ANNOUNCEMENTS
(courtesy of the venerable Neal Chamberlain)

At 6:45 am on August 2, 2012, the CUSR meeting was obviously a bevy of excited Rotarians, as they looked forward to being led by President-Elect Chuck Reifsteck.

Penn Nelson was congratulated for his 50^th anniversary of marriage.  Penn spoke of his many years of marital happiness – we take your word for it Penn – we don’t need a second opinion from Barb.

Chuck announced that our district governor will attend our meeting next week, good behavior is encouraged.

Jan Ison was welcomed back – glad to see you Jan.

Maggie Verklan, was introduced as a special guest of Andrew (we’re sorry Maggie).

PROGRAM

Larry Johnson introduced our speaker of the day; Julie Melton, Director of Marketing and Development, Eastern Illinois Food Bank.

Julie told of being from Indiana, a graduate of Indiana University, has been a CU resident for about ten years, married with 2 children, was employed be Provena as Director of Development for six years and has been with Eastern Illinois Food Bank for eight weeks.

Julie began her comments with a Question – Which county in Illinois has the highet poverty level, Cook or Champaign?  Answer – Champaign County.

Julie explained the mission of EIFB as follows;

-What – We put the food in “food pantry” and the soup in “soup kitchen”.

-Who – We provide food for children, seniors and under employed, (EIFB) trucks deliver food to distribution centers in 14 counties.

-How many – Our distribution centers provide food for 100,000 persons.

-Impact – Seven million pounds of food is distributed annually.  (To totally serve the need in the area served by EIFB would require 17 million pounds annually).

EIFB receives their supplies from:

-Food companies and retailers – 50%.

-Federal (USDA) – 20 – 25%

-Purchased 25%

-Community organizations 2-5%

EIFB receives 58% of its financial support from area citizens and from community organizations.  EIFB is facing a challenge as costs are rising and supplies are decreasing.

An urgent need facing EIFB is there need for more refrigeration.  They have had turn away donations of fresh produce because of there lack of refrigeration capacity.  They are currently launching a capital campaign to raise funds for installing adequate refrigeration.

Julie described new and/or revised programs:

-Foodmobiles – trucks will continue to be sent to hard to reach rural with food distributed from the truck to the residents in the area.

-Backpack Program – Provide more healthy food to students for them to take to their family in their backpack.

-School Pantry – A new program for 2013 which will provide a food distribution center at various schools.

How can we help?  By providing financial support, by donating time, by donating food and by spreading “the word”.  Julie said EIFB’s future plans include an emphasis on providing food supplies which are fresher and more healthful.

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UPCOMING MEETINGS

August 9th – J. Gordon Bidner, District 6490 Governor