Bath Sunrise Receives $3200+ Grant for Bath Area Food Bank Project
At our Aug. 21 meeting, PDG Marty Helman presented Pres. Al Mesrobian and Pres. Elect Bob Reed the check for our $3500+ District Grant that will help fund a multi-year project for The Bath Area Food Bank, which was $700 more than we requested!! A huge THANK YOU to Bob Reed for writing the grant and spending many hours researching the needs of the Food Bank.
The goal of this project is to help the Bath Area Food Bank in executing a plan to create the "Model" Food Pantry "Supermarket" that can be duplicated by other organizations. The Food Bank is in the process of physically transforming into a place where clients choose the items they want in each food category rather than being given a box of food. This has led to less waste and a better experience for the recipients.
The project includes the building and installation of a fresh produce storage and display unit. The Carpentry program of the Bath Regional Career and Technical Center will have students do the final design and construction. Club members will assist with the installation. Club members will also do the maintenance of existing shelf units and perform one day of maintenance annually for the Food Bank.
The first thing we will do is purchase new units to replace the two refrigeration units that won’t last the year. In conjunction with the Food Bank Executive Director, we will set up a replacement schedule for the rest of the 11 units between 9 and 30 years old over a ten year period. Annually we will hold a fundraiser identifying the Food Bank identified as the recipient. A portion of the proceeds will go to the purchase of at least one unit a year.
The Bath Area Food Bank is, directly and indirectly, involved with the Food Pantry, Soup Kitchen, Mobile Food Pantry, Food Pantry at Morse High School located in the school library, Middle School Backpack Program and assistance to homeless teens. Up until recently the need was increasing at a 10% annual rate. With the cut in SNAP (Food Stamp) benefits they have noticed a substantial jump recently. The Bath Area Food Bank serves 200+ families per month, over 500 people, including homeless high school and middle school students who visit the Food Pantry about 275 times a month at Morse High School.
We are proud to say that ALL members of our club will be involved in this project. As a club, we staff the Food Pantry one week every quarter, on Tuesday and Friday evening. We recently volunteered to help them move to their new location. We are excited about being able to be partners with the many hard working volunteers, staff and Board members of the Bath Area Food Pantry.
This photo is from our July 31 meeting of some of our members and members of the Board of the Bath Area Food Bank when we announced we had received not only the grant but an additional $700.
