Food Pantry

Utilizing Super Bowl weekend to mobilize youth to fight hunger and poverty in their local communities.

Register your Souper Bowl of Caring activities or learn more about how to get involved by visiting:

www.souperbowl.org

1206 South Murray Avenue, Anderson

The Gospels tell the story of Christ using two fish and five loaves of bread to feed the 5,000. This image is reflected in AIM’s ministry of "Fishes & Loaves." We began by opening a small food bank in April of 1997 to provide non-perishable food items to the less fortunate of our community. Early in 2004 our pantry operation was expanded when we moved into our current home in a large warehouse facility next door to the original location. This expansion made it possible for us to better serve the community. We now have the capacity to accept perishable as well as non-perishable food items, no matter the size of the donation.

AIM is a member of the Golden Harvest Food Bank, Inc. (GHFB), a certified member of America's Second Harvest. GHFB serves 30 counties in Georgia and South Carolina, including Anderson County. You can learn more about the Golden Harvest Food Bank and America's Second Harvest by visiting their websites.

Golden Harvest www.goldenharvest.org

America's Second Harvest www.secondharvest.org

Hours of Operation
Monday – Friday
9 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.

2nd Tuesday of the month afternoons also, 3:00-4:00

Tuesday afternoons are by appointment only. Call Angie Burriss at 226-2273 ext. 114 or Angie Shaw at 226-2273 ext. 113 for an appointment.

Appointments are made for persons who have a medical condition that prevents them from coming during regular hours or for those that are working or going to school during the regular pantry hours.

Items Recipients Will Need

• VALID Photo ID
• Social Security Card (for each household member)
• EBT card (if receiving Food Stamp benefits)

WAYS The Community Can Help

• Donate items from our most-wanted lists.
• Donate the free items from a "Buy One Get One Free" sale.
• Plan a food drive at your church, school, business, neighborhood, or civic club.
• Recruit your group to become a monthly donor who provides one of our most wanted items each month.
• Donate your plastic grocery bags and egg cartons…we use LOTS of these.
• Plant a row in your garden for the hungry and donate the produce you grow.
• Volunteer your time in the pantry! We need help inventorying, processing and stocking donations.
• Clip coupons and donate them for pantry clients.

TIPS FOR Planning a food drive

• Plan ahead... elect a leadership committee to plan your strategy and theme.
• Determine…the start date and length of your drive.
• Set a goal...decide how many pounds or items you want to collect. An easy way to do this is to set a goal for each participant and multiply this figure by your total head count. If your group or company has a competitive spirit, you may want to develop some sort of award structure for amounts collected.
• Contact...AIM to let us know about your plans so that they can help you with your questions or needs and to coordinate event and delivery dates.
• Get management involved...if your food drive is being held at work, encourage executives to show their support by sending email, voicemail or letters.
• Ask…your company to match employee donations. For example, your company might give $1 for each pound of food raised.
• Challenge…a participant to perform an outrageous activity if your goal is met.
• Promote your drive…organize a kick-off event to build enthusiasm. Build the event around your theme.
• Hand out… shopping lists of most needed foods. AIM can tell you what they need from season to season.
• Display… weekly or daily totals in high-traffic areas or announce totals using email or newsletters to keep people up to date and involved.
• Build awareness and visibility… Invite participants to tour and sort food at AIM’s Fishes & Loaves Food Pantry. Contact us to schedule this.
• Publicize… your food drive and final results in your company or school newspaper.
• Make it fun… and simple for others to participate - Place grocery bags for collection at every entrance or employee/student desk.
• Hold an event… (a dance, sporting event, party, or concert) and charge a can of food for admission.
• Sell... "dress-down” or "casual dress day" passes to your employees in exchange for donations.
• Encourage financial contributions... set a separate financial goal from pounds raised.
• Utilize... exciting competitions and creative themes. Create competitions with lots of categories – largest individual donation, most protein, most unusual food or match your weight with pounds of food.
• Designate days... Macaroni Mondays, Tuna Tuesdays, Salmon Sundays or Peanut Butter Week to encourage donations of high protein foods.
• Encourage... groups, buildings, departments or classes to challenge each other to a competition.
• Celebrate your success! Host a wrap-up party recognizing participants and rewarding competition winners with humorous prizes.

or more information or to become a sponsor please contact:
Angela F. Shaw, Community Outreach Coordinator
226-2273 ext. 113
or
Angie Burriss, Pantry Coordinator
226-2273 ext. 114

Antonio's Life by Jose Garcia (10.06.2009) This book is based on the life of my grandfather, Jose Antonio Bermudez, who was born a Basque in the late 1800s and immigrated to Puerto Rico by way of Barcelona and Cuba. My grandfather was an exceedingly kind man, but through a series of events which influenced his life, became extremely violent.     More...