San Antonio Food Bank

I had the opportunity to volunteer with the San Antonio Food Bank this past Saturday morning. Help is always much needed and appreciated. I helped in the garden in pulling weeds out around the tomato plants. They actually needed more help than expected on Saturday because San Antonio is very erratic and flooded some of the plants there. :(

The following are some interesting accomplishments pertaining to the garden:

Accomplishments to Date

• Produced 2,640 pounds of produce in the first year of operation which was distributed to the San Antonio Food Bank's network of agencies and used by the Community Kitchen and Nutrition Education program. We are aiming for 5,000 lbs. of production for 2010.
• Recruited 602 volunteers to learn about gardening and assist in general garden maintenance.
• Started a partnership with Highlands High School to begin an Agriculture program to grow produce (tomatoes, spinach, peppers and onions) for individuals and families in need.
• Served as a summer work site for local high school students.
• Constructed a Tractor/Tool Shed and a Green House.
• Developed an 8-week Gardening Curriculum for Primary School Children aimed at introducing children to simple gardening concepts.
• Working with city and county officials to implement a water harvesting project to benefit the garden.

I plan on volunteering more of my time at the San Antonio Food Bank. Any volunteering is great for yourself and for others!
To help out San Antonio Food Bank, go to the following link and explore!
http://www.safoodbank.org/index.php/home

Also, since September is Hunger Action Month they teamed up with Whataburger for some assistance! Mmmmm... whataburger :) Check out the following..

SA Goes Orange will kick off on September 1 with the lighting of Whataburger’s headquarters, which will remain lit in orange, the color of hunger awareness and also Whataburger’s signature color, throughout the month. Whataburger will donate money and employees will donate volunteer services all month:

• Wednesday, September 1, tickets go on sale at Whataburger restaurants for the all you can eat pancake breakfast for $3 a ticket. Tickets can be bought until the fundraising breakfast on September 25 from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. All proceeds benefit the San Antonio Food Bank.

• Saturday, September 11, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Whataburger employees and their families will volunteer for the National Day of Service at the San Antonio Food Bank.

• Wednesday, September 15, 10:00 a.m., the Whataburger home office will hold a food drive in September to collect kid friendly and ready to eat snack items and on the 15th employee volunteers will pack back packs at Whataburger’s headquarters to provide to area children that need food on the weekends.

• Saturday, September 25, 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., Whataburger will host a fundraising all you can eat pancake breakfast at San Antonio restaurants to benefit the San Antonio Food Bank.

• Wednesday, September 29, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Whataburger will host the County Line Live Music Series that night and provide a free Whataburger coupon for every can of food that is donated to the San Antonio Food Bank for concert admission.

“For 60 years, Whataburger has been dedicated to serving the communities in which we do business, and we could not be more proud to join the San Antonio Food Bank to feed the hungry in the San Antonio area,” said Pam Cox, Whataburger Group Director Corporate Communications . “Our sponsorship of SA Goes Orange is a part of our ‘Whataburger Serves’ initiative to share the Whataburger spirit of selfless service with customers and the community.”

“We are excited about this new partnership with Whataburger and hope that through these efforts we will raise awareness about the thousands of children, families and seniors that count on our services every day,” said Eric Cooper, President/CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank. “We appreciate their partnership and that of their employees to help fight hunger in the San Antonio area.”

Family-owned Whataburger is headquartered in San Antonio and has 712 locations in 10 southern states. In 2001, Whataburger was officially recognized as a “Texas Treasure” by the Texas Legislature.