moving Your Nonprofit from Scarcity to Abundance. The Foodbank has been fortunate enough to benefit from this truth for many years. Not only seeking out those in the community who share our same vision of health for all people,
but welcoming their talents and expertise. One such individual came to the Foodbank only a year ago, during the summer
of 2015, to volunteer with the Feed the Future Program, Picnic in the Park. Haley Peterson is in her third year of school at Cal Poly,
studying for her bachelors in Nutrition and Psychology. She aspires to become a Registered Dietician to work on improving overall community health. Haley strongly identifies with the mission of the Foodbank and agrees that there needs to be a holistic approach in providing food, education, and support that help stabilize lives and establish a healthy lifestyle.
Haley volunteered nearly twenty hours a week over the summer of 2015, working side by side with Impact Department staff, and has more recently been volunteering her time to develop materials for the new Diabetes Initiative Group. She is very excited to continue volunteering with the Foodbank because she values having “a bigger mission than just school work.” She is especially grateful to the staff at the Foodbank for making her feel like “part of the team and not just like an intern.” The Foodbank is extremely thankful for Haley, and the many other volunteers like her, who are such a critical part of making everything that we do possible.
We invite you to learn more about our work and support us through our community-sponsored events.
May 7Santa Barbara Wine County Half Marathon
May 14 Letter Carriers’ Food Drive
June End Summer Hunger
July 14 - 16California Wine Festival
Sept 11Santa Barbara Fermentation Festival
Sept 15Foodbank Partners’ Summit
SAVE THE DATESTAR VOLUNTEER: HALEY PETERSON
4 | FOOD first
BY MISHA GARRISON, DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Elise (pictured on the right) has been a dedicated Foodbank volunteer with excitement to spare for many years. For the past 3 years, Elise has been a highly engaged and key member of the Fork & Cork Classic event committee as Silent Auction Chair and now in 2016, Event Co-Chair. Every year, she organizes and leads all silent auction donations from initial calls to delivering beautifully crafted final prizes on event day. Last year her efforts netted $14,000 in support. She invites hardworking and fun friends to help her staff the auction tent as well and thanks to her planning,
day-of activities run like clockwork. As a passionate, well-organized, and dedicated volunteer for the Foodbank, Elise is tops. Thank you, Elise, for your tireless dedication to making Fork & Cork such a hit
and for ending hunger with us! www.forkandcorkclassic.org.
STAR VOLUNTEER: ELISE GEIGER
15-SBCCA-0516-N
