by admin on January 14, 2010
Did you know….Freshwise Kitchen has a new home!
As of this week, the crew has settled into their new Foodlink family facility at the site of the old Pepsi Bottling Plant downtown.
Though this move was done during the inconvenience of sleet and snow there are a few key benefits of this move. Foodlink and Freshwise are now going to be housed under one roof! This allows for a better operational flow so that both organizations can be as efficient as possible.
The new site is closer to inner city after school programs – who receive our nutritious Kids Cafe meals every weekday. Logistically, being closer to our delivery sites reduces travel time which in turn will allow us to sign-up and deliver to more sites and provide many more children with fresh, local, nutritious meals.
In our new layout, we have the room to expand upon our ever growing number of children served. Currently, we are serving 2,300 nutritious meals daily. With our new facility, we have the space to expand to 6,000+ meals per day!
With both Foodlink and Freshwise being housed under one roof, we are able to eliminate the cost of renting a separate facility to accommodate the needs of our rapidly growing Freshwise kitchen operations. In addition, Freshwise will also benefit from the sustainable improvements that Foodlink has built into their plans for renovating the facility to suit their needs.
Kitchen Manager, Dave Ward is excited about their new home, and the opportunities that it will bring:
“This is a giant leap forward for child nutrition, our capabilities are endless! We are closer to reaching our target and goal of ending childhood hunger – while raising the bar on nutrition. With our new facility and the progress we have made thus far I have no doubt that we will eventually set the standard for child nutrition in Upstate New York”.
All in all, we could not be more excited for what the future holds for Foodlink and Freshwise as a whole. A new home, a fresh take on all things sustainable, and an opportunity to grow and enhance our operations to benefit the community we serve!
by admin on January 14, 2010
Foodlink is very thankful to Mayor Duffy and the City of Rochester’s support as we launch the Pound for Pound Challenge. The Challenge runs from January to May and is an opportunity for community members to achieve their wellness goals while helping to end hunger locally. To participate, visit the website, www.pfpchallenge.com to pledge your weight loss. For every pound you pledge, 14 cents (equivalent to the cost of 1 pound of food) will be donated to Foodlink by Feeding America and General Mills. Foodlink services 10 counties across central NY, including: Allegany, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming, and Yates. Individuals across Foodlink’s 10 country service area are encouraged to participate in the Challenge and pledge!
Foodlink would like to encourage organizations and nonprofit groups to leverage the Pound for Pound Challenge as part of their long-term wellness initiatives. Foodlink will provide a small grant award at the end of the challenge in May to three organizations that are able to incorporate the Challenge into long-term sustainable wellness programming. Foodlink would also like to encourage residence of the City of Rochester to visit their local libraries to access information about healthy lifestyles and wellness, and access the internet to pledge weight loss.
If you have signed up and pledged pounds, let us know your story by emailing us or joining our facebook group at Foodlink’s Pound for Pound Challenge . We are looking forward to hearing about your success story! Over the course of the Challenge you can make small changes to your lifestyle to help you achieve your wellness goals. Consider taking the stairs when possible, having a fruit instead of chips or chocolate, reducing your serving size, joining a local recreation center, or taking a 30 minute walk at the start or end of your day! These small lifestyle changes can make a permanent difference. We will be posting health tips, exercising ideas and nutritous recipes to keep you as well as us motivated!
Since the challenged launched over 15,000 pounds have been pledged by over 500 people across our service area! We are third in NY State! Thank you to all of you who have taken the Challenge! Together we can build a healthy community!
