Today Scentsy launched its 2011 Giveback Campaign called “Halt the Hunger.” Scentsy owners Heidi and Orville Thompson have pledged to match every new cash donation to The Idaho Foodbank up to $300,000 in the month of August. The goal of the campaign is to raise $600,000 or the equivalent of 1.8 million meals for Idahoans who are food insecure. To learn more, please visit www.haltthehunger.com.





By Karen Vauk, CEO, The Idaho Foodbank

We received this email recently at The Idaho Foodbank:

I live in Eagle. Where do I go to participate in your services? My wife and I are unemployed. When we were working we have always supported the Idaho Food Bank. Our church youth group and boy scouts have worked at your warehouse sorting food.

Here at The Idaho Foodbank, we have watched with alarm over the past few years as many people who used to donate to us have been hit by the recession and found themselves needing our help. Overall, the sheer number of people who depend on us has grown at an alarmingly fast rate, while it has become harder and harder to find enough food for them.

(Idaho Foodbank warehouse runs low on food during summer months)

 

 We know that at least 236,000 Idahoans (1 in 6) are not sure of their food supply and 66,600 of them are children.

That is why Scentsy’s Halt the Hunger campaign could not have come at a better time.

Nationwide, the food bank industry is changing. Large food manufacturers and processors, which have been a vital source of food for many years, have become more efficient and as a result are donating less. Yet thousands of Idaho families are enduring some of the worst economic times in decades and need that food.

 As Idaho’s largest provider of free emergency food, our mission is to find the food and get it distributed, either directly through our Mobile Pantries or Backpack Program, or through our partnerships with 230 nonprofit partners across the state.

 -  In fiscal 2011, the Foodbank distributed a record 10.6 million pounds of food. This is a 19% increase from 2010 and a 93% increase since 2008.

 -  During fiscal 2011, the Foodbank network and its various programs served an average of 104,000 hungry Idahoans per month.

Despite these increases, our partners tell us they are not able to keep up with the need. Many are seeing double-digit growth in the number of people who come to their doors. In too many cases, they can’t get these families all the food they need because we don’t have enough to give our partners.

Clearly, we have to do more, regardless of how difficult the economic climate is.

To have Scentsy come forward with this campaign – not just a donation of $300,000 but a campaign to double that – means more than we can say. It is the largest non-capital campaign in our 27-year history. And because the Foodbank operates at such an efficient level, we will be able to provide as many as 1.8 million meals for our friends and neighbors.

On behalf of everyone at The Idaho Foodbank, our partner nonprofits, our hundreds of volunteers and the thousands of families, children and seniors we serve, I offer our deepest thanks. It has been wonderful to work with Scentsy, and I hope this relationship continues for many years.