The Newsletter of the Rock River Valley Pantry. Northern Illinois’ Largest Community Food Pantry.

7TH ANNUAL PEANUT BUTTER RALLYIt’s Peanut Butter Rally time! Please help us collect 9,000 jars of peanut butter by the end of May. During the summer months, when the public schools are on break, there is a significant increase in the number of families using our services. It is our goal to put a large jar of peanut butter in every food bag that leaves the Pantry. Peanut butter is a healthy and inexpensive option for a breakfast or lunch meal. Please don’t wait, call our office today to schedule your Peanut Butter drive. We’ll supply the barrels and pick them up when your drive is over.

R R V P I M M E D I A T E N E E D S :• Peanut Butter • Jelly • Tuna Fish, canned or pouches• Canned Fruit • Macaroni & Cheese • Pasta • Rice • Skillet meals

Want to buy a case of peanut butter? Let our buying power work for you!

86,000 lbs of Food

We can purchase a case of peanut butter for $20, far cheaper than retail cost. Your gift in turn helps 20 families! Mail a check today and enter Peanut Butter Rally in the memo section and we will restrict that purchase to peanut butter!

On average that is the number of pounds of food that the RRVP distributes each month. Families receive fruit, vegetables, packaged side dishes, soup, bread, baked beans, meat, and the occasional dessert item. During the summer months the weight will increase due to the addition of fresh produce.P

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EY Conversations Shared with Our Clients

When I came to the Pantry the other day, I was ashamed. Having been raised with the philosophy that “nothing is received without working for it”, I felt as though I had failed my parents…failed myself. Times are tough. I don’t know a single person that hasn’t been affected by the poor economy. However, being an adult means learning to budget and sticking to it. My bills are paid: rent, utilities, car payment, and insurance. I am not a slacker. Why, then, did I feel so worthless? I guess those are just my values of self sufficiency talking.

I’ve always been “cash poor”. I shop for groceries late at night when the stores mark down the food that is close to expiration. I do my laundry on Wednesdays when the Laundromat reduces its price of a washload to $1. I air-dry my laundry when the weather permits. I consolidate trips to the stores so as to save money on gas. I walk whenever possible. I like to think I am “thrifty” (not cheap or pathetic).

When you handed me those two bags of food at the pantry, I was so grateful. Just knowing that I wasn’t going to have to eat macaroni and cheese for another month was liberating…and humbling. For the first time in months, I was able to have a decent nutritious meal. That small act of kindness was something that I had never experienced before!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, JackieThis letter was edited due to its length.

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Whew! At least that is what a lot of us involved with the Rock River Valley Pantry were, and are, thinking after all that has transpired in the past eighteen months.

In addition to contending with the rising numbers of families in need of emergency food, participating in fund/food raisers, attempting to plan for the future and otherwise advocating for those having a food crisis, the RRVP recently relocated to 421 South Rockton. The move was necessitated because there is contaminated soil at our previous facility and the building must be demolished as a part of a land remediation project.

The RRVP worked very hard to find a location most accessible to those having the greatest need for its services. With a lot of looking, some good luck and generous support from Commonwealth Edison, our previous landlord and the community, the RRVP was able to secure the current location and make the required upgrades to the facility to bring it up to code. It is amazing that all of this was achieved without missing a single day of operation.

What the Rock River Valley Pantry has been able to achieve could not have been done without the tremendous support of our community. It could not have been done without the more than 14,000 hours donated by volunteers each year, the extremely dedicated staff, the companies who made it possible to bring the new facility up to code, companies that donated time and materials, companies that discounted rates, those who donated to the capital campaign or those who donated food and money so the 2,600 families and 7,000 individuals needing RRVP services each month get the nutritious bags of food their families desperately need.

While it is natural to look at past challenges and accomplishments, it is imperative that the RRVP look to the future. The large numbers of those in need cannot be served without your continued support. Thank you for what you have previously done to help the RRVP and please remember that everything you give, whether it is food or money, stays local. The RRVP succeeds because of your generous support. Again, thank you!

Ken Walker, President, Board of Directors

RRVP President’s Message - What the Rock River Valley Pantry has been able to achieve could not have been done without the tremendous support of our community. 1

the number of times a client can visit the RRVP in a month

3 days worth of food each client receives

50 food donations received last month

92 years of age is our oldest client

162 new clients in March

421 our new address on S. Rockton

2,308 households assisted in March

5,018 individuals living in those households

9,000 jars of peanut butter needed

for summer months

86,000 pounds of food distributed,

on average, each month

No matter what time of year there are people going hungry in our community. They range from infants to the elderly, the unemployed to the underemployed, homeless adults to families living on the edge of poverty. A comparison of our last three years indicates a strong pattern of client use. Summer months are the most heavily used month’s right up to the holidays, then we realize a slight decline in pantry services during the harshest of the winter months.

3 Year Comparison of Client Use

A Month in Numbers

Rockford, IllinoisRock Cut State Park

APRIL 28, 2012

7th Annual

Register online at www.rrvp.org. Bring a jar of peanut butter with you on race day to add to the peanut butter drive barrel!

April - May Peanut Butter Rally Community WideApril 4 Wednesday 1st Wednesday @ Tuesday Ruby Tuesday-E. State April 21 Saturday TSO “Beethoven’s Last Night” BMO Harris Ctr.April 28 Saturday Peanut Butter Duathlon Rock Cut St. Pk.May 2 Wednesday 1st Wednesday @ Tuesday Ruby Tuesday-E. StateMay 12 Saturday “Stamp out Hunger” USPS Food Drive Community WideJune 6 Wednesday 1st Wednesday @ Tuesday Ruby Tuesday-E. StateJuly 6 Friday Artale Wine Night (Sponsored by Windsor Auto) Artale’sJuly 16 Monday ProAm Golf Tournament Forest Hills CCJuly 20 Friday Concert for Hunger (Sponsored by Windsor Auto) Sinnissippi Pk Band ShellJuly 26 Thursday Homers for Hunger Food Drive River Hawk StadiumAugust 25 Saturday Race for Hunger (Sponsored by Windsor Auto) Rockford SpeedwaySeptember 28 Friday Empty Bowls, Full Glasses Franchesco’sOctober 27 Saturday Stuff the Truck Drive Logli’s-Charles St.

Upcoming Community Events to Benefit the RRVP

The need for food assistance continues to be very real in our community as the poverty rate in Winnebago remains one of the highest in the state, even greater than Cook County!

Why We Need Your Help

Mark you calendars! Save the Date! Come volunteer! Participate! Call for more information on any of the events!A Month in Numbers

Food For Thought • Spring 2012 Newsletter • Rock River Valley Pantry

Community Garden Providing Fresh, Nutritious Food to Those in Need!Our own field of dreams will be a reality this summer! With the assistance of U of I Extension Office, the Master Gardeners’ Plant A Row program, and Neighborhood Network we will be planting up to 17 raised garden beds on the lot next door to our new location. The need for fresh, nutritious food will only partially be met with this effort! Please consider planting one extra row, to feed the hungry, in your own gardens. We need tomatoes, potatoes, onions, beans, squash, greens, broccoli, and carrots! Last year we distributed more than 15 tons of fresh produce to those in need. Your garden donations c an be dropped off at the south entrance of our building located at 421 S. Rockton, just off the corner of Cedar St.

Contact us if you want to volunteer in the garden. We will need help with the filling, sowing, weeding, watering, and harvesting.

Your donations of food and monetary support stay local and help individuals and families in our community who are going hungry. Your monetary donations allow us to purchase the food items that we are in urgent need of and our purchasing power allows us to purchase up to 1/3 more food than you can at the retail price. This is due to the volume of food that we must purchase.

More than 40% of all our clients are children and almost 5% are over the age of 70.

We fill and distribute more than 300 plastic bags each day. If you have extra “green bags” that you would like to donate so as to reduce the amount of plastic being dumped into the landfills, please drop them off at our office. We will provide them to the families and our clients that walk to the RRVP.

PEANUTBUTTER DUATHLON

Run, bike, run and help feed the hungry!

On April 28th, at 9:00 a.m. athletes will take to the trails and roads of Rock Cut State Park to help us raise funds to fight hunger. The annual spring event is open to

individuals and relay teams and is a great

way to tune up for the racing season.

Register online at rrvp.org.

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• As a community based food pantry we rely on your donations to fill the grocery bags of those that are struggling to feed their children or themselves.

• We continue to provide, on average, for more than 6,500 individuals each month. Six percent of our clients are over the age of 65, while 40% are children under the age of 18.

• A client’s bag of food contains state issued commodities, donated food items and items we have to purchase in order to meet the caloric and nutritional needs of the family.

Food For Thought • Spring 2012 Newsletter • Rock River Valley Pantry421 S. Rockton Avenue, Rockford, IL 61102 • 1100 Broadway, Rockford, IL 61104 • rrvp@rockriver.org • 815-965-2466

421 S. Rockton AvenueRockford, IL 61102

BOARD OF DIRECTORSDerek BergstenPeter BrodeskiNonie BroskiBeth Binger-DunawayKen BussJim ChancellorDavid DenowhDana EsperazaColin HurkaKelly JohnsonDavid JuhreJon LangCindy LeibMark LewisMichelle LewisFred LiermanIan LinnabaryAmy MaavichJudy PhillipsDiane SalasJohn SchisselShirley ThompsonKen WalkerEric Wilson

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORKim Adams-Bakke

ADVISORY COUNCILJon BauchFreeman BrownRoseann CanovaGeorge HampilosMary HealyGordie JohnsonJudy JohnsonSharon PetersonBarbara PittmanJane Wallace

RRVP Mission Statement:Rock River Valley Pantry fights hunger in the community

by providing food to those in urgent need.

R R V P : R e s p e c t , R e s p o n d i n g , V a l u i n g , P a r t n e r i n g !

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

On one of the coldest day of the year, and in five inches of snow, the RRVP moved from its previous location of 18 years to its new home, located at 421 S. Rockton. The muscle to move came from volunteers, Board of Directors and their families, and staff. Vehicles to help us move were provided by MC Products, Chase 8, and Martin Automatic, Inc.

This project was a year in the making. Gary Anderson & Assoc. met with staff to design the plans that would provide an efficient building that would meet staff and client needs. A new location had to be found, renovations had to be made, equipment had to be purchased, assembled, and put in place. Once a building was located, a four month period of extensive remodeling was accomplished under the direction of Fridh Construction, with the assistance of almost all of the building trades. A more community minded group could not have been found to undertake this project!

On January 21-22 the staff and volunteers coordinated the move so that there was no interruption in service to the clients. We closed on a Friday and reopened in a new building on Monday. The shelves were stocked, the freezers were loaded, and the lobby was open and ready for the arrival of the clients. Our thanks to all who contributed to the successful move-we couldn’t have done it without you!

Exterior work will be tackled this summer and fall. Projects will include planting of a landscape designed by Allison Henzee, a student of landscape architect/instructor Jim Knoll ASLA in the Advance Landscaping Design class at Kishwaukee College.

We love our new home and invite you to visit!

Pantry Relocates to New Site Thanks to Community Support