FIGHT AGAINST HUNGER IN PUTNAM COUNTY
Organization requesting funds: New Life Food For Life of Putnam County
Fed ID#: 92-0422292
Grant request: Any Amount
Projected total budget: $139,000.00
Projected number of families/people to benefit from this program: 50-80 Families representing 200-430 people per week.
The New Life Food For Life is an independent 501c3 Charitable nonprofit founded in 2008 to provide critical food assistance to those in the Putnam County area. Our organization consists of a governing board of 5 directors and 20+ volunteers. We serve low-income and food insecure individuals and families, from young children to the elderly and veterans in our county, no one is ever turned away. Our mission is to alleviate hunger by acquiring and distributing food to people in need and promoting solutions that advance self-sufficiency and hunger relief by working with other food pantries and organizations in the county to fight hunger.
New Life Food For Life
51 Ridgeway St.
Greencastle, IN 46135
Telephone: 765-653-8995
Contact person: Kathy Vanlandingham
Telephone: 765-720-0305 E-mail address: kcq1951@gmail.com
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Statistics show that Indiana is one of 11 states with the highest rate of food insecurity. Out of 2,650,000 households in Indiana, 13.6% are food insecure and 5.7% are severely food insecure. In Putnam County there are a total of 4,490 residents who deal with food insecurity issues. These residents lack reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food and 45 percent of these individuals don’t qualify for nutrition programs such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Application Program) or WIC (Women, Infants and Children). Putnam County alone has nine food pantries with two mobile pantry sites, these local food pantries are helping fill the needs not being met by federal programs.
The New Life Food For Life’s mission is to provide food assistance, not completely meet the needs of those who have trouble feeding themselves and their families from week to week due to lack of employment, illness or temporary life setbacks. Our pantry recognized this need in 2008 and a group of volunteers stepped up to meet this need. Starting the pantry involved locating a space within the church to operate (1 small room) and finding the resources to acquire the food needed to distribute to our clients. Our pantry has grown to 4 rooms which are for storage . We now have 5 freezers and 2 refrigerators for produce and meat. Our pantry partners with Duke Energy, Gleaners Food Bank, Kroger, Walmart, Dollar General, US Post Office Food Drive and other Local Agencies. We have relied totally on Grant money received, funding from our church, donations from our congregation and community, and from local food drives. To date we have received grant money from Walmart Distribution, Walmart Store, Duke Energy and United Way of Putnam County.
At the present time we spend approximately $1,900 per month on food; $1,400 of that is spent at Gleaners for food at a greatly reduced price. The other $500 is spent locally to purchase items that are not available at Gleaners. With the increase in families coming to our pantry, this amount is sure to increase as well. Once a month the Pantry’s Executive Director Patty Adams and Marlene Lamb (who are both properly licensed food handlers as required by the county and state) assess what will be needed in food items to sustain the pantry for the next month and place an order with Gleaner’s Food Bank. All other expenses of running the pantry are either met by our volunteers or absorbed by the church, so any money we receive goes directly to purchasing food for the pantry.
New Life Food For Life operates every Thursday from 10:15 AM to 12:30 PM with 60 to 80 families coming to get food. We are also available Monday through Thursday by calling our office in case of an emergency need for food. The families represent approximately 1000 people a week ranging in age 0 to 65+. On a normal Thursday there are 10-15 volunteers manning the pantry to pack the food boxes and whatever else needs to be done.
Weekly we track the number and ages of our participants and their families. In the last 2–3-month time frame we have seen an average increase from 50 families per week to an average of 60 plus families per week which adds up to 1193 unduplicated people served in a years’ time. We have received positive feedback from our clients about our help in meeting their food needs. The rise in clients and their feedback shows us that our program is successful in helping to meet the food needs in our county.
We realize that the need for good nutritious food will never be totally resolved, however we are grateful for the ability given us along with the other food pantries in the county to help many people in need in our community. Our hope is that our giving will foster a culture of giving back and we have witnessed this in our patrons in many different ways.
We are grateful for any amount of money we might receive and assure you that it will be applied directly to purchasing food items for our panty. Operational and work expenses for the pantry are totally met by the church and our volunteers.
