Welcome to foodraiser.info, the public GitHub repository for information about the Bull City Foodraiser in Durham, North Carolina. It is a perpetual work in progress; if you notice information is missing or outdated, please feel free to use the Issues tab to open a new Issue!
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Food insecurity affects an estimated 17 million households in the United States, including impact 3.3 million children (source). These families are unable to reliably provide enough food for everyone in their household without help from a food pantry or other program.
A patchwork of federal, state, and local food programs help address food insecurity in the community, including dedicated programs focused on after school days, weekends, and the summer break (source).
But in North Carolina, there is no food program to assist with the 2-week winter break each December or the 1-week spring breack each March, when schoolkids are home and unable to rely on school-based food programs. This is the gap the Bull City Foodraiser helps to fill.
The Bull City Foodraiser was created by local elementary school educator Turquoise Parker and her husband Donald in 2015. The family of one of Mrs. Parker's students asked for help with finding food for Thanksgiving. The Parkers realized, after helping that family, that other students were likely facing the same challenges. So the Parkers reached out to their friends to help crowdsource groceries for Turquoise's class to take home for the 2-week winter break, in what began as the Eastway Elementary Food Drive.
[LINK: Learn more about the history of the Bull City Foodraiser (The TODAY Show)]
December 2015: a photo from the first-ever "Foodraiser"
That effort to feed one classroom has grown into what is now the Bull City Foodraiser, a joint project of Mrs. Parker's Professors and the T. Greg Doucette Foundation. We now provide a 5,103 full bags of groceries each December -- one for every single student at each of 12 elementary schools in Durham.
December 2022: volunteers taking a break after a full day of bagging
We can't make this happen each year without the community's support!
- To help the Foodraiser financially, check out our Donate page.
- To volunteer on-site with the 9th Annual Foodraiser, use Ms. Parker's Sign Up Genius page.