Neighborly News: Good News for Good Neighbors

A Note from the Executive Director:

Greetings Good Neighbors,

I am so delighted to welcome you to our new and improved quarterly newsletter! As I approach my second anniversary as Executive Director of Good Neighbors, I am so inspired to see how far we’ve come since reopening our doors in 2022, and recognize how much work we still need to do to make sure everyone in our community has access to healthy food. This newsletter will keep us connected and will help you stay informed about what is happening at Good Neighbors and the impact you are having on your community by being a Good Neighbor.

Exciting News!

Good Neighbors Expands our Reach with Acquisition of Bread of Life Pantry in Rumford

Partnering for Good

Working Together: Did you know we partner with Feast and Fettle? This collaboration provides our community with over 1,500 pounds of fresh produce each month and minimizes unnecessary food waste. Check out this short video from Feast and Fettle to learn more about this inspiring initiative:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/uqtg25fKJuLCosFD/?mibextid=qDwCgo

Pints With Purpose: Good Neighbors partnered with The Guild in Warren as a featured non-profit for Pints with Purpose in the month of May. Each month, the Guild creates a new beer for a local non-profit and a percentage of the proceeds made from that beer are donated to that organization. We even had the opportunity to name the beer. In true Good Neighbors fashion, took submissions from our volunteers and then every volunteer had the opportunity to vote on their favorite name. The winning name: Good Neighbeer! On the night our partnership kicked off, Good Neighbors hosted an event at The Guild: a volunteer meet and greet. This was the first time that both our Rumford and Riverside volunteers had an opportunity to get together. Over 70 volunteers came out and the night was a lot of fun for everyone. We are so thankful to the Guild, and can’t wait to partner again next year!

Good Neighbors in the Community

RI Half Marathon: Good Neighbors was selected to be the benefitting charity of the RI Half Marathon that took place on May 19th in East Providence. As a volunteer driven organization, we thought it fitting that we would volunteer at the Marathon to show our appreciation to the runners for their donations. What we didn’t realize is how much fun it would be! Good Neighbors volunteers and board members put on our bright yellow t-shirts and orange sunglasses and spent the morning handing our water to the dedicated runners. We are so thankful to have been discovered by Run Rhody and hope to keep this partnership going for years to come.

Community Partnership Award: Good Neighbors is honored to be the recipient of the 2024 Community Partnership Award from the RI Community Food Bank. This award is given out to an organization that has created a sense of community and belonging of everyone, who has partnered collaboratively with the food bank, and who works consistently, using thoughtful and innovative approaches to make sure the needs of their community are met. We were nominated by RI Community Food Bank CEO Andrew Schiff, as he noted a major factor in us receiving this honor was because of our new satellite location being born out of a collaboration with Bread of Life Pantry to sustain an operation that has been serving the community effectively for such a long time. Community partnership and collaboration is at the heart of many of our initiatives, including our partnership with the RI Community Food Bank and we are so proud to receive this esteemed award from such a highly regarded organization that works so diligently to end hunger in Rhode Island.

Community Flower Garden: Good Neighbors was fortunate enough to receive a grant through Bloom RI to turn our community produce garden, which became difficult to upkeep, into a beautiful and flourishing community flower garden. Over the summer, community members will be invited to enjoy the garden and pick bouquets of flowers. We will also hand out flowers to our kitchen and pantry guests to brighten their day. A huge thank you goes out to Good Neighbors Keith Daniel and Joseph Mushipi for getting the garden started. We can’t wait to see it in full bloom!

Good Neighbor Spotlight

Meet the Kitchen Crew Doing Double Duty! While every day our community kitchen crews work hard to cook up a healthy and delicious lunch for our guests, a few members of our Friday team take it to another level. Once we re-opened our doors in 2022 for lunch, many clients and volunteers asked about the possibility of serving breakfast again. Last summer, our Friday Bingo Breakfast was born. Roland, Don and Paul have volunteered to cook both breakfast and lunch each Friday. Why? Because they are rockstars! Each week, this team shows up at 7:30am and gets crackin’ (literally…eggs are almost always part of breakfast). Breakfast is served by 9:30am and even before then, lunch is getting started. With the help of the Friday lunch crew members, the quality of the meal is never compromised just because they have taken on more work. Fridays are a popular day here; not only do guests get a hearty breakfast and lunch, along with a few fun rounds of BINGO, but the vibe in the dining room is also bustling and the energy is welcoming and comfortable. The teamwork and dedication shown by these three, and all of our volunteers, is a hallmark of how our programs operate. We could not do this work without our Good Neighbors. Roland, Don and Paul will be participating in the All Fired Up! Cook-Off fundraiser on December 7th and we can’t wait to see what their team comes up with!

Get Involved

Volunteers Needed! We are just starting to plan for our All Fired Up! Community Kitchen Cook-Off Annual Fundraiser event and we need your help! We are currently recruiting for our event committee. If you enjoy event planning and helping your community, this is a great opportunity for you!

If you or anyone you know is interested in joining our volunteer community, please click here to learn more: https://www.goodneighborsri.org/volunteer

Summer Appeal!

Check your mailboxes! Good Neighbors recently sent out Summer Appeal Letters to our generous and supportive community. This giving campaign is focused specifically on raising the funds needed to support our Food for Kids program. This program provides additional, kid-friendly and healthy breakfast, lunch and snack items for families with school-aged children during the summer, when the cost of food rises as kids are home for the break. You can help our youngest neighbors enjoy summer a little more by contributing to this program today!

Donate Now

Save the Date! All Fired Up

Summer Recipe

YIELDS:10 - 12 serving(s)
PREP TIME:10 mins
TOTAL TIME: 15 mins
Ingredients
- 1/2tsp. kosher salt, plus more for pasta water
- 1lb. bow tie pasta
- 11/2c. frozen peas
- 1/2c. mayonnaise
- 1/2c. sour cream or Greek yogurt
- 1/4c. olive oil
- 1/4c. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 3Tbsp. yellow mustard
- 2Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1tsp. honey
- 1/2tsp. ground black pepper
- 1/2lb. deli ham, cubed
- 1/2lb. cheddar cheese, cubed
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 4 green onions, sliced thin
Directions
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 1 minute longer than package directions. In the last minute of cooking, add the peas to the boiling water with the pasta. Drain, rinse with cold water, and let cool.
2. In a very large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, oil, parsley, mustard, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper until well combined. Fold in the pasta, peas, ham, cheese, bell pepper, and green onion.
3. Cover and refrigerate until ready to eat.

Closing Remarks

As we wrap up this first edition of our quarterly newsletter, we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our supporters, volunteers, and partners. Your unwavering commitment to our mission of providing food and hope to your community is truly inspiring.

Together, we have made a significant impact, but our journey is far from over. We encourage you to stay involved, spread the word, and continue to support our efforts. Every contribution, no matter how small, helps us move closer to Rhode Island where no one goes hungry.

Thank you for being a part of our community and for your continued dedication. We look forward to sharing more successes and updates with you in the next issue.

Kindest regards,

Kate Mushipi