Thanks to You, We Hit the Hunger Doesn't Take A Vacation Food Donation Goal! | |
Wonderful news! At 28,271 pounds, food donations to the Cupboard more than exceeded the summer food drive goal, thanks to all of your amazing support!
A couple of months back, we set the goal of raising 25,000 pounds of food donations in the Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation food drive. The food drive was much needed as the Cupboard is seeing an increase in clients, school meals are not as convenient for families during summer months, and the majority of food donated to the Cupboard traditionally occurs around the winter holidays.
Even with this achievement, the Cupboard welcomes continued food drives and support as we are seeing food go out to clients just as quickly as it's being donated, and it's getting more and more difficult to forecast each week's distribution numbers due to the sheer amount of need we are seeing.
THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for helping us exceed the summer food drive goal. The service the Food Cupboard provides truly couldn't exist without our community's support.
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Thank You to our Sustaining Donors! | |
In the first five months of 2023, the Holly Springs Food Cupboard served 50% more households than we did in the same time period in 2022!
At the Holly Springs Food Cupboard, we continue to see an increased need, so we are especially grateful for the critical support we receive from our sustaining donors -- people and organizations who make food and monetary contributions on a monthly basis.
Regular food donations help us keep the shelves stocked year-round, while monthly monetary donations give us an income we can count on, allowing us to allocate our funds more efficiently and buy items in bulk, ultimately enabling us to feed more families. We want to send a heartfelt THANK YOU to our sustainers!
Interested in learning more about sustaining donors? Visit our website!
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You're Invited! Game Night Supports the Cupboard
Come to Ting Stadium Wednesday, July 26, at 6:30 p.m. to cheer on the Holly Springs Salamanders, and bring a food donation to support the Cupboard! Jacobs is once again sponsoring game night with their client FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies.
The Salamanders will be playing the South Wake Shakes.
Many thanks to Jacobs and FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies for their consistent monthly support of the Cupboard!
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A game night from a previous Salamanders season brought in lots of nonperishable food donations to the Cupboard. | |
A Bee-utiful Community Supports the Cupboard
Pictured here is Pat Haggard, our Executive Director with Anya McGuirk (red shirt). Anya is an avid beekeeper who had an amazing personal harvest last season, so she decided to package and sell some of her honey.
Anya is part of the "Bee Team" at the HSFC and quickly decided she wanted to turn this into a fundraiser, working with Cariann's Creations on the labeling and June and Keith Propes who own "The Family Farm on Avent Ferry" (also pictured). Graciously, June and Keith allowed Anya to sell her honey locally without taking a cut, knowing that part of the profits would be headed to the Cupboard.
Months later, we were able to finally get everyone together for a Kodak moment! Many thanks to Anya, June, Keith, Cariann Colman, and everyone who came to visit the Family Farm on Avent Ferry and purchased Anya's honey.
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Thank you, Joshua Hutchins & Family!
Months ago, Joshua Hutchins reached out to the Food Cupboard and asked if he could donate a portion of his new garden to grow produce specifically for our clients. We were thrilled, of course, and wanted to know more about his journey.
A few years ago, he and his wife purchased a few acres of land that backed up to Lake Wheeler and built a home there. One portion of the land had originally been farmland but was overgrown, so he had it cleared knowing he wanted to start a small family garden. However, he then found himself with lots of extra time on his hands after selling his business and decided that he and his family wanted to really give back to the community in a bigger way. They began slowly turning an area roughly 80 by 25 feet specifically for our Cupboard and then hand-planted specific vegetables based on his conversations with us.
So far he's planted four rows of corn, one row of beans, one row of peppers, and one row of cucumbers. The photos, above, show his first bounty!
We are so thankful for folks like the Hutchins Family who go above and beyond in helping us wage the battle against food insecurity.
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Did you know? Seniors can reduce their tax liability by donating to the Holly Springs Food Cupboard Through Their IRA!
In most cases, distributions from a traditional Individual Retirement Account are taxable in the year the account owner receives them, but there are some exceptions. A qualified charitable distribution (QCD) is one of the few exceptions.
A QCD is a nontaxable distribution made directly by the trustee of an IRA to organizations that are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. QCDs can't occur from a Simplified Employee Pension Plan or Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees' IRA.
Making a QCD can benefit the taxpayer by reducing their taxable income while they support qualifying charitable organizations of their choice. The taxpayer doesn't have to worry about meeting the standard deduction or itemizing deductions with a QCD.
Consult your tax professional for how this could benefit you.
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Around the Cupboard in June | |
Thank you Tapline Growler for hosted a month-long donation collection to help the Food Cupboard reach our goal of 25,000 pounds of non-perishable foods for the Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation summer food drive! Click here to check out all they have to offer! | |
The Wake County Public School System is offering free summer meals to children and teens up to the age of 18! Youth don't even have to be WCPSS students, and they don't have to qualify for free or reduced-price meals at school. They just need to show up! Click here to visit the school system website for locations. | |
The amazing folks at Remedy Cocktail Company donated a portion of their sales in May. The funds graciously allowed us to purchase milk, eggs, and meat for the households we serve. | |
Did you know that Pet Mania in Holly Springs is a drop-off site for the Holly Springs Food Cupboard? You can drop off non-perishables and then grab some goodies for your favorite pet at this locally-owned establishment! Pet Mania is located at 5289 Sunset Lake Rd in the Harris Teeter Shopping Center in Holly Springs.They are open Monday-Friday from 9-7, Saturday from 9-6 and Sunday from 12-6. If you haven't been recently, go check them out - their selection of pet toys, treats, and food are AMAZING!! | |
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Kimmie Niemitalo Spach, the outreach coordinator for Cub Scout Pack 066 stopped by this week and dropped off over 130 pounds of non-perishable foods as well as some non-food items. We are so thankful! | |
Two fantastic little volunteer gardeners saved up their allowance money and donated it to the Food Cupboard to help buy milk for our clients. | |
The Holly Springs Food Cupboard is the grateful recipient of a 2023 Local Civic Nonprofit Grant from the Town of Holly Springs. The grant will help cover the meat we purchase for local families experiencing food insecurity. We truly appreciate the ongoing and consistent support we have received over the years from the Town of Holly Springs! | |
Thank you, David Weekley Homes - Raleigh Division for your help in our gardens! We appreciate all your hard work and are thankful you chose our organization as your quarterly CARE project! | |
We grow several types of onions for our clients each year. Onions grow to their largest size by late June. We harvest, dry, and bundle up our onions for that little extra taste for those special meals.
Volunteers harvested and dried our Egyptian or Walking onions last month.
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Our volunteers and visitors to the Food Cupboard love to meet our resident chickens. The chickens are friendly and always enjoy a leafy little treat, mealworms, or some vegetables. | | |
Delicious muscadine grapes grow in the Holly Springs Food Cupboard garden! The warm weather has accelerated our harvest schedule. These grapes along with collards, mustard greens, and okra are some of the favorites of our clientele. | |
Our garden welcomed this amazing team of mothers and sons from the West Wake Young Mens Service League last month. They stayed busy potting plants, pulling onions, moving compost, shoveling soil, picking blackberries, and harvesting 44 lbs of fresh vegetables for clients. They got a lot done in just a few hours! | |
Volunteers from Plant Health Care, Inc. of Holly Springs spent a warm and humid Monday morning in our gardens. They harvested 46 lbs of vegetables, transplanted pepper & chard, weeded, and started several beds of carrot and beet seeds.. we are thankful! | |
Our Saturday harvest team clearly had a great time digging up and braiding our garlic plants...Now it’s all drying in the garden shed. This garlic was actually planted last November and just now harvested when about half of the leaves turned yellow. | |
Garden Volunteer Opportunities
Interested in volunteering in the Food Cupboard garden? Please volunteer on any "Open Work Day" listed below. "Closed days are reserved for previously scheduled large groups.
- July 1: Closed
- July 8: Open Work Day
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July 15: Open Work Day
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July 22: Open Work Day
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July 29: Open Work Day
About Volunteering in the Garden
- Garden volunteering on "Open Work Days" is held unless it is raining or muddy, or if there is a threat of storms.
- Work starts at 9 a.m. and continues for one to two hours. Volunteers can arrive and leave at any time.
- All ages are welcome, and a volunteer agreement form must be signed upon your first visit.
- No need to bring garden tools.
- Water, sunscreen, insect repellent, and gloves may be helpful.
- Please do not volunteer (wait a week) if you or your family members have been dealing with COVID.
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Questions can be directed to garden@hsfoodcupboard.org.
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Saturday Children's Acitvies for Cupboard Volunteers
Need a little help with your little helpers while you’re volunteering at the garden? The Holly Springs Food Cupboard is hosting a Saturday series of garden-related projects to keep little fingers busy and safely occupied while you finish up your volunteer work. Activities will be geared for K-3rd graders, but all ages are welcome.
Activities begin at 10:30 a.m. on the following dates:
- July 22: Bird seed cones
- Aug. 26: Tool tote
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Getting Help & Helping Out | |
Do you need food assistance? Know someone who does?
Please visit us. The Holly Springs Food Cupboard is here to help. Drive through food distribution is every Thursday, 2-5 p.m. Shopping food distribution by appointment only is every Monday, 1-4 p.m. Deliveries are available to persons with compromised health or without transportation. Click here for more information or to sign up for an appointment to shop in person.
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Donating food? How to Get Food to the Cupboard | |
The Cupboard can receive donated food on:
- Preferred hours: Mondays 9-11 a.m.
- Also: Thursdays noon-5 p.m.
Place donations on our delivery dock on the side of our facility and ring the doorbell for assistance. Or, give us a call and we can meet you to pick up food from your neighborhood.
If you have food that you want to deliver at other times, you can take it to one of our community drop-off sites listed below. If necessary, we can arrange a time for a pick-up. Please do not leave food outside the Cupboard.
Community Drop-Off Sites
- Bless Your Heart Boutique, 242 S. Main Street, Ste. 106
- The Block on Main, Corner of Main Street and Rogers Street
- Coastal Credit Union, Village Walk Drive
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Coldwell Banker HPW, 5261 Sunset Lake Road
- First Flight Federal Credit Union, Village Walk Drive
- Holly Springs Farmers Market, West Ballentine Street
- Holly Springs Town Hall, Main Street
- Keller Williams Legacy, 201 W. Center Street
- Pet Mania, Sunset Lake Road
- Sunrise United Methodist Church, 5420 Sunset Lake Road
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SupaBowlz Cafe, 150 W Holly Springs Road
- Wake FC, Ting Park
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More Information
Thank you, again, to our dedicated volunteers and generous community for making everything we do possible.
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