Just can’t wait for the official press release on the June 20th Lion’s Club Food Drive! 

It was HOT-HOT-HOT but that didn’t stop folks from bringing food (2,240 pounds) and cash donations ($753.00). 

Pictured are some of the Grrrreat Lions from Mountain Home, Cotter, Bull Shoals, Flippin, Lakeview, and Mountain View.  I’m in the middle of the “den” with a young lion “helper”.

             More detail posting on this event later!

Many communities have a local “food pantry”, sometimes mistakenly called a “food bank”. 

Most of these community food pantries are sponsored by local area churches and/or community coalitions.  A community food pantry’s mission is to “directly” serve local  residents who suffer from hunger and food insecurity within a specified area.                                                    

The Newton County Christian Food Room in Jasper, Arkansas, pictured to the left,  is an example of a food pantry.  Mike Carter is the pantry manager.  He has many volunteers that help pack food “baskets” for local families in need.  The Newton County Christian Food Room distributes to approximately 200 families (400-500 individuals)each month.

Independent community food pantries are self-governing and usually distribute food to their clients on a once-a-month basis.

The Food Bank of North Central Arkansas’s (FBNCA) mission is to “feed the hungry” by providing food to these food pantries for distribution into their respective communities. 

The FBNCA’s daily operation consists of sourcing and gathering food, sorting and cataloging the food, then warehousing the inventory to be distributed throughout the nine-county region of north central Arkansas.  This year we expect to distribute over one million pounds of grocery products to our agencies—food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and backpack programs.

1^st Annual Food Drive And

Soup Kitchen

JUNE 20^TH 10:00 AM TO 4:00 PM

Community 1^st National Bank

310 Hwy 62 East
Mountain Home, AR 72653

Join the Lions Clubs of Bull Shoals, Cotter, Flippin, Lakeview, Mountain Home, Mountain View, and Yellville in their “War on Hunger” as they host the 1^st Annual Food Drive and Soup Kitchen to benefit the Food Bank of North Central Arkansas. Bring a sack of non-perishable foods or monetary donation and enjoy the “ambience” of a Depression-Era Soup Kitchen as it serves soup, bologna, bread and apples as a thank you for supporting Food Bank of North Central Arkansas and the participating Lions Clubs.

Live broadcast from KTLO with the Treasure Chest and hourly door prizes including Angel Food Baskets.

Jim and Sandy Qualls (below) taking a stroll in Governor’s Gardens"][/caption]

The Food Bank of North Central Arkansas attended the Serving Up Solutions Event held at the Governor’s Mansion. The 2nd Annual Serving Up Solutions Dinner was held on May 12, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., at the Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock and was attended by 100 plus people including the executive director, Linda Finley and husband, Berton, as well as two agencies of the Food Bank of North Central Arkansas–Jim and Sandy Qualls, volunteer directors of the "Stone County Community Food Ministry" in Mountain View, Arkansas with Billie Burnett, one of their dedicated volunteers.

Also in attendance was Randall Ramsey and his brother, Wendell, volunteer directors of "Servant’s Heart" food pantry, one of the food bank’s newest agencies, located in Marshall, Arkansas.  " Below: Randall, Billie and Wendell: getting acquainted"][/caption]

The celebrity chefs that prepared food this year were:  Chef Kathy Webb of Lilly’s DimSum, ThenSome; Chefs Capi Peck and Brett Peterson of Trio’s; Chefs Yvette Brady and Liz Sorvillo of 1620 Restaurant;  and Chef Jason Knapp of the Governor’s Mansion.

First Lady Ginger Beebe and members of the Arkansas Legislative Hunger Caucus served the meal which included lots of opportunity for entertaining!! Speaker of the House

Robbie Wills, Rep. Bruce Maloch and Rep. Rick Green were recognized for their commitment to reduce hunger during their tenure in the legislature.

Nancy Tesmer was recognized for founding the event by the naming of the Nancy Tesmer Mini-Grant Fund. The event raised approximately $16,700 that will go to fund the Nancy Tesmer Mini-grants at local hunger relief organizations through out the state. State legislators will be given the opportunity to nominate a local hunger relief organization in their district to receive one of the mini-grants to build capacity in their area. The Nancy Tesmer Mini-grants will be awarded by the fall of 2009. Last year the Arkansas Legislative Hunger Caucus initiated a new dinner to benefit the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance Network at Trio’s in Little Rock. The dinner featured food prepared by local celebrity chefs.

The idea of the dinner came from co-owner of Lilly’s Dim Sum, ThenSome, Nancy Tesmer, as a way to raise funds for solutions to hunger in Arkansas. This has now become an annual event for policy makers and policy shapers.

Last year two agencies of the Food Bank of North Central Arkansas received new freezers from the 1st Annual Serving Up Solutions event: the Henderson Baptist Food Pantry in Henderson and the Manna House in Melbourne.