Our site visit to an AMAZING charity in our own back yard!
Endurance Athletics is hosting another 5k on November 22nd, 2020 and we were searching for a beneficiary. With it being right around the corner from Thanksgiving it got me thinking about the holiday and how stressful this time can be, especially for those in need.
Food banks instantly jumped to mind, and I started looking around in the area. I eventually landed on SeaGate Food Bank and gave them a call. They offered a site visit and since I absolutely love getting out and meeting new people along with seeing what an organization is all about firsthand, I gladly took them up on it.
What I found there blew me away though. Without getting ahead of myself SeaGate Food Bank is a truly amazing operation, and I am so thrilled to have found them. So, what did I find there? Let’s find out!
Meeting with Cheri Dennis
We met with Cheri Dennis – Director of Community Engagement who is one of those people that you truly hope to run in to. She is so pleasant, and you can tell she genuinely loves what she does. Cheri was full of knowledge and while we were talking pre-facility tour in the main break room, she filled us in on some facts about SeaGate Food Bank.
- SeaGate Food Bank was started by Alice Mosiniak when she saw a need in her local community to feed seniors that couldn’t provide for themselves. She got to work canvasing other neighbors, grocery stores, and markets for food and was distributing what she could to the community right out of her garage. By 1980 she had brought into existence Toledo Ohio’s first regional food collection and distribution center.
- The food bank under normal conditions is ran by 11 staff members that are supported by over 4,500 volunteers that come from entire states away even as far out as Minnesota!
- SeaGate Food Bank is the only independently operated food bank in Ohio and only 1 of 5 in the nation.
- They have been serving the community for over 41 years and have been in their current building for about 30 of those years.
- The food bank provides aid via their many programs and distribution network to over 120,000 people in need across 8 counties in South East Michigan and North West Ohio.
- SeaGate Food Bank partners with over 400 local food pantries and organizations to help in the distribution of food and other essentials.
- Food from SeaGate Food Bank is always 100% free.
If those facts don’t blow you away, I don’t know what will, and this was all within the first 15 minutes of our meeting with them! She hadn’t even gotten into their various programs and direct community outreach! After the quick history lesson and the general awareness, we then hit the floor, and there was a TON to see.
What’s the National Guard Doing Here?
The first thing I noticed on the tour was that there was National Guard all over the place. These guys and girls were out there in place of the regular volunteers to keep the operation running through Covid-19. HUGE SHOUT OUT to those men and women who were able to step in when they were needed right here in our community!
This was the first stop on the tour. This program provides supplemental food donations to families in need. These boxes go out and are meant to bridge the gap in the pantry. The boxes contain staple food items like pasta, canned food, peanut butter, juice, and milk.
The program ships out around 6,800 boxes per MONTH, and the distribution is done internally by SeaGate Food Bank and their fleet of vehicles.
The Senior Box Program like almost all of the programs is supported by volunteers, but this program offers a unique team building opportunity for organizations to sign up for. The program works like an assembly line, and the team works to package and prep for shipment all of the boxes of food. By working together the volunteers are able to get a large amount of these boxes packaged and ready for distribution.
The next place we went was the Eat Right Academy. This is where SeaGate Food Bank works with the local community to provide cooking classes. These classes are designed to teach the basics including:
- How to use kitchen appliances (slow cookers, oven, etc…)
- How to cook with what you have
- Kitchen safety
- How to shop smart
They even offer a mommy & me class and have classes that are designed for children so they can be safe in the kitchen. There is also a nursery available for people who wouldn’t be able to attend due to a childcare conflict.
One of the most amazing parts of this program is that the participants get to keep what they use in the classes. This includes the utensils, pots, pans, and even slowcookers!
The Food Bank has seen great success with this program including helping to teach a 46 year old woman from the streets that didn’t know how to use a measuring cup, and a girl that came back after 2 months of graduating the class to show the staff her very own canned pickles. She later went on to graduate from Owen’s Community College with a degree in Culinary Arts.
This was one of the coolest parts of the tour because I like to see intricate operations and well thought out plans. This garden was just awesome! The site is limited on space being in the city, however that didn’t stop them. When you can’t spread out just go up right?!
The garden was laid out to maximize space by going vertical. On top of that the watering is automated, and with the potted plants weeding is kept to a minimum. So far, they have gathered over 3,000 pounds of produce from the garden. The garden is self-sustaining through the sale of produce to local restaurants, and whatever they aren’t able to sell goes over to the Eat Right Academy for use in the cooking classes.
Alis’ Mobile Market & the Gleaner’s Program
This is a mobile food pantry that SeaGate will send out with fresh produce to food desert areas. These are areas where the neighborhood doesn’t have access to nutritious and fresh produce.
The Gleaner’s Program is a coordinated effort with local farmers. When the farmers have an overabundance of produce and can’t harvest, they give the food bank a call. Once the Food Bank gets that call, they mobilize their volunteers to head out into the fields and harvest the available food. Once picked the food is brought back and put into the distribution network.
FIRST – Families In Recovery Sticking Together
FIRST is a program designed to help families that are recovering from substance abuse. Opiates are devastating families everywhere, and by working with the local treatment centers SeaGate can aid those that are actively seeking the road to recovery. Families can come and “grocery shop” free of charge for essential food, baby stuff, toiletries, etc… The program is open on Wednesdays with a referral from one of a handful of local treatment centers
The Rest of the Tour
After going over the various programs we took a tour of the warehouse that supports all these operations. The warehouse has 3 bays used for non-refrigerated food storage. This place is massive. They also have a packaging area that they can use to break down palletized and bulk packed food items. In addition to the warehouse bays they have a large cold storage area, and a huge walk-in freezer.
This was truly an amazing glimpse into their world. The scale of the operation really took me back. To be able to run so many well developed programs and coordinate 4,500 volunteers with only 11 staff members is just incredible. The people we met while on the tour including Rick and Mindy were awesome. You can tell when you’re on site that these people live and breath and love what they do.
I couldn’t be happier with our choice in beneficiary for our next 5k, and I really hope you support us and SeaGate Food Bank by participating!
If you are interested in registering for the 5k you can find the link HERE!
