Tag Archives: second harvest food bank of nwnc

What Percentage of Income is Spent on Childcare When School is Out?; Putting in Some Solid Miles; Support from Phillips Management Group

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Hunger Fact of the Day: During the summer, when school is out, many families struggle to put food on the table because their childcare expenses increase significantly. According to a blog post at Second Harvest Food Bank of NWNC, “American families can expect to spend 20% of their income this summer on childcare. In North Carolina, the cost of childcare is even more burdensome: here, the percent of the median summer income spent on childcare is 22%.”

Today’s sponsor:

PMG Logo

Over the last few years, Phillips Management Group has REALLY stepped up their efforts to support Second Harvest Food Bank of NWNC. In fact, they have won the Piedmont Triad Apartment Association’s Owner’s Cup for raising the most food (per unit) of all the management company members of the association.

Phillips is very active in the community in many other ways, including actively supporting the work of Partners Ending Homelessness, as well as participating in innumerable community service projects in the many cities in which they have property.

They donated enough for a week’s worth of sponsorship and this weekend constituted days 1-3. They provided me with some really nice shirts for the walk, and I’m glad they’re going to let me hold onto them because, as you’ll see from the pictures, they got more than a little sweaty! Much thanks to Maria, Brandon and the entire team at Phillips for supporting the walk (and PTAA’s Food Drive) and for continuing to be leaders in our community!

 

 

Activity Day 53-55: The first day of this leg of the challenge was a Friday and I explored our office park as well as the attached facilities also owned by Highwoods (our landlord). I found some places I’d never come across before in our seven years here, including a pond I had no idea existed. This place really is pretty big so I was able to get in some good miles. Saturday was a walk around the neighborhood and a bit of a break to recover, especially given the heat. Sunday, my better 3/4 went with me to Tanglewood Park in Clemmons and I was able to get in some serious miles there (just shy of 10).

Miles walked/run: 20.10 miles. Here’s the screenshot from my FitBit:

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Miles remaining in challenge: 73.4

Want to donate to support Second Harvest? It’s easy to do right here!

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Right Now You Can Feed Twice as Many People per Dollar; Breaking 100 on a Dark and Stormy Longest Day; Support from ProSource Fitness

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Hunger Fact of the Day:

 

Today’s sponsor:

ProSource Logo

ProSource Fitness Equipment is a very strong supporter of Piedmont Triad Apartment Association (my day job), and their point person in our market, Josh Owen, is an active volunteer who recently won PTAA’s Supplier Vendor Partner of the Year Award. They’re also very involved in the community, including PTAA’s Food Drive.

ProSource is a provider of fitness equipment, both commercial and residential, and I can vouch for them personally because I’ve purchased from them for my home gym and have had nothing but a good experience with the equipment and the company.

They donated enough for a week’s worth of sponsorship and Sunday was Day 3. It’s appropriate that they are sponsoring my first walk back home since they sponsored my first day in Utah. Much thanks to Josh and the team at ProSource Fitness for supporting the walk (and PTAA’s Food Drive) and for continuing to be leaders in our community!

Activity Day 52: For this walk I enjoyed the company of my better 3/4, my partner in crime, Celeste Lowder. We took advantage of the summer solstice and milked every minute of the longest day for this walk. Our timing was impeccable because halfway through the walk some thunderstorms rolled in so we had to boogie to get the miles in before the lightning started to get too close for comfort. Gotta say it’s a lot more fun having Celeste with me on these walks and I’m hoping she’ll join me for more. And hey, if you feel like going for a walk with me just give me a shout and maybe we can make it happen. The more the merrier!

Finally, we reached another milestone: less than 100 miles left for me to make the 367 challenge goal!

Miles walked/run: 7.06 miles. Here’s the screenshot from my FitBit:

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Miles remaining in challenge: 93.5

Want to donate to support Second Harvest? It’s easy to do right here!

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LGBT People are Disproportionately Food Insecure; Encounters with Urban Wildlife; Support from Crescent Rotary Club

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Hunger Fact of the Day:

 

Sponsor for Days 49-51:

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I’m a proud member of Crescent Rotary Club in Greensboro and am most appreciative of their support for this walk (especially the support of “Mr. Rotary” Patrick Eakes. Crescent has about 80 members and those members are all extremely active in supporting the community, through volunteer hours and through financial support via the Crescent Rotary Club Foundation and the Rotary International Foundation.

I’ll highlight just two of Crescent’s many activities this year. First, the club worked with Second Harvest to support the Community Cupboard at the East Market Seventh Day Adventist Church in Greensboro. The club’s foundation donated $4,000 to help purchase new equipment and club members volunteered to help serve food to members of the community who were impacted by the tornado that hit East Greensboro in April. Crescent Rotary Club Foundation also donated $20,000 to the fund established by the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro to help immediately re-house those who were displaced by the tornado.

If you’re in Greensboro I highly recommend checking out Crescent – it’s a great place to find like-minded business people who are all about serving their community.

Activity Day 49-51: The walk on day 49 was a trip. First, I stepped right over a black snake that I thought was a stick until I saw it slithering away right AFTER I’d just stepped over it. Then about five minutes later and just a couple of blocks away, a very large owl flew out of a tree and directly in front of me before perching itself on the house I was walking by. The combination of those two events had my heart rate WAY more elevated than it normally would have been. Luckily days 50 and 51 had no drama because this old man can only take so much.

Miles walked/run: 15.28 miles. Here are the screenshots from my FitBit:

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Miles remaining in challenge: 100.56

Want to donate to support Second Harvest? It’s easy to do right here!

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15 States With Highest Rate of Food Insecurity; Walking in Winston Again; Support from ProSource Fitness

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Hunger Fact of the Day:

15 States

Today’s sponsor:

ProSource Logo

ProSource Fitness Equipment is a very strong supporter of Piedmont Triad Apartment Association (my day job), and their point person in our market, Josh Owen, is an active volunteer who recently won PTAA’s Supplier Vendor Partner of the Year Award. They’re also very involved in the community, including PTAA’s Food Drive.

ProSource is a provider of fitness equipment, both commercial and residential, and I can vouch for them personally because I’ve purchased from them for my home gym and have had nothing but a good experience with the equipment and the company.

They donated enough for a week’s worth of sponsorship and Sunday was Day 3. It’s appropriate that they are sponsoring my first walk back home since they sponsored my first day in Utah. Much thanks to Josh and the team at ProSource Fitness for supporting the walk (and PTAA’s Food Drive) and for continuing to be leaders in our community!

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Activity Day 48: Sunday was the first day back in Winston-Salem after 8 days on the road in Utah and California. Was nice to walk around my normal stomping grounds although I would prefer to have San Diego’s sunny, dry and mid-70s weather. Didn’t miss the 90 degrees + 800% humidity:)

Miles walked/run: 5.06 miles. Here’s the screenshot from my FitBit:

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Miles remaining in challenge: 115.84

Want to donate to support Second Harvest? It’s easy to do right here!

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Hunger Fact About Food Waste; Walks Move from Zion National Park to San Diego for Apartmentalize; Support from Blue Ridge Companies

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Hunger Fact of the Day:

40% of food produced in the United States goes to waste. Source

The week’s sponsor:

BRC logo

Blue Ridge Companies truly sets a high standard with it comes to corporate social responsibility. Without much fanfare, they support an array of charitable groups and causes in communities throughout this region and the country.  In addition to their incredible, long-term support of Second Harvest Food Bank of NWNC every year, they also do an amazing job of supporting Toys for Tots, and for stepping up to support almost any community service project you can think of.  They’ve won the Piedmont Triad Apartment Association’s Owners Cup Challenge – a competition between management companies to see which can raise the most food/money during its annual food drive – that at one point we joked about renaming it the Blue Ridge Cup.

Blue Ridge has also stepped up to the plate to support all of my stunts meant to raise funds during PTAA’s Annual Food Drive. It began with a jump into one of their community pools wearing nothing but a bathing suit, high heels, a pink tutu, a tiara and their slogan painted on my back. From there it progressed to a dance video (that hopefully will never be seen again) and now includes this walk.

They donated enough for a week’s worth of sponsorship and requested the week that I would be in San Diego for the National Apartment Association’s #Apartmentalize Conference. The week began last Sunday (June 10) in Zion National Park in Utah, then on Monday, I flew to San Diego and spent the rest of the week in San Diego before heading home late Saturday (June 16).

Much thanks to everyone at Blue Ridge for their always-awesome support!

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Activity Days 41 – 47: An incredible week that began with a day of hiking in the unbelievably spectacular Zion National Park in Utah on Sunday. Then I flew to San Diego to spend the week attending the Apartmentalize Conference, and as you likely know “conferencing” includes lots of walking!

Miles walked/run: 36.12 miles. Here’s a collage of screenshots from my FitBit for the week:

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Miles remaining in the challenge: 120.90

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Midnight Walker

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Activity Day 10: Had a busy day and had to squeeze in a neighborhood walk between 10:45 and midnight on Thursday night. Definition of “Just Do It.”

Miles walked/run: 5.57 miles. Here’s the screenshot from my FitBit:

Miles remaining in challenge: 312.2. Now ahead of pace!

Today’s sponsor: Piedmont Triad Apartment Association Food Drive. I’m very proud to work for an organization that has dedicated itself to helping address fundamental issues like food insecurity in our community.

Smacking Balls

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Day 9 of Virtual Walk Around the Triad to Benefit Second Harvest

Activity Day 9: Spent 90 minutes at Taylor Tennis Center hitting with my buddy Tyler. Learned that it’s a very good thing I don’t get paid to play because I’d have to return the money.

Miles walked/run: 6.13 miles. Here’s the screenshot from my FitBit:

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Miles remaining in challenge: 317.77. Continued making up ground from the shortages of Week 1.

Today’s sponsor: Piedmont Triad Apartment Association Food Drive. I’m very proud to work for an organization that has dedicated itself to helping address fundamental issues like food insecurity in our community.

Another Day in the Neighborhood

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Day 8 of Virtual Walk Around the Triad to Benefit Second Harvest

Activity Day 8: Squeezed in a late night walk around the neighborhood. It ain’t exotic, but it’s effective.

Miles walked/run: 6.23 miles. Here’s the screenshot from my FitBit:

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Miles remaining in challenge: 323.90. Made a good start to the second week of the challenge, especially since I fell just short of the daily average of 5.4 miles I needed during Week 1.

Today’s sponsor: Piedmont Triad Apartment Association Food Drive. I’m very proud to work for an organization that has dedicated itself to helping address fundamental issues like food insecurity in our community.

Movin’ on Up

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Days 7 of Virtual Walk Around the Triad to Benefit Second Harvest

Activity Day 7: So that weekend house-move in Florida that I missed came to me. Spent last evening moving boxes, furniture, etc. and running around in general.

Miles walked/run: 4.22 miles. Here’s the screenshot from my FitBit:

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Miles remaining in challenge: 330.13. My first week I averaged 5.26 miles/day, which is a little behind the pace I need to make my goal. Time to ramp it up!

Today’s sponsor: Crescent Rotary Club (via my contribution. The members of this club do a tremendous amount of good for our community.

Recovery and Usefulness

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Days 6 of Virtual Walk Around the Triad to Benefit Second Harvest

Activity Day 6: After the 12+ miles on Day 5 the old legs needed a day to recover, so I spent it working around the house and yard. Just doing that I still managed to get a few miles in.

Miles walked/run: 3.07 miles. Here’s the screenshot from my FitBit:

Miles remaining in challenge: 334.35

Today’s sponsor: Crescent Rotary Club (via my contribution). The members of this club do a tremendous amount of good for our community.