BritVil Community Food Pantry

Meals For Minds

clotheshorseok — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:27:24 +0000

How did you start the school day as a child? A bowl of cereal? Or maybe a piece of toast while flying out the door to catch the school bus? No matter what helped you start the school day, this food ensured that you’d stay alert and focused during class. Sadly, many children do not have this same jump-start to their day. With food and energy prices rising and staggering unemployment many families are struggling to provide meals.

According to Share Our Strength’s 2009 Hunger in America’s Classroom Teacher Report, 62% of teachers said that students come to school hungry each week because they are not getting enough to eat at home.

To help feed these hungry school children, Target has just launched a partnership with Feeding America and local food pantries, like BritVil, called “Meals for Minds”. BritVil has recently partnered with Target to deliver each month 22 pounds of food per student to a local Oklahoma elementary school. Each student will be able to take their food home and help feed themselves and their families.

Help us carry on this amazing mission of keeping kids full and focused on school by donating to BritVil! Go to Helpbritvil.com and click on Donate!

One in every five Oklahoma children lives in poverty and is at risk of going to bed hungry.

How You Can Help

clotheshorseok — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:22:30 +0000

It’s finally fall! Things are buzzing around the pantry and we have noticed an uptick in the number of clients coming to the pantry seeking help after a long, hot summer of paying large electric bills and buying school supplies. Our families meager budgets are squeezed even tighter than normal.

How can you help?

Along with financial donations, BritVil also takes food donations. Clean out your pantry or throw in a few extra items for BritVil the next time you are at the grocery store. Food items can be donated to our location Mondays-Fridays 9:00 am – 11:00 am, at 8717 N Western, OKC OK 73114. All food items must be unopened and sealed.

A list of items BritVil always needs:

Peanut Butter

Canned Meat (tuna or chicken)

Hamburger Helper

Meat-Based Soup

Canned Juices

Canned Fruits and Vegetables

Pasta, Dry Beans, Rice

Cake Mixes

Boxed Jell-O or Pudding

Cereal

Cookies, Chips, Crackers

Also Hygiene Products are always in demand:

Toothpaste, Tooth Brushes

Deodorant, Soap, Lotion

Feminine Hygiene

Laundry Detergent

You can also make an online donation via PayPal on our website, helpbritvil.com!

Raising The Roof

clotheshorseok — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:01:46 +0000

After extensive planning, fundraising and breaking ground, BritVil is “Raising The Roof” on our new home. The concrete pad has been poured, the steel frame is erected and the parking lot is paved. Our expected date of completion is August 1st. Thank You to all who have supported this dream!

Record Number of Kids Facing a Summer of Hunger

clotheshorseok — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:39:15 +0000

1 in every 5 children is at risk of going hungry in Oklahoma. Through no fault of their own, thousands of children in our community simply don’t get enough to eat – especially with no school meals during the summer months or in the evenings after school. A whole summer, or even just a night without proper nutrition, can be devastating for a child’s academic success. Please help us this summer keep our families well stocked with groceries to get through the summer months!

June, July and August are some of our busiest months due to families struggling to feed their kids without school provided breakfasts and lunches. AOL News recently wrote an article about this growing problem across the country. To learn more about this problem click here to read the AOL News story and to help keep kids from facing a summer of hunger please consider donating online at www.helpbritvil.com.

Friend Us

clotheshorseok — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:41:28 +0000

The BritVil Community Food Pantry is now on Facebook! If you have a Facebook account you can become a fan by searching for BritVil Community Food Pantry. You will get up to date info on all the interesting works at the pantry as well as be able to share your own stories and ideas. Also don’t forget to visit our website www.helpbritvil.com.

Breaking Ground

clotheshorseok — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:25:33 +0000

It is hard to imagine but after many months (and years) of planning, praying and fundraising BritVil is well on it’s way to building our new home! Last week we celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony surrounded by board members, volunteers, employees and members of our supporting churches. Dirt work has begun on our new site at 87th and N Western and we will keep you updated on the construction progress via this blog and our website www.helpbritvil.com. We still have fundraising goals to reach to help fill the building with equipment and food so please consider donating to this great cause. You can donate online via Paypal at www.helpbritvil.com.

It’s Turkey Time

clotheshorseok — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:11:09 +0000

Happy November! It is hard to imagine that November is here and the holidays are just around the corner. While many families are stocking their kitchens for the holidays there are people worried about how they are even going to feed their families.

Last year, the average cost of holiday meal including turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie, potatoes, peas and bread cost an average of $44.61. Every year, BritVil tries to provide our needy families a holiday dinner complete with a turkey, pie and all the trimmings. We have already starting buying turkeys!

Please join us in bringing food and joy to a needy family by donating $50 to cover the cost of an entire meal. The more meals we can serve the more holiday joy we can spread! You can donate online via paypal at www.helpbritvil.com.

My First Memory of BritVil

clotheshorseok — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:35:39 +0000

I began volunteering at BritVil in February, after being on the board for two years. I really did not know what to expect on my first day; I had never volunteered before and I was anxious and excited to meet all the volunteers and clients. One of the first things that struck me as wonderful was when all the volunteers gathered around in a circle before the pantry opened and we all held hands and conducted a prayer circle. It was full of such warmth, caring and life.

Then I got to go and start interviewing clients that came into the pantry for their monthly supply of food. I really had no idea what kind of people I was about to meet, I had never known anyone who had come to a food pantry for help and I had often heard that only lazy people or gang members visit them. But boy was that wrong, I have met all kinds of wonderful people who are struggling and need help but they are all just people, like you and me. Throughout this blog I will document some of the interesting people and stories that make up the BritVil food pantry.

One of the first interesting people I met was an older gentleman who when I called his name he got up slowly and painfully from his chair and limped into my interview with a radiant smile on his face. Besides the smile he had a kind, wrinkled face that looked like it has seen a lot, good and bad.

We made small talk while I pulled up his information in the computer and when I asked to see his id (something we do in every client interview) he passed me his passport. I was a bit taken aback, we usually only see driver’s licenses, he said he did not have an id but would his passport work. He then looked at me and smiled and said “I just got back from Puerto Rico”.

I could feel the passport in my hands was ragged and worn smooth from years of travel and use. I began to flip through it noticing page after page filled with stamps from all over the world. Curiosity got the better of me and I asked “how have you traveled to all these places”. He said that he has hitchhiked and worked his way around the world. He said he would hitchhike to port cities and then offer to work on the ships doing odd jobs in exchange for passage to whatever city they were going too. He would then get off the ship and do odd jobs working here and there throughout the new city until he was ready to move on. He said he was ready to come back home to Oklahoma City for awhile. He also went on to explain that he was a Vietnam Veteran. I knew that he probably had never quite recovered from what he had lived through and probably never really fit back in to society.

What struck me was that he was a very interesting man who had an amazing life story to tell and right then and there I knew that we were really helping people, of all kinds.