By Alicia Altmueller, Weaver Street Market consumer owner and PORCH board member
When I am at the checkout line at Weaver Street Market (WSM) I always look up at the Round Up! campaign sign. I love to see how WSM, nonprofits, and customers come together to raise funds to help the greater community. It amazes me how simply rounding up to the nearest dollar at checkout can add up! Every three months the campaign switches to support another amazing organization. One hundred percent of the funds raised go directly to support and provide fresh and healthy food to community members in need—a very simple reminder of how much can be done when the community works together.
February starts the Round Up! for PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Hillsborough.
PORCH is an all-volunteer, grassroots hunger relief organization. It collects food and cash donations through monthly neighborhood food drives and then distributes food to hundreds of at-risk families and food pantries in our community.
In a certain way, the Round Up! campaign feels similar to how PORCH started. In 2009, three friends decided to ask their friends to help by putting cans of tuna on their porches. Fast forward to today and PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro has provided two million dollars in hunger relief to our communities here in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Orange County. They currently serve 400 public school families (including over 1050 children and 700 adults) through their fresh Food for Families Program; help stock the shelves of 15 local pantries; and deliver healthy snacks to 20 public schools and three after school programs.
PORCH’s model has inspired other communities near and far to grow similar programs.
One such community is Hillsborough. PORCH Hillsborough has been collecting food for pantries and schools since it started in 2010. In partnership with WSM, PORCH Hillsborough is launching a Food for Families program with their first food distribution happening on February 14th. They will be able to provide a box of fresh produce to each of 25 families that have been identified by school social workers as food insecure. The families will come to one of the local elementary schools to pick up their produce from the PORCH volunteers. It is PORCH Hillsborough’s hope to expand the program to more families over time.
As a customer of Weaver Street Market I am happy to have the option to round up to help the community. As a volunteer and board member of PORCH, I am grateful to Weaver Street Market and YOU for making a commitment to help those in need in our communities.
Ways You Can Help:
- Round up at the register when you shop at WSM
- Volunteer with PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro: https://chapelhill.porchcommunities.org/sort-dates/
- Volunteer with PORCH Hillsborough: https://hillsborough.porchcommunities.org/sort-dates/
- Volunteer to help at the next WSM–PORCH produce sort: https://www.weaverstreetmarket.coop/get-involved/volunteer/
- Join PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro for its two million dollar mark celebration and food sort on Monday, 2/12 at 9:00 at St Thomas More Church in Chapel Hill