By Tizzy Giordano, Weaver Street Market Front End Staff in Carrboro
Hello Weaver Street Family!
My name is Tizzy Giordano, I am one of your friendly Carrboro cashiers and a coordinator of the 2016 Rounding Up For The Holidays campaign. I can’t express how much your outstanding support of this campaign means to me personally. When I was approached to be a coordinator, I was honored. I have fundraised and organized for many non-profits over the last decade, and I knew that this was my chance to help a lot of people in our community.
There are two things that blow me away about the Round Up campaign. The first is inclusiveness. It is such a beautiful thing that our COMMUNITY banded together to make this happen. As of now, we have raised over $35,000 in 27 days. That number seems impossible. How could we raise that much money, so quickly, a few cents at a time? We did it because our incredible customers said “YES!” to “Rounding Up” over SIXTY SIX THOUSAND TIMES in less than a month! Many of you have given once a week, once a day, some multiple times a day… but every single one of you should be so proud of what we have done TOGETHER to fight hunger and malnutrition in our community.
The second thing I love about this campaign is that there is absolutely no overhead. Weaver Street Market is using the money you donated to buy produce, from our local farmers whenever possible, and that produce is going to the neediest people in our community. Period. Having unfortunately worked for several non-profits with questionable donation allocation, this means the world to me. No funny business, just food!
With safety net services disappearing nationally and childhood hunger on the rise, this campaign couldn’t have come at a more pertinent time. But hunger is just one side of the dark face of poverty. Sadly, North Carolina has the 5th highest rates of childhood obesity in the country. Many people don’t understand how hunger and obesity are related. Calories are important in dire hunger situations, but HOW people get these calories is key. Most people who access food pantries are given simple carbohydrates like pasta, rice, juice and canned or processed food laden with high fructose corn syrup. This is why the Round Up Campaign is so important. $35,000 worth of produce will feed a lot of people, but you cannot put a price on the impact this campaign will have on our community.
This winter, we are giving our food-insecure families the OPTION to prepare and feed their children healthy, nutritious food. And we are setting the stage for happier North Carolina kids with healthier eating habits. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU, our Weaver Street Market Family, for supporting food justice in Orange County. Together, we have done an incredible thing.