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Annual Post Office Food Drive Fills Our Pantry Shelves,
Thanks to You!
The Fernandina Beach U.S. Postal Service Letter Carriers "Stamp Out Hunger" Food Drive on May 14 was a huge success. Local carriers collected food donations while delivering the mail to help us provide assistance to our neighbors who are struggling with hunger or food insecurity. In fact, each year the Barnabas Food Pantry provides more than 250,000 pounds of food to individuals and families in Nassau County. So we are very thankful this year's food drive brought in 19,035 pounds of food via 25 trucks.
That's 3,000 pounds more than the previous year!
The postal carriers did the hard work of loading the donated food into their trucks along their mail routes. But unloading, sorting and boxing the food was efficiently handled by 48 Barnabas volunteers. Thank you, postal carriers, volunteers and our generous Nassau County residents for your time, dedication and food donations. Click here to see all the pictures from the food drive.
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Loss of SNAP Benefits in 2016 Expected to Impact Barnabas Food Pantry Demand
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, offers nutrition assistance to millions of eligible, low-income individuals and families and provides economic benefits to communities. SNAP is the largest program in the domestic hunger safety net. However, a recent change in the program will result in more than 500,000 and as many as 1 million of the nation's poorest people losing their SNAP benefits. What does this mean for Nassau County? Currently, more than 40 percent of Barnabas participants receive food stamps and the pending change will most likely have individuals who were receiving SNAP benefits but have had a change to their benefits seek alternative sources for food, including our Barnabas Food Pantry. As we follow this impact on our neighbors, we ask for your support in advance of the projected demand. Your cash donation will help us keep our Food Pantry stocked and ready to help those in need. Thank you for your support. We will keep you updated on this important change affecting Nassau County residents.
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Community Health Fair in West Nassau Delivers Screenings, Lunch, Cooking, Music and More
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 Barnabas hosted a free Community Health Fair at the Northeast Florida Fairgrounds on May 21 for more than 60 West Nassau County attendees who enjoyed the beautiful weather and activities. More than 25 community health partners offered eye screenings, blood pressure screenings, dental health education, exercise and nutrition demonstrations and more. Everyone enjoyed the country music ensemble. And the national championship Callahan High School Cheerleaders performed an original cheer they created just for Barnabas.
Barnabas Chef, Robert Peck's, Cooking Matters booth was very popular with the crowd as he presented ongoing cooking demonstrations. Cooking Matters is a free, six-week hands-on cooking and nutrition course offered at Barnabas. Please see our Calendar of Events for upcoming class dates. Barnabas thanks all the vendors, staff and participants who made our first annual West Nassau Community Health Fair a huge success! Click
here to see all the photos from the event!
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Free Food Distribution Expanded in West Nassau!
 We have expanded our West Nassau food distribution efforts to twice monthly at our Callahan office in partnership with Feeding Northeast Florida. The upcoming dates are June 8 & June 22 and July 13 & July 27, from 1-3 pm at the Barnabas office on 45237 Mickler Street in Callahan. Food will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis. Through these free food efforts in Callahan, we are now able to reach out across Nassau County and make it easier for people in need of food to acquire fresh food. Items will include produce, dairy, meats and more. To learn more about how you can help sort and distribute the food for the West Nassau free food program, please contact Lynne Starling at (904) 261-7000 ext.118 or
[email protected]. For more information about qualifying for food, please contact Phil St. Laurent at (904) 261-7000 ext. 102 or
[email protected].
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Barnabas Welcomes New Intern
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 Join us in welcoming Ann Jean-Baptiste as our first Communications Intern. Ann will be helping the development team with social media, marketing and public relations. She will also be working on business plans for a "Micro-Enterprise" employment project. Ann will be graduating from the University of North Florida this summer, earning her bachelor's degree in business administration. In 2014, she spent a month in Paris with the Coggin Study Abroad Program, focusing on European management and human resources. She also recently completed an internship at the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center.
The Williams White Internship is being financially sponsored by a current Barnabas Board of Directors member.
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Save the Date: Empty Bowls Fundraiser, November 14th
Did you know more than 3,000 children and 10,000 adults in Nassau County experience hunger or food insecurity, meaning they often do not know where their next meal is coming from? That is why the need to keep our programs funded is critically important. To help meet this need, the third annual Barnabas Empty Bowls fundraiser returns to Atlantic Recreation Center on November 14 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. What is Empty Bowls? An empty bowl is a symbol of hunger. In support of our neighbors coping with poverty and hunger, Barnabas is hosting a simple meal of soup, bread and dessert contributed by local businesses. Tickets are $30 and attendees get a free handcrafted bowl to take home as a reminder of all the empty bowls remaining in our community and in the world. The Empty Bowls Luncheon is a great place to begin solving hunger, locally, one bowl at a time. For more information please contact Tania Yount, Chief Development Officer at (904) 261-7000 ext. 107 or
[email protected]
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News To You From New To You!
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Our Red, White & Blue Sale on May 28th brought lots of fun activities & sales to the store. Once again we partnered with our neighbors, Second Chance, for the Saturday event. We were pleased to see so many happy customers. We will be joining Second Chance again in October for our Second Annual Columbus Day Round-up Sale. Save the date: Monday, October 10th!
June promises to be a busy month and we hope you will stop in for some great sales. Don't forget the favorite man in your life as Father's Day is Sunday, June 19. New to You gift certificates make great gifts and are available in any amount. We are also looking forward to our Consignment Crawl and Resale Tour scheduled for Saturday, July 16.
Your donations of gently used clothing, furniture, household goods and bric-a-brac are always welcomed at New to You and help support all the programs at Barnabas that help Nassau County residents in need. Thanks for your continuing support!
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The Gift That Keeps On Giving
 The reality is that too many of our neighbors struggle each day, trying to make a decision about whether to put food on the table, pay the rent or utility bills, or purchase medications or gas for transportation. These individuals and families seek help at Barnabas every day for a range of services--food, emergency rent and utility payments, medical and dental care, and much more. If you would like to help our Nassau County neighbors in need, please consider becoming a monthly donor. By setting up a recurring payment on Barnabas' secure website, much of the hassle is eliminated as there are no checks to mail. A monthly gift allows you to spread the payment across an entire year, lessening the financial impact to you. A recurring donation also helps Barnabas improve its long-range planning and decision making. Please visit Barnabas' secure online donation page to set up your recurring donation today, or click on the "Donate Now" button below to make your secure online donation. Won't you please consider becoming a monthly donor today?
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Help & Hope Report July 2015 - May 2016
*New To You resale store aided 173 households in need of clothing and home goods
* Barnabas helped stabilize 358 households with rent, mortgage and utility
payments and provided 23 bikes through the Bikes for Barnabas program
* Barnabas provided 246,270 pounds of food to 1,971 households
* Barnabas helped 9 households with planting & harvesting in our
community garden
* Barnabas instructed 37 households with cooking & nutrition classes through our Cooking Matters
program
* Barnabas Health Services treated 1,167 patients with medical, dental and mental health services
* Barnabas provided case management and housing assistance to 32 veterans through the SSVF
Grant
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Upcoming Events
June 9th Lunch and Learn- Alzheimers Association: Signs, Symptoms and Services
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Barnabas Conference Room
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June 16th
Barnabas Night at Four Seasons Bistro
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. 474305 West State Road 200, Fernandina Beach
10% of the evening's proceeds benefit Barnabas
November 14
Empty Bowls Luncheon
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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| Barnabas Is Now On Facebook! |
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| Please visit our website at: www.BarnabasNassau.org |
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