AOH Divisions to Help Local Food Bank’s

Brothers,
We are calling on all divisions, large and small, to support your local Food Bank’s!

Traditional donations of product to food banks isn’t the best way to help during COVID 19.

DONATIONS OF MONEY OVER PRODUCT WILL BE MORE PRODUCTIVE. Financial donations will get the most bang for your buck as local food banks work with manufacturers, retailers and even farmers to obtain healthy food at the best price.

Q: With schools closed, how are children getting meals?

1: Nearly 55 million students are out of school as districts across the country shut down to curb the spread of COVID-19. And that means millions of children aren’t eating the meals they’d normally have during the day. But food banks have stepped in to fill the gap

. Many are working with schools to offer drive-through distributions, adding mobile pantries and offering expanded to-go meal options for kids and families.

Food Banks depend on food donations from local grocers, retailers, local gardens, food drives and cash donations and from community organizations. This is where our AOH Boards come into the picture. Our motto is Friendship, Unity, and True Christian Charity. It is our duty to step up in this time of emergency to help feed those out of work families. And the out of the school children without the food they miss because their schools are closed during this epidemic.

Brothers, it is our duty to open the check books and help with financial assistance for the Food Banks who have come forward to provide substance to our needy hungry neighbors.
Being Irish, we know from our forefathers the anguish of hunger. Let’s make our hunger donations to your local Food Banks in the memory of the millions who died in Ireland from the potato blight and the greed and indifference of our English landlords.

Share the Hibernian Success Story about your division efforts so others may share in your excellence.

2) Partner with your local school districts and governments to assure the children in your area have access to food outside of the classroom.

Your members are probably scattered all around your local districts. Put them to work. Have them contact the schools and their local government offices, to determine the status of the schools in their jurisdiction. Create a list of the closed schools. Share with your appropriate members who live in or close to those locations.
The government offices should know of any local Food Banks. Any members who reside close to any of the Food Banks, have them contact and if possible, meet with their management, reporting the findings back to your board. The local AOH Board should have a list of the criteria they desire from any Food Bank prior to deciding on a donation.

3) Each AOH Board host a virtual “Food Drive” for your local Food Bank

Hosting a Food Drive for your local Food Bank will require some sensible planning and execution. It will require an available File Server. Your own virtual Food Drive will include customized features:
This full-featured Custom Campaign Manager allows you to quickly create virtually unlimited sponsor-specific virtual Food Drives, allowing you to host corporate challenge fundraising campaigns within minutes.
Your choice of shelf “items” including images, names and prices.
‘Meals Provided” calculation based on your current pounds-per-dollar average.
“Savings” calculation based on your cost versus the donors.
Your Food Bank branding.
Appropriate Background image showing local skyline or geography.
Custom disclaimer and contact information at the bottom of the page.

4) Share the Hibernian Success Story about your division efforts so others may share in your excellence.

Over the years the AOH have recognized outstanding performance by AOH brothers and boards. I know as Hibernians we do not seek rewards for our dedication to the many causes that we undertake. This period in our lives is unique due to the many difficulties to our family, friends and neighbors.

As we step up to help those poor souls who need our assistance, we are just doing what is expected from good Christians. As Hibernians whose ancestors back in the 1800’s in Ireland experienced a catastrophe on a greater scale. The people of the USA were one of the few nations in the world to ship food to Ireland in the hope that it would bring relieve to those starving thousands. While we never forget it, we have the same empathy of our American forefathers to come to the aid of those suffering hunger.

“The Chief source whence the means at our disposal were derived was the munificent bounty of the citizens of the United States. The supplies sent from America to Ireland were on a scale unparalleled in history.”
From – Paddy’s Lament by Thomas Gallagher