I keep too much stuff! Diana and I recently did some minor renovations on the house we have lived in for over 25 years. Doing so has been the motivation to go through stuff. Yesterday I found a plaque given to me in recognition for the six years I served on the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank board of directors. Little did I know, when I did my two terms, that serving on the board would open my heart to the career change which took place. In spite of the challenges we have faced in the past two years, my time serving our neighbors in northwest Arkansas could not have been more fulfilling. Knowing I am helping to feed my neighbors makes it really easy to get up and come to work each day.

Spring break is just around the corner. While for some, it is a time of excitement, but for over 20,000 kiddos in Benton, Carroll, Madison or Washington County it just means a week without school lunches. I want to give a shout out to all of our partner agencies who are ramping up their inventory in order to help distribute more food to the families of these young people.

I’m excited about spring break, but not for the reasons you might think. I am way past the time when I got out of school for a week. In fact, when I was in school, spring break hadn’t been invented. No, I’m excited for spring break because spring break means we are closer to warmer weather.

Don’t get me wrong. I love cold weather. But I don’t like snow, sleet or ice. This past month I had to make the decision to close the food bank two times because of inclement weather. Hopefully all that is behind us for 2022.

These past two years we have seen an increase of thousands of people who are food insecure. We have seen hundreds of people in a food line for the first time in their life. People who never could have imagined that something would happen and cause them to be “one of those people.” People who realized and people who were thankful that the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank and our partner agencies were there with much needed groceries, a smile and the gratitude of being able to share the HOPE necessary to get up off the mat and carry on. Because of your support we are there 7 days a week, 365 days a year, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. If that doesn’t give you HOPE, I don’t know what does.

I want to call your attention to our second “Stand Up for Hunger” comedy night. It will be held Thursday, April 21 at the Grove in Lowell. More details can be found elsewhere in this newsletter, but I hope you can join us for an evening of comic relief. We all need a laugh, perhaps now more than ever.

Last March I wrote that I was cautiously optimistic that COVID 19 would soon be a memory. Boy was I wrong. Even though all the trend lines are headed in the right direction, I will not be making any predictions this year as to not jinx us like last year. Stay safe out there.

Thank you all for helping us get through the past two years. Saying we could not have done it without your help would be an understatement. Whether you volunteered, donated, or shared the story of food insecurity in our region, you were responsible for our success.

Because of you someone was able to eat today,

Kent

Join us for a night of laughs and fun on April 21st at our Stand Up for Hunger comedy event to benefit the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

We're so excited to have Dusty Slay as the headliner this year. A little about Dusty; he has performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, at the legendary Grand Ole Opry, Jimmy Kimmel Live and so much more!

To purchase tickets to our Stand Up for Hunger event, visit https://one.bidpal.net/standupforhunger/ticketing.

To catch up with Dusty and to see some of his work, visit https://www.dustyslay.com/.

We are so thankful to these sponsors for their support of this event.

Tickets are limited. We hope to see you there!

Associated Wholesale Grocers Springfield Division’s Produce for Kids Campaign Back for 2022

Harps Food Stores kicked off their 2022 Produce for Kids cause marketing campaign with a donation check celebrating the success of the 2021 campaign, which provided 80,000 *meals to four Feeding America® food banks in the Harps market area. The Harps campaign is part of the larger Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) Springfield Division campaign; including Pyramid Foods, Town & Country Inc, Woods Supermarkets, and G&W Foods Inc.; which has benefitted Feeding America® food banks in Arkansas and Missouri with 890,000 meals since 2017.

The 2022 campaign will see the return of the award-winning Produce for Kids Friday’s program. In addition to in-store signage featuring healthy, easy meal inspiration for families, the produce teams will be serving as campaign ambassadors wearing Fruits & Veggies & Giving Back T-shirts every Friday while giving out $1 produce bucks coupons to families so they can try new fruits and vegetables.

“We are moving into our fifth year of the Produce for Kids campaign. I’m impressed with the ways we’ve continued to reinvent the program year over year as our goals and shopper evolves,” said Mike Roberts, vice president of produce operations at Harps. “Giving back is a core value for us and making an impact in the fight against hunger in our communities is paramount.”

“The Produce for Kids” program makes this particular donation even more special,” said Jeff Thacker, director of development for the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. “We can’t thank Harp’s enough for partnering with us to create more healthy families which mean more healthy kids!

Produce partners supporting the AWG Springfield Produce for Kids cause marketing campaign include Chelan Fresh®, Crispy Green, DOLE®, Eat Smart®, Greenridge Fruit, Halos, Litehouse®, Michigan Apple Committee, organicgirl, PEELZ, POM, Shuman Farms RealSweet®, Red Sun Farms, River Fresh Farms, RPE, Sage®, SamSonS grapes, Sunkist®, Tasteful Selections®, West Pak Avocado, Wonderful® Pistachios, and ¡Yo Quiero! Brands.

About Healthy Family Project Produce for Kids
Healthy Family Project believes in creating a healthier generation. As a cause marketing organization, Healthy Family Project creates programs, like Produce for Kids, that provide easy, fun, and inspiring recipes and healthy ideas. Since its creation in 2002 by Shuman Farms, Healthy Family Project has raised more than $7 million to benefit children and families and provided 12 million meals through Feeding America. To learn more about Healthy Family Project and healthy eating, visit healthyfamilyproject.com.

We believe we have the absolute BEST employees at the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank!

We would like to take this time to publicly thank each and every one of them for being a vital part of our organization.

WE APPRECIATE YOU!!!

The Northwest Arkansas Food Back is so excited to announce a new vendor that just joined our team and they’re a 100% plant-based company - Dr. Praeger’s Sensible Foods.

In March, the first donation of veggie burgers and “littles” will hit the warehouse floors, ready to be distributed to our food insecure neighbors. There are two different veggie burger options; the California Veggie Burger which includes carrots, peas, zucchini, onion and spinach. This veggie burger packs a bunch with 5 grams of protein, 10 types of veggies and only 130 calories! The other veggie burger option we will have is the Black Bean Quinoa burger that is loaded with a hearty blend of black beans and tri-color quinoa with a little smoky chipotle kick. With 5 grams of protein, five types of veggies and 150 calories! Their “Littles”, which are small snack-sized bites, are super easy to feed to kids. We will be receiving broccoli, spinach and sweet-potato Littles, which come in dinosaur and star shapes. Each of the Littles have one full serving of veggies and are soy free.

When we visited with Matt King, who is the Senior Director of Sales for Dr. Praeger’s, we asked him why they wanted to partner with the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. He told us it’s an issue he is passionate about and wants to help in any capacity. One of those ways, providing a healthy and delicious frozen food option to everyone.

“If you’re going to add one or two healthy options in your weekly routine for your family, we think we’re a perfect option to add into your weekly rotation,” says Matt. It also is a great way for us at the Food Bank to give more options to our neighbors facing hunger. Whether it be a dietary restriction, wanting to stick to a plant-based diet, we’re exciting for this partnership.

“One of the pillars of our strategic plan is to enhance the nutritional value of the food we distribute. The donation of plant-based protein from Dr. Praeger’s will help us achieve the goal that 75% of the food we distribute not only helps to fill the stomach, but also helps to fill our neighbor’s nutritional needs,” says Kent Eikenberry, President and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

We’re looking forward for our neighbors to be able to get their hands on these plant-based products in March!

Joselin and her husband, a Prairie Grove couple, load up their two small children; a two-year-old son and 4-month-old daughter, and head to Springdale to Feed the 479 for some help with feeding their family. With two small children, the income only goes so far. With having an infant, there’s a lot of monetary things to purchase on a regular basis that can be a challenge.



Joselin tells us, “food gets so expensive, groceries for our family of four is $200 a week, including baby food so having some of that stress taken off of us helps, especially for a young couple with two babies.”



Joselin’s husband works full time and she is a stay at home mom with their two kids. They tell us they do not qualify for SNAP benefits, which puts a strain on their monthly finances. They choose to not focus on what they can’t change in one day, and enjoy their time at Feed the 479, coming for the first time as a family.



“It’s a bigger operation than we thought but it’s awesome to know they can feed as many of us as there are,” says Joselin. The couple tells us they also appreciate having the opportunity to have a prayer in the back room and focus on all the good in their lives, not just worry about their challenges.

We couldn’t do what we do without the help of our wonderful volunteers.

During the month of February, we had 113 individuals volunteer a total of 513.87 hours!

We have many volunteers shifts available and would love to have you!

All volunteers must pre-register. To access the calendar and register, please visit www.nwafoodbank.org/volunteer .