Round up Question About Hurricanes

[Intrepid_Chef]

Today's Newswire raised more questions than answers.

Our hearts and prayers go out to those impacted by the devastation caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike. And because of your participation in our Round-Up From the Heart® program this past year, The Pampered Chef® will be sending nearly $23,000 this week to the nine food banks directly affected by the hurricanes. And more than $47,000 in checks will be sent out this week to the 13 food banks providing secondary support.

The question is ... where are those food banks??

I know many places have been affected more than us ...HOWEVER ... that said ... even we residents in Ohio have been affected by power outages due to Ike. Even people I've talked to in Michigan and Canada have been affected, and we are so far from the epicenter it's not even funny. Many people lost power for days. Imagine being without power for a week ... what would happen to your perishable foods? And people in rural areas didn't even have water for drinking, cleaning or even more basic needs, because their power runs their wells.

Fortunately, I only lost cable for a week ... but my heart goes out to residents who lost power. I'd like to tell my customers that Pampered Chef provided aid in their area, but only if that is true!

 

[KellyTheChef]

I wondered about this too, Di. I have always mentioned at my shows that moneies raised in this area/county STAYED in our county to feed those in need HERE.

Do they have some percentage earmarked for emergencies like this?

Don't get me wrong (and I know this isn't what you are saying either!) those who were in the direct path definately NEED the help, so I am not begrudging it...just wondering how and who makes the decision to move the money elsewhere.

Many in our area (I live close to Di) were without power, water, or anything for a WEEK and lost all of their refrig/frozen foods.

 

[pamperedlinda]

I thought the same thing Kelly. I'm curious too.

 

[tlag1986]

They must have some money allotted for emergencies just like this one. Like you have already stated the round up money is to stay in our local food pantries. If this isn't the case it may be more difficult to get people to donate anything.

I certainly don't want to see that. We have a huge need all around us with the price of gas and utilities is only going to grow over the winter months. Our economy is not the best right now and many people who are having difficulty now will not be able to continue.

We need to pray for our economy!!!!

 

[pamperedlinda]

I'm curious so I called HO. A supervisor is going to call me back.

What I'm thinking is that all Round-Up money stays in our community and the $2.00 from Trivet sales goes into a general Round-Up account. I'll let ya'll know what they tell me.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

I, too, know that people on the coast deserve so much more help than we could ever provide.

I'm just curious ... I got the impression that this was a special, one-time gift for those food pantries.

Of course ... at the food pantry where I volunteer, perishible foods are at a minimum ... but the money that people save on non-perishibles helps them save money and food stamps that they can invest in things like milk and eggs.

 

[IAmChefJ]

I read it that this was check distribution time... and the money raised was going to these food banks, but probably... a food bank in Oregon was also getting their check this week.

I'm probably wrong, but it just illustrates how vagueness can lead to wrong impressions. As a writer, I'd have expected some verbage that gave some specific info about an earmarked fund, or a specific dollar amount if it was an extra special gift. (Like "in addition to the annual contributions each food bank receives yada yada yada we will be sending $5,000 money from the PC Emergency Fund..."

Perhaps a Co-ordinator can tell us if this is the time of year that checks get sent out.

Will be curious to hear the answer.

 

[pamperedlinda]

They haven't called me back yet. I was on a call with Dawn Price (Sales Leader at HO) yesterday and she didn't have an answer for it either. I'll post when I hear back from them.

 

[pamperedlinda]

Here's the info from CC:

Round-Up from the Heart® Campaign

The Pampered Chef® realizes that its shared mealtime mission is not a reality for all people. With a desire to set a place at the table for everyone, our Round-Up from the Heart® campaign encourages Cooking Show guests to "round-up" their product orders to the nearest dollar or more. Funds are distributed to Feeding America, formerly America’s Second Harvest, and are used in the community where the donations originated — making Round-Up from the Heart® a national campaign with a local impact. The company also introduces limited edition products to support the campaign and donates $2 for each trivet sold directly to Feeding America. The Pampered Chef's Round-Up from the Heart® is the longest running charitable program with Feeding America.


So:
Customer donations stay in our area
Trivet sales go into a general fund

 

[tlag1986]

Thanks for the info Linda. I am glad you called.

 

[pamperedlinda]

Thanks for the info Linda. I am glad you called.

Had I read the info on CC I would not have needed to call- turns out, many of the CS reps at HO hadn't read the info either so we all learned something.