Feeding Our Communities Partners (FOCP) was recently the recipient of two grants; one from the Mankato Clinic Foundation for $4,500 and one for $5,000 from Archer Daniels Midland Company. Both grants will be used toward funding for the BackPack Food Program.
The BackPack Food Program discreetly provides low-income students with packs of nutritious, child-friendly meals to take home for weekends and school breaks. Launched in March 2010, enrollment currently exceeds 740 students at all eleven Mankato elementary schools. As community support increases, FOCP will implement the BackPack Food Program at Saint Clair, Lake Crystal, and Maple River East and West elementary schools. "These grants will help to provide weekend hunger relief for area elementary-school students." said Melinda Wedzina, executive director of FOCP. "With the expansion of the program to the outlying elementary schools in Blue Earth County in the 2015-16 school year, we need funding like this to not only maintain the currently enrolled schools, but also to help feed the estimated 200 extra students that will join the program in the fall." The Mankato Clinic Foundation provides resources to organizations and endeavors that effectively promote and improve community health and wellness. Since the primary focus of the Foundation is to support health and well-being of the community, projects and programs supported include education and scholarships initiatives focused on health care, health education and wellness. The physicians at the Mankato Clinic provide the majority of the Foundation funding as a means to give back to the community by providing support to organizations which strive to improve health and wellness. Grants are awarded on a quarterly basis and are considered only through the application process. Applications can be obtained at mankatoclinic.com. The Archer Daniels Midland Company donation was given through ADM Cares. ADM Cares is a social investment program that directs funds to initiatives and organizations that drive meaningful social, economic and environmental progress worldwide. The program comprises three distinct focus areas: supporting the responsible development of agriculture, improving the quality of life in ADM communities and fostering employee giving and volunteer activities. MANKATO, MN (May 18, 2015) – The Bemis Company Foundation recently awarded a $5,000 grant to Mankato’s BackPack Food Program, an initiative of Feeding Our Communities Partners (FOCP). The BackPack Food Program discreetly provides low-income students at all eleven Mankato public elementary schools with packs of nutritious, child-friendly meals to take home for weekends and school breaks.
“We will use this funding to provide weekend hunger relief for the 740 kids that we currently serve,” said Melinda Wedzina, FOCP’s executive director, “and for expansion of the program in the upcoming school year. This funding comes at the right time.” During the 2015-16 school year, the BackPack Food Program will expand to include the four county elementary schools of Maple River East and West, Lake Crystal, and Saint Clair. “Supporting our local Bemis communities with our contributions to effective non-profit organizations, like Feeding Our Communities Partners, is the mission of the Bemis Company Foundation,” said Kim Wetzel, foundation director. “We applaud their concerted efforts with the BackPack Food Program and are happy they operate in the Mankato community where we have our Bemis Healthcare Packaging facility. Without this program's seamless and thoughtful delivery of food stuffs, many students and their younger siblings would be under-nourished and less able to thrive.” About Bemis Company, Inc. (“Bemis” or the “Company”): Bemis is a major supplier of flexible packaging used by leading food, consumer products, healthcare, and other companies worldwide. Founded in 1858, Bemis reported 2014 net sales from continuing operations of $4.3 billion. Bemis has a strong technical base in polymer chemistry, film extrusion, coating and laminating, printing, and converting. Headquartered in Neenah, Wisconsin, Bemis employs approximately 17,000 individuals worldwide. More information about Bemis is available at www.bemis.com About Feeding Our Communities Partners: FOCP is a nonprofit organization focused on ending hunger locally. With a mission of optimizing collaboration and developing initiatives to decrease hunger, FOCP directs the BackPack Food Program, a service-gap initiative to relieve childhood weekend hunger. FOCP is a partner agency of the Greater Mankato Area United Way. For further information, please visit: www.FeedingOurCommunitiesPartners.org Feeding Our Communities Partners receives grant from Crystal Valley Coop & Land O'Lakes Foundation4/28/2015
Feeding Our Communities Partners received a $2,000 matching-fund grant from Crystal Valley Cooperative and the Land O'Lakes Foundation.
$1,000 was given by Crystal Valley Coop and Land O'Lakes matched an addition $1,000. "The funds will be used for funding toward the BackPack Food Program in Blue Earth County and the City of North Mankato," said Melinda Wedzina, executive director of Feeding Our Communities Partners. Crystal Valley Cooperative is a local full service cooperative with over 160 full-time employees serving the agronomy, energy, feed, and grain consumer. They began in 1927 and have ten locations serving Blue Earth, Brown, LeSueur, Nicollet, Steele, Watonwan, and Waseca counties and surrounding areas in south central Minnesota. They strive to meet the needs of the communities they serve. The Land O'Lakes Foundation, established in 1996, provides matching cash grants to non-profit and community organizations in states where Land O'Lakes has a concentration of members or employees. On Tuesday, March 31, 2015 Feeding Our Communities Partners and the BackPack Food Program opened the doors of its new facility to the public during an Open House. See KEYC coverage of this event.
The January 11th stair climbing event held at Bresnan Arena was a big success for the BackPack Food Program, thanks to participants, sponsors, volunteers, and supporters who rallied behind making this year's event bigger and better than last year. With 37 registered teams and three heats, climbers alone raised over $46,000 to feed local, hungry elementary students. Read more from the Free Press here.
Free Press Article
By Nate Gotlieb ngotlieb@mankatofreepress.com NORTH MANKATO — Feeding Our Communities Partners is running out of space for its BackPack Food Program. That's not necessarily a bad problem to have. Read the full article from the Free Press here. The BackPack Food Program will add three more elementary schools to its roster this fall - Roosevelt, Garfield, and Eagle Lake - and an approximate 150 additional students. That is in addition to the approximate 610 students and six elementary schools (Franklin, Jefferson, Kennedy, Rosa Parks, Monroe, and Washington) it currently serves.
Read the full article from the Free Press here. MANKATO, MN— August 1, 2014—Feeding Our Communities Partners (FOCP) today announced that it has received a $55,822 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation. The grant gives $30,000 to FOCP’s BackPack Food Program to help maintain and expand the program during the 2014-15 school year. Additionally, the Foundation has pledged up to $10,000 in matching funds that would come from the BackPack Food Program’s Direct Mail Campaign. The remaining $25,822 will provide funding for the Blue Earth County Community Farm (BECCF), a collaborative initiative between FOCP and Blue Earth County.
FOCP addresses a critical need for the food-insecure population in our local community. Feeding America, in its Map the Meal Gap study, reports that over twelve percent of Blue Earth County residents are not always sure where their next meal will come from. More specifically, sixteen percent of children in Blue Earth County are food insecure and thirty percent of food-insecure families are likely not eligible for federal nutrition programs. “We are striving to bring an end to local hunger and we are grateful that the Otto Bremer Foundation recognizes the immediate need for this type of assistance,” said Melinda Wedzina, executive director of FOCP. “The foundation has continued its support of the BackPack Food Program and Community Farm, helping FOCP develop and sustain two initiatives that alleviate local hunger.” The BackPack Food Program discreetly provides healthy, well-balanced meals to hungry elementary students to sustain them through the weekends and extended school breaks when food may not be otherwise available. It currently serves over 600 students at six schools in Mankato and North Mankato. During the 2014-15 school year, it will expand to serve five more schools and 250 additional students, with the ultimate goal of reaching the approximate 1,200 food-insecure youth in Mankato and Blue Earth County public schools by the end of the 2015-16 school year. The BECCF focuses on supplying food assistance programs, such as ECHO Food Shelf and the Salvation Army, with fresh locally grown produce. During each of its last two growing seasons, the farm has produced approximately 7,500 pounds of fresh vegetables. About Feeding Our Communities Partners FOCP is a nonprofit organization focused on ending hunger locally and has a mission of optimizing collaboration and developing initiatives to decrease hunger. FOCP directs the BackPack Food Program, a service-gap initiative to relieve childhood weekend hunger, and collaborates with Blue Earth County to administer the Blue Earth County Community Farm, a project which utilizes local resources to provide volunteer-grown fresh produce for area hunger assistance programs. FOCP is a partner agency of the Greater Mankato Area United Way. For further information, please visit: www.FeedingOurCommunitiesPartners.org About the Otto Bremer Foundation Created in 1944, the Otto Bremer Foundation assists people in achieving full economic, civic and social participation in and for the betterment of their communities. The Foundation strives to help build healthy, vibrant communities in the places that are homes and neighbors to Bremer banks—communities where basic needs are met, mutual regard is prized and opportunities for economic, civic and social participation are within everyone's reach. The Otto Bremer Foundation owns 92 percent of Bremer Bank, and receives an equivalent share of the bank profits that are paid out as dividends. This means that a large portion of bank profit is invested back in local communities through grants and program-related investments. It may be a little late, but new farm manager Andrew Hermanson is optimistic as he, with the help of volunteers, preps and plants at the Blue Earth County Community Farm to kick off the 2014 growing season.
http://www.mankatofreepress.com/local/x2117445576/County-Community-Farm-plants-for-the-season |
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