From Wal-Mart Store to Family Tables
The New Hampshire Food Bank needs you to help encourage Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club employees to vote for the Food Bank in the 2010 Associate Choice Award!
Employees from all Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores in New Hampshire will have the chance to vote for the charity to win the 2010 Associate Choice Program. The New Hampshire Food Bank was selected as one of the five finalists, and voting continues until August 13th. The winner receives $100,000 to support their mission, and that can provide a lot of food to the more than 400 food agencies throughout the state.
You can help the New Hampshire Food Bank keep it local, from Wal-Mart stores to family tables. The Food Bank supports food pantries and agencies in every New Hampshire community!
Here’s what you can do:
O Encourage any friends or family members who work for Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club to vote for the NH Food Bank
O “Friend” the New Hampshire Food Bank on Facebook
O Post the Food Bank’s homepage as a link to your Facebook or Twitter account
O Visit www.nhfoodbank.org for more information
Good Shepherd Rehabilitation and Nursing Center to be Honored with National Award
Good Shepherd has been recognized as a 2010 recipient of the Bronze - Commitment to Quality National Quality Award presented by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL). The award will be presented to Good Shepherd Rehabilitation & Nursing Center during AHCA/NCAL's 61st Annual Convention and Exposition, October 10-13, 2010 in Long Beach, CA.
"The commitment to quality designated by this award is a key first step to developing systematic, sustainable, person-centered care and services," stated Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. "We congratulate Good Shepherd on this achievement."
Implemented by AHCA/NCAL in 1996, the National Quality Award Program is based on the core values and criteria of the Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award Program. It provides a pathway for providers of long term and post-acute care services to journey toward performance excellence. Facilities begin their quality journey at the Bronze level where they are asked to develop an organizational profile including vision and mission statements, an awareness of their environment and customers' expectations. Bronze applicants are also asked to demonstrate their ability to improve a process. At the Bronze level, formerly known as the Step I Award, applications are reviewed by Examiners who have received special training to qualify as judges for the award program.
Good Shepherd may now move forward in developing approaches and achieving performance levels that meet the criteria required for the Silver - Achievement in Quality award. The final step in the journey is the Gold – Excellence in Quality award which requires them to address the Baldrige Program’s Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence in its entirety.
Running Nuns Launch Into Cyberspace
The running nuns and kids of St. Charles Children’s Home are a familiar sight every day on the streets of Rochester, and now they have decided to take their enthusiasm for running online by launching www.RunningNuns.com. With their blog about running with kids and the new site’s tie-in with social networks Facebook and Twitter, the sisters hope to build an online community of interest around their running program that will inspire more parents to run with their kids.
The new website will continue to supply all the necessary information about the annual Labor Day St. Charles Children’s Home 5k Road Race. It will also include tips for parents who want to begin running with their kids. With the blog and social networking tools, the sisters hope to generate discussions about the benefits of running with kids. They also hope to provide encouragement to anyone who wants to begin running but hasn’t had the courage to try yet.
“When I first started running with the kids the running program had already been in place for a while. The kids were in much better shape that I was! Those first 30 days I took Tylenol every day. I know all about how hard it is to begin running,” said Sister Mary Agnes, the coordinator of the St. Charles Children’s Home 5k.
Sister Maximilian, the founder of the running program at St. Charles, said, “I think one of the most beautiful parts of our running program is that it has inspired many parents to begin running with their kids. We find the afternoon run each day with the kids to be a great opportunity for communication—something that just doesn’t happen as effectively when you are trying to put the evening meal on the table and help them with their homework.”
Founded during the summer of 1996, the running program at St. Charles was developed to help the children cope with the stress and anger often accompanying placement and separation issues. A natural antidepressant, running enables the enhancement of each child’s self esteem. The levels of training and competition vary, depending on each child’s age and ability, up to 4 miles a day, 5 days a week. The children participate in 5k and 8k road races in the Seacoast area.
The St. Charles Children’s Home is a New Hampshire Catholic Charities program. The sisters and children are all avid runners and participate in many road races. For more information on the home please visit www.stcharleshome.org.
NH Food Bank’s Recipe for Success Programs Receive Catholic Charities’ USA Centennial Recognition Award
Congratulations to Recipe for Success! On June 17, 2010, New Hampshire Catholic Charities was honored with the prestigious Catholic Charities’ USA Centennial Award for the Recipe for Success programs in response to their comprehensive and innovative approach to reducing poverty in the community.
The Recipe for Success programs seek to address the root causes of hunger in our community by teaching culinary and job training skills for the unemployed or underemployed; teaching nutrition and budgeting through Operation Frontline; and establishing gardens which, through the help of many volunteers, provide fresh vegetables for our cooking programs.
The innovative programs that won the award were recognized for best practices in Catholic Charities USA’s poverty issue areas: health, housing, hunger, economic security, and education/job training; demonstrate strong work and focus efforts that will inspire others. The $25,000 award allows Recipe for Success to invest further into the development of the programs.
Tom Blonski, President & CEO of New Hampshire Catholic Charities, and Helen Costello, Program Manager for Recipe for Success, were on hand to attend the Leadership Summit and receive the award. There, they were part of a discussion of new and innovative ways to reduce poverty. The hope is that the Recipe for Success Program will be replicated by other non-profit organizations throughout the country.
As New Orleans asks “Who Dat?” Volunteers answer, “Operation Helping Hands.”
