Signing up for a fishing or hunting license online or at a DNR facility? Please be sure to consider donating to the Sportsmen’s Benevolence Fund to help pay processing fees for venison donated to Indiana’s food banks!

The member food banks of Feeding Indiana’s Hungry work with Indiana’s Farmers & Hunters Feeding Hungry, which facilitates most of the donated meat statewide. FHFH has 22 active coordinators in Indiana, and collectively processed a total of 90,324 pounds of meat in the 2009-2010 hunting season. Protein sources like venison and other wild game are the most wanted yet least available food resource for food banks. The meat from one deer will provide enough for 200 meals!

The Sportsmen’s Benevolence Fund pays exclusively for the processing of deer meat to feed Indiana’s hungry. Your donation of $1 or more will help us feed the nearly 280,000 Hoosier households who reduce the amount of food and change eating patterns because there are not enough resources for food.

Anything that can be done to increase the donations to our member food banks will be a tremendous and welcome help to our food banks and the hungry citizens we serve. Please consider donating when applying for your fishing or hunting licenses this year!

 Visit www.in.gov to get your license and donate!

 For more information about Feeding Indiana’s Hungry, please visit www.feedingindianashungry.org.

For more information about Farmer and Hunters Feeding the Hungry visit www.fhfh.org or contact Debra Treesh at 260-541-0365.

(Fort Wayne, IN) On Friday, students from 16 area high schools began building super-sized masterpieces at Glenbrook Square. These works of art serve many purposes. Mentored by IPFW design/architecture students these talented students design and construct giant sculptures made with donated canned goods.

During the “CANstruction exhibition” at Glenbrook Square, visitors will be treated to an amazing display of artistry engineered using a combination of math, physics and creativity. The structures will be judged in a variety of categories and the public will be invited to cast their votes for the best in each category with cans of food. As an added bonus, students and visitors will gain awareness of the plight of those less fortunate. At the end of the competition all food will be donated to Community Harvest Food Bank to help feed hungry people in northeast Indiana.

 “This is such a wonderful event. Students get to learn from and work with brilliant professionals, learn about the people in their community, and really help make a difference in their lives,” said Jane Avery, Executive Director of Community Harvest Food Bank. “They also learn about charitable giving in that they rely on businesses and individuals for the food and fund donations they need to build the structures. I can’t think of a more positive way to impact a young person.”

 This years’ event is sponsored by Three Rivers Federal Credit Union. “Three Rivers Federal Credit Union is proud to support CHFB in this unique effort to address hunger in our communities”, said Randy Fillmore, Three Rivers FCU administrative services manager. “Young people are maligned so often today; CANstruction is proof that they sincerely care about others…and it dramatically showcases their amazing creative talents.”

The high school students participating will be mentored by IPFW design/architecture students.

The students from 16 area high schools are being mentored by IPFW design/architecture students and are being sponsored by these community minded organizations committed to programs that address the growing issue of hunger: Three Rivers Federal Credit Union; IPFW; TRANE; Fort Wayne Orthopaedics; Do it Best; ITT; Shawnee Construction & Engineering, Inc.; 80/20; The DeHayes Group; Oral & Maxillo – Facial Surgery Associates; Keller Development, Inc.; New Generation Management, Inc.; CIOCCA; Office Concepts, Inc.; Engineering Resources, Inc.; Lutheran Health Network: The Orthopaedic Hospital; Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company; English Bonter Mitchell Foundation; Tippmann Group; and Rothberg Logan Warsco-Attorneys at Law.

“I doubt these professionals can fully grasp just what a profound impact they have on these talented students,” said Avery. “They’re incredible and we are so grateful for all of their support. Last year garnered 144,385 cans of food and $17,673. This year their goal is double. Talk about making a difference!”

 CANSTRUCTION 2010

“Double the Cans – Double the Care”

 Schedule of Events:

 April 16 – Build Day – Students build their creations at Glenbrook Square

April 17 – 10am-Noon – Judging

April 17-25 – CANSTRUCTION public exhibition at Glenbrook Square

April 25 – Students de-construct sculptures and food is loaded for delivery to Community Harvest

April 27th – Awards announced

Throughout November and December, Kroger is selling reusable “Bringing Hope To the Table” shopping bags throughout all of its banner stores. The bags are being sold for $1.99 a piece, with $1.30 of each bag sold to benefit the local food bank.

Kroger banner stores are: Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Gerbes, Hilander, Jay C, King Soopers, Owen’s, Pay Less, Scott’s, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Ralph’s, QFC, Smith’s, and Foods Co.

With the help of numerous vendor partners, “Bringing Hope to the Table” is expected to generate millions of  dollars in cash and food donations to assist 80 local food banks in communities where Kroger’s customers and associates live and work. These food banks are members of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Nov. 12, 2009) -  It started with an unusual yet creative idea from plant manager, Rich Strozyk, at a monthly town hall meeting; a food drive with a twist. He proposed a race, Nascar style, between the departments and himself to see who could collect the most pounds of food for Community Harvest Food Bank. Simple enough, but to make it more interesting, pennies could be donated to the opposing teams to deduct pounds from their totals. Various prizes were collected for the winning team and a trophy was made from foam. And so the “Race for the Barrel” began.

By week three Foamex employees had collected over 1,000 pounds of food and $100 in pennies! What came next was beyond imagination. As the teams battled it out week to week with heart-felt enthusiasm and compassion for those in need, the food totals surpassed the 2 ton mark and the city was running out of pennies.

Then something quite unexpected happened. Employees Jimmy Garza, Shawnn Burch, Rita Fish-Kryder, Greg Murphy, and Keith Hill gathered together and decided to present the staff with a proposal: to stop the competition and unite as one big FXI team. Forget prizes or a trophy; the satisfaction of knowing how many people they were helping was more than enough reward.

The final week arrived with the united team pushing harder than ever to do the most to fight hunger. You could feel the excitement in the air as the final barrels and cart loads were weighed and the money was counted. In all the FXI Team raised a total of 7,493 pounds and $ 1,500.

“We are all so proud of ourselves and each other. What a great accomplishment!” said Rich Strozyk, FXI plant manager. “That is the true spirit of FXI Foamex Innovations.”

ABOUT FXI
FXI is a leading producer of innovative foam products for the Home, Healthcare, Electronics, Industrial, Personal Care and Transportation markets. Products include finished goods, sub-assemblies, services and raw materials for OEMs, fabricators and retailers. FXI innovations and products provide comfort for automobile passengers and protect fragile electronic components in shipment. Our products help consumers sleep sounder and furniture manufacturers create comfort. Our products provide for sharper images in digital printers and copiers and help consumers keep their homes clean. Our products provide critical components for filters, dispensers, gaskets and seals in everything from blood oxygenators to computer disk drives.

Article, photos contributed

The penny jars

The 2009 Food Bank trophy.