In a period of my family life that seems far away and long ago, we had a painful situation arise. My sister was living out of state, married, and had a new baby boy when we got a call from her best friend. My sister’s husband had put her in the hospital. For me, the rest was an angry blur. I still get mad at him just thinking about it. Thankfully, he is long gone. I share this with you because today I am focusing on Interact of Wake County.
Not surprisingly when I asked my friends for any stories they may have relating to Interact, I only got one response – my sister’s. She said, “I really wish there had been something around like that when I went through what I went through. If there was, I didn't know where to look or what to do.” My guess is that lack of familiarity with Interact and what they do is part of the reason I didn’t get a response from my friends. The other part is quite possibly that anyone who has needed the resources provided by Interact may not be as willing to share her story as my sister is.
So what is Interact of Wake County? The answer is on its website’s home page, http://www.interactofwake.org/:
Interact is a private, non-profit, United Way agency that provides safety, support, and awareness to victims and survivors of domestic violence and rape/sexual assault. Interact fulfills this mission through the support of its volunteers and community.
Interact provides a wide range of services from 24 Hour Crisis Hotlines to a Residential Shelter to Court Advocacy for victims. Interact is available from the first sign of trouble to the end of the abusive relationship providing assistance and counseling to abused women and children. It also offers a new service, Rape Prevention Education, which is geared toward college-aged students in Wake County. For a list of the wide range of services provided by Ineract, go to http://www.interactofwake.org/services/.
If you live in Raleigh, you have probably driven by Interact’s headquarters on Oberlin Road:
In 2009, InterAct opened its new headquarters, Family Safety & Empowerment Center in Raleigh, which brings together nine other community agencies to provide wraparound services for victims and survivors of violence and abuse.
The agencies include Easter Seals UCP, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, KIRAN, Legal Aid of North Carolina, Raleigh Police Department, SouthLight, Wake Health Services, YMCA of the Triangle, and YWCA of the Greater Triangle. For information on how each of these collaborators works with Interact, please visit http://www.interactofwake.org/about/.
Because Interact offers such a wide variety of services, they need a variety of volunteers including cashiers and sorters for the thrift stores, Pass It On and Pass It On, Too, onsite counselors, hospital responders, court advocates, group facilitators, and special project volunteers. All volunteers must be approved by the volunteer services coordinator. For more information on how to volunteer and the complete list of types of volunteers needed, check the website at http://www.interactofwake.org/volunteer/.
If you would like to financially support Interact, you could donate to them, attend a fundraising event, or shop in its thrift stores. I spent some time perusing the racks in Pass It On, Too a few days ago and scored a Jones New York Sport top and a pretty little shell for a total of $7.50. That point brings me to another way to donate: similar to donating to Goodwill, you can donate gently used women’s and children’s clothes and accessories to Pass It On and Pass It On, too. See the website for their exact locations and hours. My sister has also collected used cell phones from friends and family to donate as well. While she did not have the opportunity to use Interact’s services in her own situation, she and I both believe that Interact deserves whatever support we can afford to give.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
The Inter-Faith Food Shuttle
There’s an old proverb that says “Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” Today, I visited the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Raleigh headquarters where I learned that not only do they aid in giving men fish and teaching some to fish, but they are also teaching others how to stock the pond. (That’s their analogy, not mine, but I like it.)
A Brief Early History
The Food Shuttle was started in 1989 by two North Raleigh soccer moms, Jill Staton Bullard and Maxine Solomon. They were at a fast food restaurant at the time of day during the change over from the breakfast menu to the regular menu. The restaurant was going to throw out eleven leftover breakfast sandwiches and the two women offered to take them to someone who could use them. They took them to the Good Shepherd Soup Kitchen in downtown Raleigh. The soup kitchen quartered the sandwiches so that everyone there could have a bit of protein. Inspired, they incorporated themselves as a 501C3 three days later and the Food Shuttle was born. “They rescued about 800 lbs of food that first year,” Jason Boone, the Communications Director told me, “and in 2009, we rescued about 6 million lbs.”
More Than Just Food Rescue Now
The primary goal of the Food Shuttle is rescuing food, meaning they keep perfectly good food from ending up in landfills. The food is rescued from grocery and “big box” stores, restaurants, wholesale food brokers, and the State Farmers Market. Jason told me that the State Farmers Market gives them about 2 million pounds of food a year. That is a large amount of produce – perishable food – and that fact is what separates the Inter-faith Food Shuttle from the traditional Food Bank. The Food Shuttle mostly deals with perishable food. The benefit to dealing with perishable food beyond saving it from a sad ending in a landfill, most perishable food is a healthier alternative to the food that ends up at a food bank.
Jason made a point that I had not ever really considered: obesity in America is becoming a symbol of hunger. The hungry people who take advantage of the services of traditional food banks often eat foods that are high in calories, sodium and fat, yet low in nutrition. That is not to say that the food banks are not providing an excellent service. On the contrary, they are! What it does say is that there is an important nutritional void that can be filled by the Food Shuttle.
By definition, the Food Shuttle, moves food from suppliers to recipients. Eleven refrigerated trucks leave every morning on a route, pick up food, and deliver it to the Shepherd’s Table, Salvation Army, etc. Jason says that about 80% of the food rescued never comes through the warehouse. Perishable food needs to be moved quickly and safely. Five of the drivers are part of the Food Shuttle’s staff. The rest are volunteers. For those of you interested in driving for the Food Shuttle, no special drivers license is required.
The rest of the food that does come through the warehouse goes to different programs. There were a table and shelves in the warehouse full of children’s backpacks. I learned that those were there for the Backpack Buddies program. The Food Shuttle works with school principals, guidance counselors and other school programs to identify children in the school system that may not be able to eat on the weekends. The backpacks are filled with food and delivered to the children on Fridays. The empty backpacks are picked up from the children on Mondays. That is an amazing service!
Other food passing through the warehouse is prepared by some of the same people who have been on the receiving end of the Shuttle’s services. Over the course of 11 weeks, students learn the basics of working in food service. These are the people that the Food Shuttle is “teaching to fish.” They learn skills that can be used as employees of local restaurants. In other words, the skills they learn in the Shuttle’s kitchen can help them move out of the position of being on the receiving end of the Shuttle’s services. At the same time, while working in the kitchen at their headquarters, these students are becoming a part of the solution.
To take the fishing analogy one step further, the Food Shuttle is also teaching people how to stock the pond. The Farms and Community Gardens project puts community gardens in low-income neighborhoods. Investing in a community garden can save money in the long run by supplementing what needs to be bought at the store with healthy ingredients for more nutritionally balanced meals. Children in these neighborhoods are also learning how to grow food - that is learning just where the food at the store comes from.
In the half-hour I spent at the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s headquarters visiting with Jason and his assistant CeCe White, I learned enough to write a small book. I really can’t do all the great services they are providing justice. I encourage you to visit their website, http://www.foodshuttle.org/, to learn more about what they do, how to volunteer, and how to donate.
For more information about Backpack Buddies:
For more information about the Culinary Job Training Program:
For more information about the Farms and Community Gardens Project:
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The American Red Cross
By now we’ve all heard the news that a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the small, poor, island country of Haiti. For many of us, the devastation is incomprehensible, and as with so many large-scale natural disasters, we want to do something to help. In this age of information going viral and spreading through Facebook, twitter, and other social networking sites, the info about how to help was widespread public knowledge in less than 18 hours. Always on the lookout for a scam and interested in protecting my friends, I called the Raleigh office of the American Red Cross to confirm what I was seeing online. It is true that if you text “HAITI” to 90999, you can donate $10 to the relief fund and have that charge show up on your next phone bill. Donating really doesn’t get much easier than that.
While on the phone I asked Angela, the American Red Cross representative with whom I spoke, what our local chapter’s biggest need is. Her answer really came as no surprise, but definitely bears repeating: monetary donations. While there is always a need for blood donations and volunteers, with the economy the way it is, monetary donations are way down. On top of that relief efforts are way up, both nationally and locally. For example, Angela told me that last week $9000 was spent in the triangle for local disaster relief for families that have lost their homes. “That is more than twice what is normal for a week,” she said.
We often hear or read or see on the news how the American Red Cross will send relief money and workers to help during a large natural disaster such as the earthquake in Haiti. We occasionally note in the news how blood supplies are down and more donations are needed. As with most things, the day-to-day activities of the Red Cross are taken for granted until we, or someone we know, needs their help. The amazing thing is that the Red Cross is there before we even have the chance to ask for their help.
A good friend of mine, Terri Overby, and her family received that help back in 1988. I asked her to share her story, and this is what she wrote:
The F4 tornado that went through Raleigh on 11/28/88 struck my house at 1:13am. I was 14. It is something I will never forget. My family and the majority of my neighbors were very lucky to be alive. The damage was so bad that the National Guard and emergency services were the only ones who could get in for hours. The next to arrive was The Red Cross. They arrived before friends and family members could even get there. Their main purpose was to comfort and shelter anyone who needed it. They immediately had places for everyone to go and transportation to get there via the National Guard and volunteers. They were also there with those basics and comforts that you take for granted until they are gone. I never thought a cup of hot chocolate would be so extravagant! After the National Guard left and the insurance adjusters, civic groups, news crews and FEMA started to roll in, the Red Cross was still there. The Red Cross stayed for days if not weeks until the last person was taken care of. I will never forget their help.
After my life got “back to normal” I set up a monthly donation of $20 and have kept up with it ever since. No matter how tight times are financially, I make sure that I make that donation. I feel like it is only right since they helped me, my family, and neighbors without question or hesitation. I want them to be able to do that for others.
During national disasters like the one in Haiti right now, I try to give more or at least donate my time.
What they do is very simple, but it makes a huge difference.
It’s very easy to think about supporting the Red Cross during a time when the need for their help is making national and international headlines. It is much more difficult to remember on a daily basis. Terri is doing a great thing to help them and she knows that her money is being very well used. I texted “HAITI” to 90999 today. It took about a minute to make a $10 donation. My friend Eddie donated 8 gallons of blood when he lived here in Raleigh and has donated another gallon since he moved. That is a lot of blood (in my mind) and time taken to do it, but he does it regularly. None of us are looking for a thank you or a pat on the back, we just want to be able to help. That is the same philosophy exhibited by the American Red Cross. That is why they are the topic of my blog this week.
For more information on the American Red Cross, visit go to their websites:
Central North Carolina: http://centralnorthcarolina.redcross.org/Thursday, January 7, 2010
Carolina Tiger Rescue
I love big cats! I love, love, love them! So when two different friends within three weeks’ time mentioned the Carolina Tiger Rescue to me, how could I resist writing about it? I couldn’t.
The Carolina Tiger Rescue used to be known as the Carnivore Preservation Trust. It is a non-profit located in Pittsboro and a little bit off the beaten path for many who live in the Triangle. Still, it’s well worth the drive to visit. (I plan to make the drive out there when the weather is just a bit warmer.) There you can see a number of animals including, of course, tigers.
According to its website, http://carolinatigerrescue.org/, there are 13 tigers featured at the trust. You will also find some animals with lesser-known names such as caracals, servals, an ocelot, a binturong, and a kinkajou. The latter two are not technically large cats, but are omnivores that will hunt small mammals. If you would like to learn about any of these animals, the website has very in depth information on each type. I learned more there than I might have if I were strolling through a zoo.
Since I mentioned strolling, while you are on the site, you can learn about reserving a walking tour of the grounds and seeing the animals first hand. Daytime tours are available on Saturdays and Sundays, and, in the warmer months, twilight tours are held on Saturday evening. See http://carolinatigerrescue.org/tours/tours.asp for details. You can also find information on private tours, special experiences such as helping a keeper with feedings, and birthday parties.
Another event worth mentioning is the Carolina Tiger Rescues Black Tie and Tails Ball, which will take place on Saturday, February 27th this year. The ball includes dinner, an auction, music and dancing. Please visit http://bttb.cptigers.org/default.asp for more information on that event.
If you would like to volunteer your time and talents to the Rescue, they are in need of assistance for the day of the ball, as well as year round assistance at their location in Pittsboro. Some of the volunteer opportunities include animal care, guiding tours, construction and maintenance, working in the gift shop, and fund raising. Other ways to help include “adopting” an animal and simply making a donation.
As I stated earlier, I am planning to visit the Carolina Tiger Rescue when the weather is warm enough to enjoy it. The twilight tour has peaked my interest since many of the animals are more active after dusk. To think that I have lived here for nearly two decades and not visited such a cool place or paid attention to such a worthy cause makes me a little disappointed in myself. I must remedy this situation.
As always, if you have suggestions for charities and volunteer organizations in the Triangle area that you would like to see covered here, please let me know.
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