New Opportunities in the New Year

Fighting Hunger with Friends: Neighborhood Builders Award

With the holiday season in our rearview mirror, our thoughts and efforts turn toward new aspirations and, dare we say, resolutions for the New Year. There is hope and promise to fine tune objectives, revisit missed opportunities, and even toss out some less than great ideas. Enthusiasm for what is possible abounds.

Table to Table is thrilled to have met our 2016 goal of 16 million meals and we are rolling up our sleeves and eager to get started to achieve 17 million meals in 2017. Working to address the problem of hunger for our neighbors in the Northern New Jersey counties we serve motivates us to get up and out at 5 am each day to pick up nutritious food from our donors and deliver it to neighborhood agencies and churches where it is needed the most.

We’re also excited to be entering a new era as our founder reinforces her commitment to Table to Table by taking a Vice President position on our Board of Directors while stepping away from day to day operations. We are growing and changing by the moment – new voices, new trucks, more recipients – over 100 now – and great partners like Bank of America and its Neighborhood Builders Award to make it all happen.

As stated by Ilene Isaacs, Executive Director of Table to Table, “this Neighborhood Builders Award could not be timelier and there could be no better partner than Bank of America.  Through Neighborhood Builders, our organization will be given the opportunity to transition strategically, creating an even stronger and more effective program.  Everyone at Table to Table is committed to benefitting from every aspect of the program’s training and resources, enabling us to uphold our long term vow to be this area’s reliable source of fresh, nutritious food.

Through Neighborhood Builders, Bank of America honors its commitment to local communities to be a neighborhood bank invested in their needs and in moving the community forward. Since 2004, their Neighborhood Builders Award has endowed nonprofits to help them create greater impact and prepare for the future through an investment that awards $200,000 along with leadership training for nearly 100 partner organizations, nation-wide, each year. This year, Table to Table is proud to be a recipient of this award.

It’s easy to throw money at a problem and, to some extent, it does keep the wheels on the road.  But Bank of America recognizes that more is needed, so has created a program that backs the unrestricted funds up with leadership training. We cannot sum it up better than they do on their website, which states that  “Neighborhood Builders seeks to foster success throughout the communities Bank of America serves, helps nonprofits create greater community impact and better prepare for the future by providing the tools and resources they need to develop stronger strategic plans, chart a succession plan, navigate through tough economic times, and enhance their funding opportunities.”

Through at least three sessions, held around the country over the course of 2017, topics that present challenges to the nonprofit sector will be presented and discussed in formal and informal workshops. Leaders from all organizations who’ve received the award attend and benefit from networking, informal sharing of ideas and experiences, sharing from Neighborhood Builders Alumni and formal presentations such as access to capital, legacy planning, leadership development, and the nonprofit environment in current political climates.

The New Year promises to be an exciting one at Table to Table. Keep up with us here and through our social media as we travel on our Neighborhood Builders journey!