Wow – SOOOO much has gone on over the past few weeks!!  Here’s a quick recap, along with some exciting announcements…

Our annual Pass-Along Party happened the week before Christmas, and was better than ever!  We had about 45 individuals get a fantastic assortment of gifts (yes, we ended up with PLENTY!!), the facility was awesome (thanks to The Tribune), and we got a nice write-up in the Ames Patch.

This year’s Christmas Day Meal was another massive success.  The food was exceptional (and there was a LOT of it!!), and we served around 300 people!  We had plenty of volunteers, including some who spent so many hours that no one will ever know about.  Kudos to Chef Chris Martin and everyone who sacrificed their time for this important event, which made the front page of the Ames Tribune.

We also kicked off our “Friends of Food at First” Drive a few weeks ago.  You’ll be hearing more about, it, but if you haven’t already become a Friend of Food At First, we hope you’ll consider doing so.

By the way, we’ve been receiving reports that our emails are not going out in a timely manner, so we’ll be switching to a different mechanism for sending them out in the future.  Sorry for any hassles that this may have caused.

Finally, and MOST exciting of all, Food At First has a new Coordinator!  Candy Hay had served the program with inimitable style for a year, but moved down south a few months ago.  After a great deal of searching, and with almost 20 candidates to consider, we finally selected our new Coordinator.  Her name is Tasha Pettit, and if you haven’t already met her, you probably will soon!  You can email her at tasha@foodatfirst.com to welcome her or ask her any questions.

So yeah, it’s been a pretty busy time for Food At First.  I (Scott) am humbled by the quality of people who are associated with the program (yep, I’m talkin’ about YOU!), and profoundly thankful for the impact that we’re able to have on those who are struggling more than you probably can imagine, right down the street in beloved Ames, IA.  We look forward to seeing you in the kitchen, or at the market, sometime soon!