Shopping for Good

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

How much money do you spend every month on online shopping? Books, movies, electronics, clothes. You name it, you can now buy it online. And what if every time you shopped online you were also raising money for your favorite charity (i.e. East End Cooperative Ministry)?

Well it just so happens that you can do exactly that with iGive. iGive is an online shopping portal that allows you to make purchases from hundreds of well-known stores. The philanthropy part kicks in because all of those stores then donate a percentage of your purchase (it varies from 1% to 26%) to the cause of your choice.

It's that simple. To date, EECM has raised $274.48 through iGive. Now, that may not sound like a lot. But here's the thing. All of that money has been raised by less than half a dozen supporter-shoppers. That's right. Five people doing their regular online shopping managed to raise almost $300 for EECM.

That's pretty amazing. Just imagine how much money could be generated if ALL of EECM's supporters started using iGive.

It's easy to get started. Just go to www.igive.com/eecm and start shopping!

Origins of Soup Kitchen Meals

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

If you're not an avid reader of the Wall Street Journal (don't worry -- I'm not either. I'm not judging), you might have missed the blurb about EECM that appeared last Thursday. It's pretty cool really. Right there, in the midst of an article on how Food Banks around the country are feeling the effects of America's economic woes, were several paragraphs on our very own Soup Kitchen!

There's a pdf version of the whole article on the EECM website. Click here to make your way there.

What I found most interesting was an overview of one of our Soup Kitchen meals, broken down by donation source. Check this out.

Sloppy Joes were on the menu not that long ago. The meat was donated by EECM member congregation Rodef Shalom. The onions and peppers came from Whole Foods Market. The ketchup was government issue generic and came from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and the buns were from Giant Eagle Market District. The soup of the day was minestrone, donated by a local Olive Garden.

Now that's a diverse meal!

Happy Spring!

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

In honor of this (somewhat chilly) first day of Spring, several of our supporting congregations put together some very cute Spring Baskets for our Food Pantry clients.

The baskets came in two varieties. One genre was bright plastic buckets (like you would put crayons in) with cheerful flowers painted on the outside. Inside was a fun collection of jelly beans and chocolates, as well as handmade cards and tissue-paper flowers and bunnies. These had been elegantly wrapped in colored cellophane and tied off with yellow ribbons. Very pretty!

The other group were more traditional wicker baskets with shockingly-colored plastic grass. Their contents included crayons, colored pencils, coloring books, little toys and games, and some miscellaneous chocolates.

The baskets will be distributed to Food Pantry clients (primarily those with children, but we don’t discriminate!) this afternoon.

Happy Spring!

February Hunger Stats

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

To give you a sense of the magnitude of the problem of hunger in our community, here are some statistics from EECM's Hunger Programs for February 2008:

Soup Kitchen -- served 1,800 meals
Food Pantry -- served 374 families
Meals on Wheels -- delivered 1,534 meals

As high as these numbers are, February is actually the slowest month for our Hunger Services. For comparison, here are some numbers from January:

Soup Kitchen -- served 2,050 meals
Food Pantry -- served 467 households
Meals on Wheels -- delivered 1,742 meals

An Extraordinary Program

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

The tutoring room is bright and cheery with bulletin boards and posters on the walls and crates of books and board games piled onto the low, kid-height tables sprinkled throughout the room. There’s a rolling blackboard in one corner with announcements written in the broad, precise “teacher script” that I never could master.

When I walked in, a young Asian boy was diligently following along in a story book while Heather, one of EECM’s ExtraOrdinary Tutoring coordinators, read it to him. He carefully pointed to each word as she read it aloud and smiled happily at the pictures of snowmen and winter play.

Soon, we were joined by a high school student from the Ellis School, who comes in after school to study and get help with her homework. Her tutor was running late, but she didn’t seem to mind. She quietly picked a spot at an empty table, took out Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and started reading with slightly furrowed brow.

Down the hall, Liz, a young elementary school teacher who tutors in her spare time, was working with Danielle. Today the subject was math and Liz had written out several story problems for Danielle to work through. Danielle thoughtfully munched on an apple while she tried to solve the puzzle. Then, her face brightened and she confidently wrote down the right answer.

This is a standard afternoon at EECM’s ExtraOrdinary Tutoring program. The volunteer tutors and their students meet for one hour a week at East Liberty Presbyterian Church. Parents can sign their children up for help with a particular subject, or for general support and homework encouragement. Our tutors range in age from high school students all the way up to several retired folk who have been volunteering for years.

We’re always looking for more tutors, so if you’re interested, give us a call!

Heart-ful Prayer

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

Today I wanted to take a minute to remind you that there is one very simple -- but very important -- way that absolutely everyone can support EECM's Have a Heart for Hunger campaign. It doesn't cost money. You don't have to collect food or make Valentines or help at the Food Pantry (although we'd love it if you did). You don't even have to leave your house.

In fact, this particular activity can be done in your pajamas while lounging on the couch.

That's right, I'm talking about the Big P -- PRAYER. At EECM, we say we're an interfaith organization and, by gum, we mean it. We want you (whoever and wherever you are) to pray for us!

Now, this may sound daunting, but here's the great thing about personal prayer: no one will hear you (well, except God obviously, which is sort of the point). You don't have to be eloquent, articulate, theologically astute, or even particularly pious. You don't even have to speak out loud.

Just take a few minutes from your day and pray for East End Cooperative Ministry. Not sure what to pray for? Here are some ideas to get you going:

• Pray for our Food Pantry clients, that they may have enough to eat this week.
  
• Pray for our Meals on Wheels clients, that they may not feel lonely.
• Pray for our Hunger Staff, that they may provide help and comfort to our clients.
• Pray for our Volunteers, that they may stay energized and committed to their work.
• Pray for EECM as a whole, that our services may continue to meet the needs of our community.

Pray for one of these things. Pray for all of these things. Pray for something else entirely (though hopefully related to EECM).

And remember that you aren't just praying for us. You're praying with us. We pray every day for our clients and staff and volunteers and programs and...for you. That's right. We pray for you, our friends and supporters, that you will continue to partner with us in our work and that you will be blessed because of your dedication and generosity.

Brain Food

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

FEED THE BRAIN! PLEASE DONATE!

Fliers emblazoned with these bold exhortations gaily bedeck a huge stash of brown paper grocery bags, overflowing with food, over at the Food Pantry today. They are the impressive results of the Falk Middle School Service Committee’s (MSSC) annual Feed the Brain food drive.

The students of the MSSC (whom you might remember from an earlier post about their fabulous alternative gift market) support EECM’s Have a Heart for Hunger campaign each year by promoting a school-wide food drive.

To make things interesting, and to give the drive an academic spin, they focus on “brain food” – like canned tuna or macaroni and cheese (a studying necessity, as all college students know). They also collect gently used children’s books for our Bookcases for Kids project and our Food Pantry families.

It’s a wonderful project and just one more example of the creative ways our community supports EECM Hunger Programs. Thanks to everyone who participated!

What do you do with all that food?

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

During our have a heart for hunger campaign, one way that many organizations (and individuals) show their support of EECM is by hosting food drives. A large-scale food drive (like the Love Walk) can bring in over 1,000 pounds of food. That’s a lot of groceries. Which might lead you to wonder to yourself: what do they do with all that food?

Glad you asked. Food donations to EECM are mostly divided up between several programs. The bulk of the donations are distributed via the Food Pantry. Some are used in our two other hunger programs (Soup Kitchen and Meals on Wheels) and a few others are sent over to our Homeless Drop-In Center.

What we need the most of for the Food Pantry are staples. When a client comes to the pantry he or she is given two ready-packed grocery bags with pre-determined contents.

One has:

1 jar of spaghetti sauce
2 boxes of pasta
1 jar of peanut butter
1 jar of jelly
1 can of fruit
2 cans of vegetables
2 cans (or packages) of soup
2 boxes of macaroni and cheese or rice-a-roni

The other bag contains an assortment of things including cereal, cooking spices, canned tuna, and toilet paper.

The idea is that between these two bags, a family will have enough staples to eat for three days. If it’s an especially large family, we give them another bag. Families also receive a bag of mixed fresh produce (thanks to Whole Foods Market) and have the opportunity to take a loaf of bread. Please note that we have partnerships with local grocery stores to provide these items and we cannot accept perishable items from individuals or groups.

We are in constant need of the non-perishable items listed above. Some groups even do specialty food drives (like “can the fourth graders collect more boxes of macaroni and cheese than the fifth graders?”) which work out really well.

Of course, people donate other things than appear on the small list above. So what do we do with those? Well, we can use some things – like bags of rice or cans of beans – for the meals we prepare at the Soup Kitchen and for Meals on Wheels. Dave’s chili is a weekly favorite at the Soup Kitchen.

Donations of “snack” foods – like granola bars or cookies or crackers – usually end up at the Drop-In center where our homeless clients enjoy them as an afternoon snack.

And what do we do with the really odd-ball stuff like 15 year old bottles of hot sauce or half-empty jars of peanut butter? Well…often we throw them away. That’s right. I said it. Please don’t give us gross stuff that’s been sitting in your pantry since 1972.

So there you have it. You know what we need. Now all you have to do now is go out and organize a food drive.