Needs at Leeds Outreach April 2014

Needs at Leeds Outreach

Friends of Leeds Outreach:

The volunteers at Leeds Outreach are working very hard and putting in extra hours to try to keep enough food in the pantry and to assist the many families in need living in Leeds City Limits. There are ways that you can help do this.

1. During the holidays we received a tremendous amount of food donated. One need during that time (and often) is enough freezer space to store all the donated frozen food in addition to frozen food we are able to buy from the Central Alabama Food Bank (at $ .16 a pound) or sometimes from the Food Bank at 0 cost. We have depended on household freezers donated to us when someone buys a new or larger home freezer. These donated freezers, while very appreciated, may last for several years but many times, because they are so old, only a few weeks or months. We have started a Freezer Fund to buy a larger commercial freezer which with shipping would cost approximately $2500.00. We are asking for extra donations specifically for this cause. We recently reviewed our financial records and found that last year, 98% of every dollar given was spent on client’s needs.

2. Also, even though we received a tremendous amount of food during the holidays, we had large numbers of families visit our pantry during the first 3 months of 2014. We are attaching a copy of our list of foods that we need. We only let clients choose one or two items from several of the food groups we cannot keep on the shelf. We need personal items also. We cannot keep enough clothes detergent, dish detergent, toothpaste and personal items for each family.

Thank you to all of you who donate on a regular basis. Thanks to the church groups that collect food and toiletries. Special thanks to the leaders, children and youth at Valley View Baptist that prepare 80 – 100 ziplock gallon bags with toothpaste, brushes, deodorant, soap, shampoo and other items a couple of times each year to be given to a family. This is a wonderful project that other groups could do for our families that would be very helpful.

If I sent you more than 1 e-mail I apologize.
Barbara Higginbotham, Director, Leeds outreach

Leeds Outreach needs the following items:
1. Self-rising meal, self-rising flour, sugar, (2 & 5 lb bags)
2. Cooking oil and spray.
3. Boxed macaroni and cheese, boxed potatoes
4. Canned meat (Treet or Spam, corned beef, beef stew, chicken, tuna, salmon, ham, etc.)
5. Cereal, oatmeal, grits, pancake mix, syrup, jelly, cereal bars
7. Peanut butter, mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard
8. Saltine, graham and snack crackers.
9. Powdered, shelf life or canned milk.
10. All canned vegetables, soups, spaghetti sauce, pasta
11. Dried beans and peas or canned dried beans and peas.
12. Paper products – toilet tissue, towels, Kleenex.
13. Detergent, dishwashing liquid, bath soap, shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrushes and other personal hygiene items.
14. Bottled or canned fruit juices, tea bags, coffee.

We do not need canned green beans at this time.