i stumbled across this organization when looking for volunteer work during darker days. First Born is run by people who go to a church together, but independent of the actual church... complicated subject that is not the purpose of this post. basically, my pictures were taken for the group's presentation at a sponser banquet. what they do is put together boxes of food to be donated to low-/no- income people in the area with diabetes.
quick lowdown: the South is full of people with diabetes. it's also very rural, so travel is a factor for the poor. food products for a diabetic diet are often more expensive or hard to come by. i mean, these people have all sorts of foot problems, so it's not like they can go out and tend their own expansive garden. First Born Community Development Center has a very well-orchestrated program for helping these people.
first, the food is not just canned goods from door-to-door donations. there are plenty of those, but there are also heaping palettes straight from a warehouse, in addition to several 50lb bags of onions and truckloads of cabbagge. local grocery stores give them meat that is pushing expiration dates in order to be frozen and distributed. my guess is that companies benefit from donating food products and that's how First Born can afford to supply food for almost 300 people a month. like most other non-profit stuff, they also get props for gearing towards people with a disadvantage. hence, they receive grant money from our local (and substantial hospital). the end result is a box with well-rounded canned food, juice, grains, sugar-free sodas, fresh produce and bread, a dozen eggs, a gallon of milk and a bag of frozen meats every month. that is the start that so many people can't afford. some are shipped out to remote areas, but the majority are given out on a first-come/first-serve basis requiring registered eligibility. the paperwork is a necessity for record and adds a level of fairness in distribution, since there is obviously not enough for everyone.
i am very impressed with how many bases they have covered in this game. i'm sure most people don't consider the magnitude of what the organization does and how well-thought through their strategy is. when i was done filling my hours of community service, i just kept going over there. it may not be as often, but it helps just to have me spend an hour a day sorting out their massive amounts of random donations or reorganizing their mess of filing cabinets. that evolved into me taking photos for them. i hope my photos chip off a piece of the iceberg that is big enough to be of interest. please, please, please click on the images to see the entire album. the people running First Born are good people to the core and do nothing but work hard to spread their service.
quick lowdown: the South is full of people with diabetes. it's also very rural, so travel is a factor for the poor. food products for a diabetic diet are often more expensive or hard to come by. i mean, these people have all sorts of foot problems, so it's not like they can go out and tend their own expansive garden. First Born Community Development Center has a very well-orchestrated program for helping these people.
first, the food is not just canned goods from door-to-door donations. there are plenty of those, but there are also heaping palettes straight from a warehouse, in addition to several 50lb bags of onions and truckloads of cabbagge. local grocery stores give them meat that is pushing expiration dates in order to be frozen and distributed. my guess is that companies benefit from donating food products and that's how First Born can afford to supply food for almost 300 people a month. like most other non-profit stuff, they also get props for gearing towards people with a disadvantage. hence, they receive grant money from our local (and substantial hospital). the end result is a box with well-rounded canned food, juice, grains, sugar-free sodas, fresh produce and bread, a dozen eggs, a gallon of milk and a bag of frozen meats every month. that is the start that so many people can't afford. some are shipped out to remote areas, but the majority are given out on a first-come/first-serve basis requiring registered eligibility. the paperwork is a necessity for record and adds a level of fairness in distribution, since there is obviously not enough for everyone.
i am very impressed with how many bases they have covered in this game. i'm sure most people don't consider the magnitude of what the organization does and how well-thought through their strategy is. when i was done filling my hours of community service, i just kept going over there. it may not be as often, but it helps just to have me spend an hour a day sorting out their massive amounts of random donations or reorganizing their mess of filing cabinets. that evolved into me taking photos for them. i hope my photos chip off a piece of the iceberg that is big enough to be of interest. please, please, please click on the images to see the entire album. the people running First Born are good people to the core and do nothing but work hard to spread their service.
i'm back to contributing small piddilly stuff until they need me for something bigger. i would love to see First Born have a webpage and if anyone is interested in designing one, please let me know. that will be my next personal project, pending my inability at finding them someone much better than me. =)
No comments:
Post a Comment