|
Food for Thought
The newsletter of the Women's & Children's Free Restaurant
June, 2011 |
|
|
 |
|
Our Calendar |
July 11 - Guest Chef Dinner - remember that this dinner is open to any woman and child in the community who wants to try something new and delicious. If you haven't been to one of these dinners, please come!
August 1 - 12 - WCFR will close for our annual two week break to clean, sort and catch our breath before fall.
August 15 - Guest Chef Dinner
August 23 - Summer BBQ - for our guests who can't "go to the lake", this is the highlight of their summer. In addition to all the favorite BBQ foods, we'll have crafts for the kids and the Sammy Eubanks Band.
Thank you to our event sponsors, American West Bank, Western States Insurance and the Community Building Foundation!
We're adding a back-to-school element to the event and will distribute backpacks. If you can donate a backpack or two, please help!
September 12 - Guest Chef Dinner
September 30 - A Little Night Music - mark your calendar. You will want to be there! Watch our newsletter next month for a major announcement about the event!
October 10 - Guest Chef Dinner
November 19 - Thanksgiving Celebration. Our annual community dinner for Thanksgiving will be served at Rodgers High School this year. |
|
|
| Greetings! | 
One of the traits that we promote here at WCFR is to treat everyone with respect. You may have noticed that we refer to the women and children who eat here as our guests, not our clients. Seeing women and children as guests, not as people who need our help is the first way in which we practice respect. Practicing respect means that we don't ask anyone to justify or explain why they are here. We trust that they are here for a good reason, but we don't need to know what that reason is. We also practice respect by providing the very best that we can in terms of food and service. That is why we provide food that is healthy and tastes good. We take pride in preparing food that could be served to paying customers. And yes, our guests are paying customers - they just don't pay with money. We get paid in the happy chatter we hear in the dining room. We get paid in the many thanks you's and compliments we hear from our guests. We get paid in the knowledge that our guests are leaving without the empty, gnawing feeling of hunger. It is my hope that as our guests experience acceptance and a well-balanced meal that their own self-respect grows. As their self-respect grows, so do their connections with the community. Thank you for helping us create a community of respect. |
| Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery and WCFR - Nutrition to Go |
 WCFR, in just a couple of weeks, will begin an exciting new partnership with the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery. If you don't already know, the Nursery provides a lifeline to families who are experiencing a crisis. It provides a safe place for children to stay, giving parents a break in a time of crisis. The Nursery also offers on-going family support, all with the aim of stablizing families so that children can grow up safe!
Ninety percent of the families who use the nursery have a yearly income of less than $6000! Their lives of struggle continue after they pick their children up from the respite provided by the nursery.
Beginning the first week in July, WCFR will help. We will provide family-sized, fresh entrees for families to take home, so they have something nutritious to eat and feed their children for that first meal back together. The entrees will be prepared in our kitchen and will be sealed for safe transport. We will provide them to the Nursery once a week for distribution at their discretion. Intially, we will provide sixteen entrees a week.
Thank you to the Women Helping Women fund for awarding us the grant that will pay for the food and containers. Once we have tested the program with the Nursery, we will offer the program to other low-income childcare facilities around Spokane.
For families who live in poverty, the logistics of getting to a meal program can be unrealistic. Many do not have their own car, or cannot afford gas. Taking children by bus from daycare, to meal site, to home can be an hours-long process. For those families facing a food crisis, being able to take home an entree takes the stress out of their situation for the evening.
WCFR is proud to launch this program. As a part of our community, we hope that you share our pride and we thank you for supporting our work! |
| Building Update | |
At the end of May, we said goodbye to St. Paul's United Methodist Church. Members of Christ Our Hope Bible Church, the new owners of the building, began moving in over the Memorial Day weekend. The congregation celebrated their first service there on June 5.
WCFR has entered into a lease agreement with the new church. We did have a very favorable lease arrangement with St. Paul's that we are not able to continue. This means that our lease payments will rise significantly. But no other changes regarding our meal service or hours will change.
It is still a part of our vision to move. We would like to be in a location that is above ground and perhaps better suited to streamlining some of our meal preparation.
While we are continuing to keep the idea of moving on our radar, we are keenly aware that our whole reason for existing is to provide nutrition and hospitality to women and children in need. And that will continue right where we are for the time being. |
|
|
|
| Does Nutrition Information Make a Difference? | |
We just wrapped up a six-part nutrition series, taught by registered dietitian Craig Hunt. We are so pleased to learn that one of the participants, a single mom of two teenage boys, shared what she learned with her sons. In particular, they started reading the nutrition labels on food. Learning about sodium content on prepared foods had a big impact, and together they are working on reducing their sodium intake.
This demonstrates how knowledge can make a difference in health! |
|
Please continue your financial support of the women and children in Spokane who don't have enough nutritious food to eat. You can make an on-line donation, by following this link.
Sincerely,
|
|
Marlene Alford
Women's and Children's Free Restaurant
|
|
|
|
|
