Greetings!
With the Holidays behind us and the New Year just beginning, we would like to thank each and every person involved in The Carpenter's Table for their dedication and support. Our volunteers have worked tirelessly to get through the first year in our new location (a stand alone building). As you can see by the table to the right, we have nearly doubled the number of families we served in 2009 and the number of volunteer hours is also increasing. We have found that it takes a larger group of people to keep the pantry stocked and operational each week and for we are grateful to all of our volunteers for their time and care in delivering quality service to those crossing the threshold into our Center.
To all those who have generously donated financially - we couldn't have done it without you! As the number of people we serve grows, so too does the financial need to help us to get food into the hands of those suffering from food scarcity. We have been blessed with very generous benefactors, and we are thankful for each of you.
As you will see in some of our upcoming articles and future newsletters, we have experienced wonderful acts of kindness toward those we serve. For those who have donated coats and blankets - we are grateful to have so much to share with our visitors. A warm winter coat and a warm blanket to sleep under are always two items in demand during the cold winter months.
As we move into 2011, we plan to expand our services, offering community health fairs and other services that are needed by our visitors. We are grateful for those who volunteered their time and sponsored the flu shot clinic, which was an overwhelming success.
We are grateful and blessed to have so much support from our volunteers, financial donors, community services and local stores. With your continued support in 2011, we look to grow our services, improve our processes for serving those in need, and work with community service providers to help those within our community who have nowhere else to turn.
Barry Slider
Chairman
Board of Directors
The Carpenter's Table Community Outreach Center
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Home Made Soup, Cornbread
and Cookies
In Loving Memory of
Rita Lynn Dill
On day in late November, I received a call from Stacey Stokes. Stacey's mother, Rita Lynn Dill, had passed away this past June after a very brief illness and Stacey wanted to know if she could honor her mother's memory by serving the pantry visitors a cup of hot homemade soup, a side of corn bread, and, of course, home baked cookies. Stacey felt strongly that her mother would have been so happy to have been a part of The Carpenter's Table and Stacey wanted to offer some comfort to our visitors on a chilly December day.
December 11th arrived and Stacey and her family arrived at The Carpenters Table to set up the soup, the warmers, the bread table, the cookie platters - all this just outside the pantry doors. Stacey's "helpers" included: Stacey's husband, Jason, and their two children Elizabeth and Ryan; Stacey's dad, Jimmy Dill; her aunt,Rona Edge; Patsy Pruitt, Chris Pruit, and Todd Edge! As you can see by the photos below, everyone enjoyed the feast. The soup was delicious and I never saw so many people happy to see cornbread! Just the smell of the soup simmering had everyone's mouth watering in anticipation as they waited in line! Even Stacey's daughter, Elizabeth go to help out for the day. Elizabeth worked hard by helping her mother to distribute the corn bread and cookies to everyone! Stacey - a big thank you to you and your family for all of the cooking (and cleaning!) and for honoring your mother by volunteering at the pantry. Visitors are still talking about your soup and how sweet everyone was when offering soup, cornbread and cookies. Your kindness was felt by all who visited the pantry on December 11th. Blessings to you and your family and a special prayer is being said for your mother as she sits with the Lord and smiles down upon you.
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Spotlight On....
The United Way
Gifts in Kind Program
The Gifts-in-Kind (GIK) Center is a 10,000 square foot warehouse filled with product donated by national retailers. Opened in September 2009, the center is a partnership between United Way of the Piedmont, Exel Logistics and hundreds of national retail providers. The GIK Center offers low cost membership to any nonprofit organization working with the ill, needy, youth or otherwise disadvantaged. In exchange for this membership, agencies can visit the warehouse up to once each week and procure paper products, cleaning supplies, house wares, personal hygiene items and a variety of other items.
Project Description
Deliveries from Exel arrive at the GIK Center on a daily basis. The warehouse manager and numerous volunteers unload pallets from the tractor trailer and sort the donated product into categories. A detailed scheduling procedure and policy on product use is employed to control agency access to the donated product. Member
The United Way GIK Center provides us with most of our paper products (diapers, toilet paper, paper towels, along with blankets and household items) that we normally could not afford to purchase. This has allowed us to concentrate our funds on purchasing food items for the visitors to The Carpenter's Table.
The GIK Center has been a blessing to all of the non-profit agencies in this area and has given us all the opportunity to better serve those in need.
The GIK Center runs with only a few "paid" staff and mostly by generous volunteers. They are always seeking volunteer assistance to help unload trucks, sort the product, and refilling product as it quickly disappears from their "shopping" floor.
We extend a great big THANK YOU to all of the folks at the GIK Center for their generous offerings, their good humor, and most of all, for helping us to better serve those who visit The Carpenter's Table! |
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Number of Visitors Served at the
Food Pantry:
| | Month | 2009 | 2010 | | Jan | 257 | 462 | | Feb | 200 | 438 | | Mar | 230 | 495 | | Apr | 235 | 538 | | May | 335 | 618 | | June | 284 | 585 | | July | 338 | 765 | | Aug | 418 | 665 | | Sept | 352 | 632 | | Oct | 441 | 768 | | Nov | 468 | 659 | | Dec | 385 | 586 | | Total | 3,943 | 7,211 |
Volunteer Hours:
| Month | 2010 | | Jan | 181 | | Feb | 144 | | Mar | 247 | | Apr | 208 | | May | 147 | | June | 196 | | July | 230 | | Aug | 319 | | Sept | 328 | | Oct | 286 | | Nov | 293 | | Dec | 239 | | Total | 2,818 |
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The Great December
Challenge!
The Carpenter's Table was given a "challenge" in mid-
December 2010. If we (The Carpenter's Table and all
of its partners) could raise $5,000 in donations by
December 31, 2010, then an anonymous donor would
match the funds raised up to $5,000!
For two weeks our focus was to raise as much money
as we could for TCT and we are pleased to report that
TCT and its partners raised over $9,000. Within days
of advising the anonymous donor of this great fund-
raising drive, TCT received the their check in the
amount of $5,000.
We want to thank everyone who made this challenge
a great success and a special thank you to the
anonymous "December Challenge-maker" for
helping us to start the new year off in an exceptional
way! |
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The Soup and Cornbread Day!
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Stacey (r) and her Aunt, Rona Edge |
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Stacey's daughter, Elizabeth was a great help to all! |
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Ready to Serve!. |
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United Way
Gifts in Kind Program
Gifts in Kind Program
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Scott Bryson Manages the entire GIK operation and is the first to remind everyone |
 | | Beth Vandever Manages all of the visitors to the GIK Center - Always with a smile for us!! |
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Quick Links
Please browse our website for information on the canned goods we need, how to organize a food drive, the continued need for coats and blankets, and other information on The Carpenter's Table Community Outreach Center. | |
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