We’re hosting our third “Bags of Groceries” campaign for the 120 refugee families in PORCH’s Food for Families program. We’re asking shoppers to help us raise funds to provide a week’s worth of fresh food for these families each month for a year. WSM turns each $30 “bag” of groceries donated into a 40-pound box of fresh vegetables, fruit, and eggs.
Because our shoppers donated the fresh produce and eggs, PORCH has been able to provide whole chickens, milk, and rice for the refugee families. PORCH organizer Debbie Horwitz reports that because of our campaigns PORCH has increased the number of families in their Food for Families program from 270 to 350 in two years. The program now provides a week’s worth of groceries once a month for over 1,560 individuals.
100% of your donations purchase food for PORCH’s families.
The Story of PORCH’s Refugee Families from Burma
PORCH shared with us some of the story surrounding the refugee families and their unique needs:
All the refugees are from Burma. We do not refer to them as Burmese because they are not all considered Burmese ethnically and prefer to be referred to by their individual ethnic identities. We have families from many different backgrounds including Burmese, Karen, and Chin, but there are several others represented as well.
All of these families have come to this country within the past 10 years, but the majority are more recent immigrants. All have official refugee status granted by the US because of their persecution in Burma. Many have become US citizens, and all of them have one working adult in their families. They work in jobs at UNC housekeeping, local restaurants and hotels, and other places. The biggest challenge for most is the language barrier, which explains why they end up in low-paying jobs. However, they take advantage of ESL classes and many of their children end up in college.
PORCH started serving the families from Burma after learning that they do not typically attend local food pantries, mostly because of their diet. They are accustomed to eating (and growing) fruits and vegetables and do not use our typical nonperishable American foods. PORCH started serving this population in March of 2010 with 12 refugee families. PORCH has added 20 refugee families since our campaign started.
The “Bags of Groceries” campaign runs from March 1 to 14.