FEBRUARY 24, 2009: OUR FIRST ANNUAL “DINE-OUT TO DEFEAT HUNGER” CHARITY BENEFIT

The Cache Community Food Pantry and its Director, Matt Whitaker, have joined forces with several local restaurants to put on its First Annual “Dine-Out to Defeat Hunger” Charity Benefit; the event will be held on Tuesday, February 24th and participating restaurants are donating up to 20% of their dinner-time receipts directly to the Food Pantry.

The cash donations will be used to buy specific food items that are needed to help feed the hungry of Cache Valley as well other items that are greatly needed by those who are clients of the Cache Community Food Pantry.

The Food Pantry is very excited about the response from the local restaurants and their owners who were more than willing to help out during this inaugural benefit being held on February 24th, 2009:

• Angie’s
• Firehouse Pizzeria
• Hamilton’s Steakhouse
• Iron Gate Grill
• Cafe Sabor
• Blackstone
• Juniper Take-Out
• Copper Mill
• Bluebird
• Mandarin Garden
• LD’s Cafe in Richmond

So be sure and mark your calendars for February 24th…a Tuesday…and whether it be Dad’s turn to cook, a night out with friends or a “date” night between couples, make sure you think about the Cache Community Food Pantry’s “Dine-Out to Defeat Hunger” Charity benefit and patronize the above-listed restaurants who are generous enough to support this great cause!

THANK YOU, CACHE VALLEY!

As Christmas day approaches…

The Cache Community Food Pantry would like to give a BIG “thank you” to all of you throughout Cache Valley who so willingly gave of your time, money and foodstuffs in order to make someone’s family a little happier during the holiday season.

We are constantly amazed by, and extremely grateful for, all of your generosity!

Have a great Christmas season and may your New Year be safe and prosperous…

Sincerely,

Matt Whitaker, Director, Cache Community Food Pantry

COMMUNITY OF FEDERAL WAY STEPS UP…BIG-TIME!

Federal Way News is reporting that the Mayor of Federal Way, Jack Dovey, issued a challenge to the citizens of his community to do all that they could to contribute food and cash donations in order to supply the Federal Way Food Bank for the upcoming holiday season; the result was a massively successful food drive that will feed hundreds of families for the next two months.

Mayor Dovey called on civic organizations, individual families and churches throughout his city to rise up and contribute to this cause…and by making it a competition of sorts whereby those who contributed the most would be given an award and recognized throughout the community, Dovey saw much more come in than he could have ever dreamed.

Well done, Federal Way, Washington!

STORMS IN OHIO HURT THE LOCAL FOOD PANTRIES

The Middletown Journal is reporting that as a result of the recent storms in this area of Ohio, which led to major outages of power, local food pantries were forced to toss away thousands of dollars of perishable food items because they were unable to keep the donations cold.

The article also goes on to report that food banks throughout the country have suffered a 200 million dollar drop in Federal support since 2003 because the U.S. Government is releasing a lot of its supplies onto the open markets in order to take advantage of the huge rise in the prices of commodities.

While this makes good sense economically for the United States Government to make a profit as a result of higher market prices…food pantries need that consistent flow of funding and food that is so vital to helping out those American citizens who are just going through a rough patch in their lives or are suffering as a result of a natural disaster like a hurricane, flood or earthquake.

Here’s to hoping that food banks across the country will continue to be funded generously by the U.S. Government and private citizens…because its a great cause worthy of great support.