Happy Hunger Action Month. It is now September, and I will resume my annual quest of wearing orange every working day of the month. I have had several folks ask me why I established my “orange challenge.” To restate, Orange is the color representing hunger. Our logo, No Kids Hungry, The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance and Feeding America all have orange as an integral color. Any opportunity I get to bring attention to the need is a success. Monetary donations help pay the bills. Money helps put food on the tables of those in need. Advocacy is equally as important. Too many people are hungry and too few people realize the need is as great as it is. I have been proud to wear orange every day in past Septembers, and I am looking forward to putting my orange on. I even have some new orange shirts to add to the rotation..

Speaking of Hunger Action Month, elsewhere in this email newsletter, Julie Damer, our marketing manager will outline just a few of the things we are doing this year as we try to engage as many people as possible to share their way of supporting us. Whether it is wearing orange, taking photos at the Standees in area Walmart stores ( you will learn more about these later on in this newsletter), forwarding this email newsletter to friends and families or simply picking up the phone to call a Food Bank staff member to say thank you, you will have played an important role in telling our story. Thank you in advance. Please try to find the article about a new T-shirt for sale from our friends at B-Unlimited. A portion of the sale price of each shirt will be donated to the Food Bank. If I do say so myself, they are pretty cool looking and I will wear mine with pride. By the way, it is orange so I can wear it to work this month.

I have made it this far without mentioning COVID. To quote a friend, “I’m ready for it to go away.” I think we all kind of feel that way. But I fear it will be with us for a while. Thank you all for your unwavering support during the past few months. Your response to help us help others in need has been unbelievable. We are so blessed and thankful for each of you.

Get your orange on. Let’s make this September make a difference in the lives of our food insecure neighbors. Because of you, someone will eat today.

- Kent Eikenberry

Hunger Action Month, which takes place each September, is a time when people all over America stand with the Feeding America nationwide network of food banks, including the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, to fight hunger.Alongside all 200 Feeding America network food banks, we commemorate Hunger Action Month by spreading the word about hunger in our communities, volunteering, advocating, donating and helping raise awareness about hunger.

We are asking our community partners here in NWA to join us during the month of September to raise awareness of this issue in our region by changing anything at their business – from their outdoor lighting to the water in their fountains – to the color orange, the color recognized by Feeding America as the color to represent hunger. We can’t wait to see how creative our community gets with this fun opportunity!

We have placed several of these cutouts in area Walmart Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets in the region to help raise awareness that every 1 in 4 kids right here in Northwest Arkansas are food insecure. We encourage you to help us spread the word.

Simply find one of the standups, snap a selfie with it and tag us in the photo #nwafoodbank with the #HungerActionMonth. You can also email them to Julie.damer@nwafoodbank.org so we can share them with the community!

Help us spread the word about our mission to feed those who are in need in Northwest Arkansas and get a cool new shirt, too! The nice folks at B-Unlimited are donating a portion of every sale to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank!

These are nice, comfy shirts. Order yours today!

In an effort to continue to provide food to those in need during this COVID-19 crisis, KraftHeinz recently donated a large amount of ready to eat meals to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. The donation consisted of assorted Smart Ones® meals, which will provide over 7,280 meals to those here in our region that are in need.

“We are so appreciative for the most recent donation of Smart Ones® ready to eat meals from our friends at KraftHeinz," said Kent Eikenberry, President/CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. “They flew out of our freezers almost as quickly as we put them in there. Our partner agencies were excited to provide easy, nutritious and perfectly portioned meals to their clients. This is simply another example of how the team at KraftHeinz has supported the Food Bank and our mission to address food insecurity in Northwest Arkansas.

T he Second Street Pantry in Bentonville, Arkansas, was started in February of 2011 by a core group of four women. Three months later they partnered with the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. Today, they help upwards of 100 families a week supplement their food income using money donated by the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Bentonville.

On Tuesday, July 28, 2020, the team prepared food bags and “home goods” bags, which contain goods such as toilet paper and paper towels and are passed out once a month with the food bags.

Peggy Snyder, who works at the food pantry, said she has noticed an increase in the number of faces per week, old and new, since COVID-19 began.

“I would be surprised if we don’t get up to 100 cars,” Peggy Snyder said as bags were packed.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pantry’s process for passing out food has changed. Those picking up food drive up to a greeter who sends a photo of their ID to a data person inside. That person then looks up the name in their system to see how many people are in the family. This number determines how many bags of food and goods the car gets. Then the rest of the volunteers pack up and pass out the bags.

If the person has not been to the pantry before, they are asked to fill out an application so the church knows who they are and how many people they need to feed. However, the “application” is just a formality.

Second Street Pantry has also started doing a “home delivery service” for anyone who cannot leave their homes at this time. For example, local nursing and retirement homes have their food delivered every Tuesday by someone from the food pantry.

The homeless are also welcome to come to the pantry. They are given canned goods, and a can opener if they do not have one when they first come in.

Wanda is from Bella Vista and has been visiting the Second Street Pantry for years. She picks up food for herself and for a woman who has two children.

“Oh!” she said with a smile. “This is the best one I’ve been to.”

Barb Laubenstein, who also works in the pantry, said that this year the pantry is also being helped by the Young Men’s Service League, a group of 9-12th grade young adults and their moms who, each year, donate their time to a different local organization.

“We are blessed for them to have us as their Ultimate Gift this year,” she said.

Laubenstein said the pantry has a lot of other events and projects besides their weekly food distribution.

The Little Free Pantry is located on the outside of the building and is a 24/7 free pantry containing staples for anyone who needs them. It is fully stocked by the Children’s Ministry of the church, and families are chosen each week to collect the food and stock the pantry.

Second Street Pantry also hosted Tuesday Night Dinners and invited people to come enjoy a hot meal before taking their bags home. It has stopped for now in light of COVID-19, but Laubenstein said they plan to get that started when it is safe again.

Second Street Pantry is located at 201 NW 2nd Street in Bentonville, Arkansas, and every Tuesday pass out food bags and often other goods.

“We’re just really blessed,” Laubenstein said. “We have a great congregation that actually supports us. And the support we get from the Food Bank and from our church has just been great for us.”

On Monday, August 24th, we were presented with a generous donation from the Walmart NWA Championship presented by P&G and Tyson Foods. The donation included 39,000 pounds of Tyson Foods protein as well as a check for $40,000!

Representatives from the tournament, Walmart and Tyson were on hand to make the presentation. This donation will go a long way in helping us feed those in need in the NWA region. THANK YOU to these wonderful partners! We really appreciate you!

September Volunteer of the Month: Young Men's Service League

Special Shout-Out to volunteers!

Marilu Torres, Miranda Kohout, Pavan Raj Nakkala, Bryce Montezuma, Cara Salvatore, Jeongseo Han, Claire Terhune, Robert Stickney, and Crys Horsman

Distribution Warehouse, Fayetteville Food Pantry, Rogers SnackPacks for Kids, Teaching Garden, Tontitown Food Pantry