January brought change on so many levels. Your support of No More Empty Pots pushed us to a whole new level of engagement and change in the community. No More Empty Pots is growing to serve more people and expand our program services, building out the strategic plan and strengthening our capacity to serve.
With your help, we are bringing on more hands-on engagement with intergenerational audiences: an art and food project with youth two elementary schools; healthy cooking and snack demonstrations with teen parents for themselves and their children; and an expanded CSA and community garden on the North Omaha Intergenerational Human Services campus in collaboration with several organizations including Heartland Family Service and Big Mama’s Catering.
With the announcement of a generous $300,000 grant from Weitz Family Foundation, the food hub is becoming a reality. The groundbreaking on January 21 brought out new and longtime program participants, friends, and supporters; some of whom will be the first customers of the shared use and culinary training commercial kitchens under construction during Phase 1. Check out Erin Grace‘s informative and magnificent article on the food hub. To learn more about the food hub and its phases, click here.
Talented and smart graduate students and professionals from University of Nebraska-Omaha and Contemporary Analysis are donating their time and expertise to develop five data driven and food culture focused projects. The products of their efforts will be shared with our partners and the larger community to help maximize and leverage our abundant community resources for even more impactful programs and services.
And if that were not enough, we just experienced an incredible evening of generosity hosted by Anthony and Sara DeMars Cerasoli with their family and friends. From the delectable pheasant donated by two of the nicest guys and expertly prepared by Sara with talented young chefs, superb on-theme natural crafts, and the most heartfelt comments I have ever heard from a mom and chef grasping what it means for kids to be hungry in our community. You will hear more about the Pheasant Phry evening soon. Anthony and Sara know how to multiply a gift!
Then after 14 years at Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands and five years volunteering at No More Empty Pots, I am honored to accept a full-time position as President/CEO, joining Susan and Shelby as Director of Operations and Community Development Manager, respectively. We are excited to announce more staff joining us over the next few weeks.
Looking forward to everyday that we get to work together to make this a better community for everyone.
See you soon!
It was so lovely meeting you on Saturday! How lucky we were to get seated at your table. 🙂 Who knew pheasant could taste so good?
Cheers to Sara and Anthony – what a wonderful evening for a great cause. Looking forward to your growth and development in the community.
Thank you so much Anne! It was a pleasure for us too. Your husband did a great job hunting. 🙂 Absolutely, cheers to Sara and Anthony! Top ten night for No More Empty Pots. We want to be sure to thank each of the guests so look for something more from us soon. Have a great weekend!
PS: We had to change our domain name so our website address and email addresses are changing to http://www.nmepomaha.org. Thanks! nw
Truly excited for No More Empty Pots and the impact they will continue to have in the future of our community. What a remarkable team to continue to grow the anti-hunger collaboration and building sustainable growing methods.
Thank you Tammy! It is because of the dedication and support of people like you that No More Empty Pots is able to do this work at this scale. Cheers!