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Sara Pines said the $1,000 donation the Friendship Donations Network received will be able to help them serve 2,700 people. (Photo by Rachel Philipson) |
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Friendship Donations getting needed boost from Local First event
Rob Montana
Managing Editor
Sara Pines has been working to fill an $18,000 gap in the Friendship Donations Network budget, but thanks to the recently completed Local Lover Challenge, she's $1,000 closer.
Pines, the founder and director of FDN, was notified her organization had been selected - for the second year in a row - as the recipient of $500 by Ithacards, the winner of the second Local Lover Challenge run by Local First Ithaca. On top of that, Emma Lou Sheikh, co-owner of House of Shalimar Inc. - which owns Ithacards, House of Shalimar and T-Shirt Express - said the company would be matching that amount, making the total donation to FDN $1,000.
"That is unbelievable," Pines said when learning of the donation, "especially when we can't even pay our salaries."
She said the operations coordinator earns $11,000 annually for about 15 hours of work per week.
"That's lousy," Pines said. "I think we're going to increase the salary by $1,000 so she can afford to pay her rent."
Friendship Donations Network is responsible for providing around 700,000 pounds of food every year to area soup kitchens and meal programs, connecting places such as Wegmans with those who provide meals to those who need them, like Loaves and Fishes. FDN is contacted by grocery stores, catering companies and other entities that deal with large amounts of food when there are leftovers or items that have not sold. Pines then gets the food to the places that need it for meals, which brings about the expense of paying the drivers who deliver the food reimbursement for mileage as well as paying to store the food.
Pines said the $1,000 donation would pay for about eight days worth of food being shuttled to where it needs to be, as well as maintaining the organization.
"Seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., including holidays, there is a pantry in need of food somewhere every day of the week," she said.
Currently, Pines said, FDN has enough in its coffers to stay open for another eight months.
"After that, I don't know," she said.
That's what makes the donation - plus the matching amount from Sheikh - such an important one.
"$1,000 will help us stay open for eight days and help around 2,700 people," Pines said. "We serve around 2,200 people per week and seven days a week, so as you can see every day there are a lot of people getting help."
Sheikh was pleased that one of her businesses had won the contest, keeping the winning in the House of Shalimar Inc. family, as the House of Shalimar was last year's recipient.
"I am very pleased and surprised to have won it," Sheikh said. "I am thankful to all the local lovers who have embraced Ithacards and returned their game cards to us."
She credited her staff for the honor.
"I think it's all about my staff," Sheikh said. "They really worked hard to make this happen.
"They encouraged customers to return their cards and to take another one if they already had done so," she added.
Jan Norman, co-founder of Local First Ithaca, said the second go round with the Local Lover Challenge seems to have been successful, with more people participating in the community than last year.
"We produced twice as many cards as last year and when we went around collecting the ones that had not been taken, there were less left over," Norman said. "We also received quite a bit more completed cards.
"And, we had more participation in terms of vendors who took part," she added.
While the challenge was more of a known entity this year, as opposed to last year's first-ever event, Norman felt the creation of a Facebook page also helped get the word out.
"We did a Facebook page as a way of keeping people informed of new things that were happening and we're planning on keeping up with that," she said. "I think we have around 700 followers on our Facebook page now.
"That rapidly jumped up to a sizable page more quickly than we thought it would," Norman added.
This year also featured a close battle for the location getting the most Local Lover Challenge cards turned in. Norman said Now Your Cooking, Ithaca Grain and Pet, Collegetown Bagels and Buffalo Street Books were all close to the top.
"Even a little store like the Holiday Spirit Store, which was a temporary store on the Commons, was close," she said. "It was a rare business that didn't have at least one card showing up.
"It was a great thing, with people getting around getting their cards filled out by a lot of businesses," Norman added.
She also felt Local First Ithaca's collaboration with the Downtown Ithaca Alliance was a boon for both organizations and bolstered the presence of the challenge.
"It was really a positive development," Norman said. "Last year we were completely on our own. This year, even though the entire thing was generated by use, we were really supported by Vicky Taylor, Gary Ferguson and the entire Downtown Ithaca Alliance.
"It was a very nice partnership," she added.
Norman also urged people to hang onto their "I Buy Local" buttons doled out during the challenge.
"They were specifically done without the holiday designation on them and we will continue to give them out," she said. "Who knows, there could be events where they will be a good extra bonus for people who are wearing them."
Local First was co-founded by Norman and Leslie Ackerman, but a third influential person has been Diane Goodman-Daniel, who designed the organization's Web site and logos.
"An integral part all along has been designer Diane Goodman-Daniel," Norman said. "She did the logo of the holiday tree for the Local Lover Challenge."
Coming up for Local First Ithaca is another event centered around Valentine's Day, something of an I Love Local weekend, said Norman. The organization also is looking for a new logo, one that represents more than just the Local Lover Challenge.
"Anyone wanting to take a stab at designing a year-round logo of what Local First stands for will be able to do so," Norman said. "It's something I think will get people excited and involved in the process."
No timeline has been set for when the contest will begin, but she said it would be in the coming weeks.
Pines said FDN is always happy to receive financial donations, noting that with an increasing need for food by meal programs her organization is kept busy. To offer financial support to FDN, people may make checks out to: ISDAC/Friendship Donations. They should be sent to 110 Rachel Carson Way, Ithaca, NY 14850.
For more information about Local First Ithaca, contact Norman at silkoak@silkoak.com or Ackerman at lackerman@alternatives.org. For more information about the Friendship Donations Network, visit its Web site at friendshipdonations.org, or get in touch with Pines at (607) 272-6758 or spines@ev.ithaca.ny.us.
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The Youth Leadership Corps is a new Youth Council program to connect teens (14+) with their community through volunteer service while also doing workshops for leadership building and event/outreach planning. After two compelling opening productions, Glimmerglass Opera began its second weekend with an all-time favorite, Mozart's comic masterpiece "The Marriage of Figaro." Don't let the title fool you; with the libretto by genius collaborator Lorenzo da Ponte, this opera is presented in Italian with English projected titles. The show was a truly remarkable achievement-a seamless, clearly delineated, musically excellent, and emotionally telling performance-matched only by some unscheduled thunder and lightning theatrics outside.  |
