VOLUNTEER NEWS June 2021 - Hill Country Community ...
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
VOLUNTEER NEWS
June 2021
Visit our website!
EXCITING STAFF UPDATES!!
Message from the Executive Director:
Hello HCCM Fans! We have LOTS of anniversaries
to celebrate! First, our Director of Operations (Kandy
Chimento) has been with HCCM 11 years (June
1st). Tara Reeves (Front Desk) celebrated 2 years in
May. Gene Krider (Director of Community
Engagement) celebrated his first year with HCCM
back in March. Linda Farmer (Administrative
Assistant) celebrates her first year TODAY (June
2nd). And, lastly, Patricia (Trish) Baggett (Thrift Store Manager) celebrates her 1
year on June 4th. If you have time, please stop by and say THANK YOU to our
small but mighty staff and congratulate them on their HCCM Anniversaries. We
have an AMAZING team and definitely can’t do this without YOU and
them! Some other news I want to share, Jennifer Searight (ReThink Hunger
Program Manager) recently turned in her resignation. June 30th will be her last
day. Jen’s better half has received an amazing job opportunity in Seattle, WA. So
they, along with Titan (their rescue dog), will be moving in the near future to start
a new adventure. For those who know Jen, she was hired through a grant we
received from Central Texas Food Bank. She started with HCCM in January 2018
to oversee and expand our Fresh Food For All program. When Jen was hired, we
had 3 ½ distribution sites. Today, Jen runs 8 distribution sites (Leander, Cedar
Park, two ACC campuses, NW Austin, Granger & Florence) as well as 4 drop sites
(Head Start Schools, Acts of Love and Samaritan Health). Jen was diligent about
collecting data, doing surveys and providing reports to the executive director as
well as our funding and foundation partners. Jen loves research. More
importantly, Jen is extremely passionate about food insecurity. On average, each
one of her distribution sites serves over 100 families with FRESH produce. That
is a total of 700-800 families served every month. On top of expanding our FFFA
program, Jen worked with Kandy Chimento, rescuing more food, ordering and
taking food inventory, to make sure our clients received more healthy
options. And…. She loved to provide information and resources to our clients,
even coming up with recipes (like applesauce with beets… SUPER YUMMY!) to
help our clients make healthy meals. I constantly receives RAVE reviews, phone
calls and emails from our FFFA volunteers about how hard Jen works and how
much they love her. Jen is going to be missed dearly by our HCCM
family! Please wish her and David MUCH success as they venture off the next
few months, creating a new life in the northwest.
With gratitude,
Tiesa
JUNE SUNSHINE AWARD!
Congratulations to our June Sunshine
Award winner, Chloe Preece! Chloe
has been volunteering her with her
mom, Tonya, since she was 14 years
old. Chloe has been an amazing
volunteer and has demonstrated a
heart of service and compassion in
helping those in need.
Chloe is a 2021 Rouse High School
graduate. She’s a member of NHS and
National Technical Honor Society. She
earned Adobe Professional certification
in Visual Design through her focus on
art, including graphic design and
animation. She plans to attend the
School of the Art Institute in Chicago
(SAIC) in the fall.
Congratulations and Best wishes to
you, Chloe! We appreciate your years
of service to HCCM and are excited for
your future!!
Join us in celebrating Chloe!
Event Updates
11th Annual HEB Million Dollar Charity Golf Tournament
We just wrapped up our 11th annual
HEB Million Dollar Charity Golf
Tournament benefiting Hill Country
Community Ministries (HCCM). This
year’s tournament was our best
ever! We SOLD OUT!! We had a
128 golfers and a lineup of some
amazing sponsors!
The weather was spectacular, much
cooler than the 103 degree
temperatures at last year’s event
and we received so many great
comments about this year’s
event! We were happy to be back at
HCCM Staff at the Event
Crystal Falls Golf Course as Grant
and the team are awesome to work
with!
What makes our tournament a
Million Dollar Charity Event you may
be asking? At our event we draw 10
names from the field of players and
those lucky players get 1 shot at a
hole in one for a Million Dollar Prize!
We raised over $46,000 this year
surpassing last year’s event! That is
the equivalent of 27,800 pounds of
food or 23,175 meals. We are so
thankful to all of our sponsors,
players and local businesses and
Volunteers for their support this year
in making our event such a huge
success!
4 feet from 1 Million Dollars!
Dream Dinners Fundraiser - THIS WEEK!!
We have partnered with Dream Dinners in North Austin, (12129 Ranch Rd
620, Austin TX 78750) in hosting a fundraiser. Dream Dinners has created
a menu for our event and when you order (3) meals for $50 from the
fundraiser menu, HCCM receives $10! Each meal feeds 2 - 3 people. You
can order any time before June 4 th. The pick-up date for your order will be
on June 5th after 2 pm. Orders must be placed through the HCCM fundraiser
page on the Dream Dinners website.
Click here to access the fundraiser menu. Make Dinner easy at your house
while helping us provide meals for others.
Spirit Night at Smokey Mo's
Mark your Calendar to join us at
Smokey Mo’s in Leander (11880 Hero
Way, Leander, TX 78641) on Tuesday June 22nd! Come out and have some some delicious barbecue from 4pm to 8pm and a percentage of the proceeds goes to HCCM! The more BBQ you enjoy the more $$$ HCCM earns! You can even order online for pick up! Be sure and tell them it’s for the HCCM fundraiser for your order to count towards our event!! Share with your neighbors and friends! Everyone wins! Follow us on Facebook for details and updates. LACES FOR LEANDER Laces for Leander is one of our most rewarding events! Our Laces for Leander provides new name brand athletic shoes to students in the local school district. Unfortunately we were unable to host it last year but we are excited to announce that planning for this year’s event is underway and we are excited! Currently the event is scheduled for July 31st! We are partnering with Toyota of Cedar Park to host our "Stuff the Truck" event! This year, through monetary donations, shoe drives and support from local businesses we are expecting to help nearly 800 students receive a new pair of shoes. If you are interested in volunteering for, or supporting our Laces event, please email gene.krider@hccm.org or call me at 512-259-0360, x209. VOLUNTEER TRAINING The June volunteer training will be held Tuesday, June 15, from 12pm-1pm. Please contact Kandy at kandy.chimento@hccm.org to RSVP. This is mandatory for new volunteers, but also can be a refresher or question and answer time for any current volunteers. Please plan to attend (and RSVP) if you have not had one-on-one training with Kandy or if you have any questions regarding HCCM policies and procedures. We will limit the class to eight people. VOLUNTEER BADGES REDUX We have not been purposeful about our volunteer badges for the past year. It’s always helpful for us get to know one another when we have our badges on. So
please wear your badges again when you arrive. It’s best to leave them here in
the boxes so you don’t forget them at home. If you have not yet received a badge
or would like a new picture, please see Linda the next time you are here.
FRESH FOOD FOR ALL
Austin Community College is hosting
Fresh Food For All distributions again! On
the 3 rd Tuesday, we’re at ACC San
Gabriel.
Help is super welcome - we’re at both
spots from 10:30 to 2 (the distribution
starts at 12). We do it drive-thru style—
clients stay in the car, we load them up,
and we send them on their way! This is a
fun way to get outside and feed a LOT of
folks. If you want to join the fun, email Jen
at jennifer.searight@hccm.org!
MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE
If you are interested in any of these positions,
please contact Kandy at kandy.chimento@hccm.org.
Photography: We are planning to update our HCCM staff photos for our
website. If there is a volunteer out there who has some skill with photography and
would like to help us out, please let us know!
Thrift Store: Volunteers are needed to receive and sort donations. The shifts
currently needed are afternoon shifts (3pm-6pm) and Saturdays. Call Trish, the
Thrift Store Manager, at 512-334-6464 or sign-up here.
Food Pantry: Food Pantry volunteers fill orders, pack produce, stock shelves, and
receive donations. Monday morning, Monday afternoon, Wednesday morning and
Friday afternoon shifts are available.
Food Pickup: Volunteers are needed to pick up donations at local retail stores in
the morning. We have several openings available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
HCCM Garden: We are looking for people for help water the garden.This could be
done any time of day, once a week. Email HCCMgarden@gmail.com for more
information.
SUMMER FAN DRIVE
HCCM is again a distribution center for the summer
Fan Drive with Family Eldercare. Fans are available
for families with individuals over 55, disabled, or
with minor children who meet the financial
qualifications.
We will be offering fans to our clients and others in
the community throughout the summer.
HCCM CLOSURE
HCCM will be closed on Monday, July
5, in honor of Independence Day
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
The following volunteers have birthdays in June!
Have a wonderful birthday!
Patti Mosser - Food Pantry
Sharla Marks - Food Pantry
Victoria Pilsner - Retail Pickup
Eileen Saidi - Retail Pickup
Tim Freehill - Retail Pickup & Thrift Store
BK Kharel - Food Pantry
Kasey Kharel - Food Pantry
THANK YOU TO OUR NEW VOLUNTEERS!
The following volunteers started in May 2021.
Mike Finke – Food Pantry
Nancy Killian - Food pantry & Thrift Store
Angie Vokt - Food Pantry
Jim Ash - Retail Pickup
Plus, 21 new volunteers at the thrift store!
HILL COUNTRY COMMUNITY MINISTRIES
FOLLOW US
You can also read
