Blue Ridge Area Food Bank In Need Of Volunteers Donations
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank needs volunteers and donations. The food bank is buying truckloads of pre-boxed food items for families in need throughout the 25 counties it serves.
The cases are packed with a variety of foods that pantries can hand out easily to people in need. However, with millions now out of work across the United States, the food banks CEO describes it as the perfect storm.
“Huge surge in need for food assistance at the same time that volunteers are probably gonna start holding back to protect themselves from COVID-19. So our pantries already strained are going to be under unbelievable pressure, BRAFB CEO Michael McKee said.
If youre healthy, without symptoms, and not in a high-risk group – the food bank is asking you to consider volunteering. Every dollar donated provides four meals for someone in need.
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Support Tony Bennett And Brafb
Heres your chance to support two of the best things in Charlottesville: the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, which feeds more than 100,000 people each month and UVa Mens Basketball Coach Tony Bennett, who has brought excitement, success, and, above all, integrity to the Virginia program. Bennett is competing in the Infiniti Coaches Charity Challenge, where 48 of the nations best basketball coaches have each selected a favorite local charity. Over four rounds of voting, whoever receives the most votes wins for their charity. For BRAFB, the $100,000 grand prize would mean more than 400,000 meals for the areas hungry. If thats not enough reason to vote, each vote gives you a chance to win memorabilia signed by Bennett. There are four rounds of voting. So, vote early and often. Go Coach Bennett!
Age Guidelines For Volunteering
To ensure the safety of volunteers and staff in an active warehouse setting, we have certain age limits for all volunteer opportunities. Some shifts have specific age requirements, so please read each job description carefully when registering.
- Children between the ages of 12 and 16 may volunteer in the Food Recovery Area as long as they are accompanied by a parent or guardian for each shift. Volunteers age 17 and older may work without an accompanying adult in the Food Recovery Area.
To engage younger children in the fight against hunger, visit our Talk About Hungerpage for ideas.
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What We Aim To Solve
The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank is the largest organization alleviating hunger in western and central Virginia, serving 25 counties and 8 cities in communities over 12,000 square miles. We work hand-in-hand with hundreds of partners to solve hunger and to address the many companion health problems made worse by chronic undernutrition.
Nourishing Communities Across The State
Blue Ridge Area Food Bank a regional food bank in Virginia, who works with hundreds of partner food banks to distribute nutritious food to communities across central Virginia. Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, provides food to over 118,000 people on average per month and needed an application to support their growing network of local pantry liasions and national program partners.
In 2019, Skapa took over Nourish, an existing cloud-based platform that helps food banks operationalize nutrition guidelines for food sourcing.
Nourish was previously developed as part of a student project at a local university. While the project helped us conceptualize our needs, it required further support to be fully operational in the organization. Highly recommended from our IT administrator, we hired Skapa to help our team complete the final steps of implementation, which included troubleshooting and correcting areas of concern with the system. Skapa worked seamlessly with our internal staff and the manager of our inventory management software firm to make necessary software changes that would allow the food bank to integrate Nourish with inventory management for tracking and to bring the system live. – Michael McKee, CEO Blue Ridge Area Food Bank
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How To Find Food Resources
Access Food Finder flyers in multiple languages
The Agency will not engage in discrimination, in the provision of services, against any person because of race, color, citizenship, religion, gender, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation including gender identity or expression, unfavorable discharge from the military or status as a protected veteran.
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Our Vision, Mission & Core Beliefs
Our VISION is that everyone has enough to eat. Our MISSION is to provide nourishing food to our neighbors in need through vibrant community partnerships and passionate public support. Our CORE BELIEFS are that hunger is unacceptable, that everyone deserves access to enough food, that food sustains life and nourishes health, and that we are called to serve without judgment.
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Brafb In Need Of Holiday Volunteers
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The holidays are a busy time for food banks, and the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank is asking for volunteers to help with increasing demand.
Volunteering is such an important part of what goes on during the holidays, and certainly, when youre thinking about volunteering, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank is one of the great organizations, I think. Im a little biased of course, but its a great organization to volunteer with, said Lee Sinclair with the BRAFB.
The BRAFB says it will gladly accept any help, whether it be food, money, or time.
Specialized volunteers can really make an impact. Specialized volunteers are folks who maybe can bring their own special line of work, whether its clerical or computer skills, and they can do work for us, maybe even translation, and help us to really do good work in the community, Sinclair said.
If you are interested in volunteering for Thanksgiving, now is the time to sign up.
Folks, especially in the food industry, like we are, are thinking about Thanksgiving already, so if you are thinking about maybe volunteering with your friends or family or co-workers, you probably want to be looking at that right now. Those slots are going to fill up fast in lots of organizations, Sinclair said.
For more information on volunteering with the BRAFB this holiday season, here is a link.
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Community Spotlight: The Blue Ridge Food Bank
Learn more about the ongoing partnership between the BRAFB and DCCU.
At DCCU, we strive to give back with a sincere dedication to affecting positive change in the lives of not only our members, but also our community. We participate in a variety of programs, initiatives, and projects all with the same goalseeing our community changed in a positive way. Today, well be spotlighting our relationship with the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, an organization making a difference right here in the Valley.
Food banks perform a very important job in the communities they serve: providing nutritional meals to those in need. The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank , headquartered in Verona, Virginia, has been providing our community with nourishing food since 1981. Since then, the BRAFB has grown to serve 25 counties and 8 cities in Virginia, with distribution centers in Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Winchester, and Verona. They distribute more than 118,000 meals per month through local nutrition programs, their own food pantries, community partnerships, and more.
The BRAFB participates in many nutrition programs, such as services that connect students to meals during the summer months, mobile food distributions that deliver healthy food to rural communities, and programs targeting the elderly and disabled.
Blue Ridge Area Food Bank
| Meet Your Nonprofit, a weekly profile of nonprofit organizations in our community, is brought to you by the Center for Nonprofit Excellence. |
Describe your nonprofits mission.Our mission is to feed hungry people through a network of community organizations in central and western Virginia, and to engage our communities in the fight to end hunger locally and nationally.
What need in our community brought about the creation of your nonprofit?Thirty-five years ago, our founder Phil Grasty was compelled to seek food assistance in order to serve young adults in a ministry he operated with his wife. This is when he came in contact with the food banking model.
He realized that a food bank could meet a critical need faced by many other local organizations like his.
The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank was founded in 1981 in Staunton, VA by a 5-member board, including Grasty, who would become the organizations first executive director. By the end of the first year, the Food Bank distributed 233,000 pounds of food to the hungry through 202 member agencies in 18 counties along the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains. At that point in time, our work was considered a major experiment in food banking because of the rural nature of our service area.
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The Key Responsibilities Of The Data And Technology Specialist Include:
- Maintain responsibility for the integrity, performance, and security of the databases in the Organization. Manage record maintenance and clean-up.
- Maintain database performance by troubleshooting and resolving problems.
- Respond to data and report requests, filter, and clean data to ensure optimum report generation and correction of data label problems.
- Implement quality control procedures, including assisting with developing and writing training materials, and train staff in accurate data entry processes and reporting, and other training in common applications, such as Microsoft Office.
- Oversee, support and post content to online resource for partner agencies.
- Support Tableau data visualizations for use on organization website and internally.
- Administer JET reporting services to include server implementation, custom report creation, user record maintenance and license management
- Serve as point of contact for managed IT services, including the coordination and communication of internal first line tech support, execute ticket creation, ticket management, service feedback.
- Manage technology resources including planned replacement of technology.
- Provide technical assistance and support for queries and other issues as needed.
Where We Are Today
Today we serve 25 counties and 8 cities on either side of the Blue Ridge through distribution centers in Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Winchester and Verona . We provide nutritious food to 109,500 people on average each month through a far-reaching network of more than 400 community partnersfood pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, and program sites like schools, community centers, and health care clinics.
We are members of Feeding America, a national organization supporting more than 200 food banks across the country, and the largest domestic hunger relief agency in the U.S. We are also members of the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, an association of the seven food banks in Virginia.See our latest fact sheet for details.
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The Key Responsibilities Of The Volunteer & Food Drive Coordinator Include:
- Manages inquiries and questions from existing and potential volunteers and works to match volunteer skills and interest with existing needs
- Coordinates the recruitment, orientation, and training of volunteers and works closely with Operations staff to ensure quality, consistency management of the BRAFB Volunteer Program
- Ensures that volunteers receive and understand policies, procedures, and regulations that are necessary and relevant to their work and the mission of the Food Bank
- Actively works with cross department managers to recruit volunteers for ongoing needs, nutrition programs and specialized needs
- Identifies and pursues opportunities to connect BRAFB with local businesses and organizations to engage volunteers and maximizes BRAFB volunteer visibility through local resources
- Works with the Volunteer & Food Drive Manager to coordinate volunteer communication, support and develop volunteer recognition programs and initiatives, and evaluate program effectiveness, prepare necessary reporting, manage a budget, and establish annual goals
- Communicates, coordinates, and assists with logistics of food drives in the greater Charlottesville and Lynchburg areas including record-keeping, delivery, and pickup of barrels by working with colleagues in Operations.
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Blue Ridge Area Food Bank To Continue Summer Food Service Program
VERONA, Va. Last week, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank announced it will be continuing its Summer Food Service Program to help fight childhood hunger in the Valley.
According to data from the food bank, 1 in 12 kids in the region face food insecurity, and the program uses different venues like Boys and Girls clubs, summer schools, and churches to distribute the meals in the summer months.
Staff at BRAFB say the goal is to get nutritious meals to kids at home over the summer break, as hunger is a year-round issue.
Schools are a strong and steady and constant source of meals during the school year and during the 180 days or so that school is in session. But, it turns out that when those kids go home and when school is closed so is that source of food, Director of Programs for BRAFB Zach Nissen said.
To find locations of meals along with dates and times, click here.
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Five Finds On Friday: Lindsay Dorrier
Todays Five Finds on Friday come from Bold Rock Hard Ciders Lindsay Dorrier, who will compete next week in the 2017 Shop to Stop Hunger, benefiting the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. At 10 am on December 7 at the Barracks Road Kroger, Dorrier and four other beverage insiders will each have one minute to fill their shopping carts with as much food as they can, all for the food bank. Visit the event page to survey the competitors and donate in the name of your pick to win. As cold weather approaches, your donations are more important than ever. So, go! Dorriers picks:
1) Dealers Choice at Cicchetti Bar at Tavola. Its been mentioned before but worth mentioning again: the Cicchetti Bar at Tavola features the best cocktails in town. I mostly drink hard cider followed by wine and some beer but Tavolas Maiale Milanese wouldnt be a complete meal without a Dealers Choice cocktail from the Cicchetti Bar to start. The talented bartenders are always able to take my vague suggestions on taste and turn it into an amazing cocktail. Fellow Scottsville Elementary School alum and longtime friend Christian Johnston did an awesome job building the Cicchetti Bar from the ground up, and Steve Yang has ably grabbed the torch and continued to push it forward. Kudos to both for running an operation that is distinctively next level in terms of quality and even showmanship with their approach to crafting the cocktails.
Ner Technology Support Coordinator
The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank is expanding its Partner Engagement and Programs team to enhance equitable food access for diverse populations. The Food Bank has an exciting opportunity for a Partner Technology Support Coordinator to merge and utilize their technology training skills with customer service and outreach to work with program site volunteers, clients, and colleagues in making an impact in an organization that provides food assistance.
The Partner Technology Support Coordinator provides ongoing technology training instruction and onboarding support to the Food Banks partner and programs network and staff. The Partner Technology Support Coordinator leads the educational and training activities for volunteers in the use of the Food Banks human services software and other software platforms used by partner agencies and programs to acquire food, schedule pick-ups and deliveries, and record information essential to the Food Banks operation and data analytics needs.
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Blue Ridge Area Food Bank Company Jobs And Salaries
The average salary of Blue Ridge Area Food Bank jobs will vary according to location, department, and job description. The table shows below the name of the job title below you may be interested in including salary range and total compensation. The salary paid can be different for the same position in Blue Ridge Area Food Bank based on experience, skills, and education.
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About a third of the people the food bank serves are under the age of 18.
Inflation, McKee said, has left some families strapped and more reliant on the food bank. Costs are increasing at a rate of 7.7%, according to the most recent consumer price index in October. Prices are rising, but not as quickly as they once were.
Its easy to think that, with low unemployment, the problem doesnt exist. But really, its just as serious today as it was a year ago when we were still in the pandemic, McKee said.
For members of UVas athletics department, the food drive was an opportunity to get involved in the greater Charlottesville community.
Its an appreciation and an understanding of the fact that what we do transcends the football field, said Cavaliers head coach Tony Elliott. The game of football, just like life, is not about what you can do for yourself. Its about what you can do for others.
Football players agreed with him.
I love the Charlottesville community, said first year inside linebacker Stevie Bracey. Now, doing something like thisI can be more than just a football player here.
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Blue Ridge Area Food Bank Sees Greater Need For Service As Inflation Soars
VERONA, Va. As food prices continue to rise due to inflation, more and more people are turning to food banks for help. The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank has seen the need for its services continually increase over the last year.
The food bank said one major concern is the increasing number of people who are facing food insecurity despite being employed.
The employment number is up 50% just in the last six months. That tells us that families who are working and still struggling are struggling even more, and, of course, its because of inflation, said Michael McKee, CEO of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.
Moving into the summer the food bank expects to see an even larger increase in people needing its services as children are now out of school.
Children who were receiving free and reduced meals in schools through the school year are for the most part not able to get access to food during the summer, said McKee.
There are summer feeding programs that the government supports, but the requirements are so stringent on non-profits and schools that only 1 out of every 5 children eligible for these programs is able to participate, he added.
McKee said inflation is just the latest in a troubling trend of increased food insecurity that began with the Great Recession in 2008 and has continued for 14 years.
McKee added that the food bank was serving just over half of the number of people it is serving today back in 2008 prior to the recession.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved.