Volunteer this summer!

With the summer months approaching, CCMI is in need of additional volunteers to help feed our area's hungry and homeless. We are encouraging you to not only volunteer yourself but to make an even bigger impact by creating a team of volunteers. Get your family, friends, neighbors or co-workers together to form a volunteer team this summer and help CCMI fight hunger!

This is a great opportunity for students (16+), who are on summer break, to learn about volunteering and giving back to the community. You can volunteer at both the Fort Myers and Cape Coral locations.

Volunteer Team:

• Create a team of 10 people who wish to make a difference in our community.
• Contact Lisa Cronin at (239) 332-0441 to schedule your day of volunteering at the Everyday Café of your choice.
• Arrive at either 5:30 a.m. or 8:30 a.m., wear proper clothing (see dress code) and get ready to fight hunger!
• Your team will be preparing food, serving the hungry and homeless, and cleaning up the kitchen.
• Memories will be made, and hearts will be touched!

Race Proceeds to Benefit Local Hungry Children

CCMI has been selected as the benefitting nonprofit for the 2nd annual Galloway Captiva Triathlon to be held on September 15 and 16th, 2012 at South Seas Island Resort.

A portion of the proceeds raised at the event will go towards supporting our School Backpack Program providing emergency food more than 2,000 local children each school year. The program helps reduce child hunger and improves health and academic outcomes providing support for children and families in need.

"The latest numbers show that approximately 85 percent of all children in Lee County Schools are now eligible for free or reduced lunch," said Tracey Galloway, CEO of CCMI. "In the hardest hit areas, as many as 98 percent of children attending school are on free or reduced lunch. Most of these children are going without any food from the time they leave school on Friday until they return on Monday, as well as during school holidays."

Last year, the Captiva Tri raised $6,500 for CCMI. According to race organizers, this year's event will also include the opportunity for participants to donate directly to the backpack program and participate in team fundraising for CCMI.

"We are so pleased to be working with CCMI again," said Certified Race Director Kate Gooderham. "They are a wonderful organization that does such fantastic and needed work in our community and we are excited to be expanding our fundraising efforts for them as a part of this year's event."

"We are always looking for new ways to partner with community groups and special events to spread our mission of being innovators in the fight against hunger and homelessness," said Galloway.

"Experts agree that good nutrition during childhood is critical to a child's ability to learn. Our backpack program supports that goal by addressing one of roadblocks of positive educational outcomes, child hunger."

Galloway Automotive, Southwest Florida's leading automotive organization, is returning as the 2012 title sponsor. They were the title sponsor of the inaugural event in 2011.

The Galloway Captiva Triathlon at South Seas Island Resort is a weekend family, fun and fitness event comprised of two children's triathlons on Sept. 15 (ages 6-9: 100 yard swim, 1.5 mile bike, 0.5 mile run; ages 10-13: 200 yard swim, 3 mile bike, 1 mile run) and an adult sprint length triathlon on Sept. 16 (swim 400 yards [0.25 mile], bike 10 miles, run 3.1 miles [5K].) All events will take place on Captiva Island.

Tracey Galloway Recognized by Gulfshore Business Magazine

Gulfshore Business Magazine named our CEO, Tracey Galloway, as one of 29 Influentials of southwest Florida! Of course we agree. Since beginning as CEO of CCMI in January 2012, Tracey has already spearheaded our largest fundraising event of the year, The Soup Kitchen Benefit, hosted another major special event, Land, Sea, and Air, and been hands on in the day to day activities of CCMI's many programs aimed at ending hunger and homelessness in Lee County. Tracey came to us from Edison State College where she served as Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations. In her 16-year career with the college she served at all program, fundraising and leadership levels within the Foundation. Click on Gulfshore Business to read the entire article.

Donate unused food to the Everyday Cafés and Marketplaces

As Southwest Florida's seasonal residents prepare to head back up north, Community Cooperative Ministries, Inc. is asking that you do not throw away even a can of unused food.

Instead of tossing unused food away, Southwest Florida's visitors and winter residents are encouraged to donate their unused food to our Everyday Cafés and Marketplaces prior to heading home.

"With the summer months approaching and the price of food rising, CCMI could certainly benefit from the departures of seasonal residents as we ask that they donate their unused food to the Everyday Cafés and Marketplaces," said Tracey Galloway, CEO of CCMI.

Non-perishable food donations can be made daily to CCMI's Everyday Cafés and Marketplaces located in Fort Myers at 3429 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. or in Cape Coral at 1105 Cultural Park Blvd. from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

A "wish list" of items requested include cornbread mix, cereal, peanut butter, packaged cookies and snacks, jelly, flavored rice bags and pasta, spaghetti and sauce, macaroni and cheese, ramen noodles, Vienna sausages, Spam, canned meats, pop-top cans of vegetables, chili, meats and fruit, as well as non-food items includinghandheld can openers,Ziploc sandwich bags, diapers, bug spray, sun block and travel-size toiletries.

"We have over 75,000 seasonal residents, said Galloway. "If each one of those individuals dropped off a can of food to the CCMI, we would not be faced with turning people away hungry."

Local Churches Do Their Part to Fight Hunger

CCMI is benefitting from local churches holding food drives at a critical time of need.

Next Level Church located in South Fort Myers held a month long community effort food drive challenge called "Feeding Fort Myers" during the last month which resulted in 39,000 canned food donations as well as monetary donations for CCMI!

"Economic times continue to affect Lee County and we were looking to help those in need," said Morgan Kirk, volunteer at Next Level Church. "Our goal was to have 150 neighborhood or workplace parties to generate dozens of cans at each party for a total of 25,000 cans of food for CCMI. Obviously we exceeded that and are so thankful to everyone who participated."

Next Level Church put a challenge out to their congregation to host parties in their homes with admission charges of canned food. On Saturday and Sunday, March 24 and 25, parishioners dropped off their collections before church services.

"We conduct this food drive each year and as this is our fourth year, we are very pleased with how this challenge has grown for the benefit of those hungry in our community," said
 Gabe Bedenbaugh, director of community outreach for Next Level Church.

"Inventory value on this food is $62,000 or the equivalent to two and a half times our two Fort Myers
Market's budgets combined," said Meghan Madden, food innovation team leader for CCMI.

Madden said this weekend Cape Christian Fellowship is also holding a food drive called "Feeding Cape
Coral" and expects to collect about 25,000 cans for CCMI's Cape Market. Non-perishable food donations can be dropped off at the church located at 2110 Chiquita Boulevard South, Cape Coral on Friday, March 30 before the 6:30 p.m. service or on Sunday, April 1 before the 8:30, 9:45 or 11:15 a.m. services.

"We are really excited to collaborate with CCMI to provide for hungry in Cape Coral that need food," said Chad Woolf, director with Cape Christian Fellowship.

"We are so thankful for this outpouring of support these churches, their parishioners and their friends and neighbors are providing us at such a critical time as we head into the summer months," said Tracey Galloway, CEO of CCMI. "The religious community has always been one of our strongest support systems and we know we could not be providing the services we do to the hungry in our community without them."

CCMI has continued to develop new and innovative ways to fight hunger and homelessness across Southwest Florida. They recently launched the Groceries on Wheels program to deliver food to approximately 40 senior clients currently in the Meals on Wheels program who cannot get to the grocery store or shop for themselves.

"Twenty dollars per month sponsors one senior for groceries for the month and $250 sponsors a senior for a year." said Kelly DeBoy, delivered meals team leader for CCMI.

CCMI to host Mayors For Meals Day on March 20, 2012

Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson will make deliveries to local seniors.

Community Cooperative Ministries, Inc. will be holding Mayors For Meals Day as a part of its March For Meals campaign. Mayor Randy Henderson will be participating in the event to show his support for our community's homebound and hungry seniors.

CCMI's Mayors For Meals Day event on Tuesday, March 20th, will include meals being packed at 7:30 a.m. at the Everyday Café at 3429 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
 in Fort Myers followed by deliveries being made by Mayor Henderson and other Meals On Wheels drivers, including NBC-2 Anchor Len Jennings.

"We are excited about having Mayor Henderson participate in our Mayors for Meals Day event," said Tracey Galloway, CEO of CCMI. "We are at a critical point in needing volunteers to help us pack and deliver meals through the summer months and we are thankful the mayor will be helping us shed light on the need for Meals On Wheels drivers in our community."

Mayors For Meals Day is a component of March For Meals that utilizes the involvement of local Mayors and other local elected officials. March For Meals is a national campaign during the month of March, initiated by the Meals On Wheels Association of America, which seeks to raise awareness of senior hunger and to encourage action on the part of the local community.

This year, Meals On Wheels programs across the country are also celebrating the 40thAnniversary of the inclusion of Senior Nutrition Programs in the Older Americans Act. The OAA is the primary piece of federal legislation that authorizes and supports vital nutrition services, both congregate and Meals On Wheels, to Americans age 60 and older.

"We thank these local leaders for stepping up to the plate and joining our mission to end senior hunger in America by the year 2020," said MOWAA President and CEO Enid Borden. "Meals On Wheels programs are on the front lines of our battle and need support from elected leaders to continue providing the nutritious meals and human contact that our seniors so desperately depend on."

"For many of our senior clients, the delivery they receive from their Meals On Wheels Driver may be the only social interaction they have during the day," said Galloway.

With the help of Florida Gulf Coast University students, CCMI recently introduced the Groceries on Wheels program to deliver groceries to approximately 30 senior clients currently in the Meals on Wheels program who cannot get to the grocery store or shop for themselves. Gulf Coast Village, The Plantation, Forest Park Craft Club, Forest Park Red Hatters, Ruby & Pearls Boutique and Yoga Studio, Copperleaf Country Club and Augusta Village have assisted with fundraisers to support the program. The packaged groceries include peanut butter, jelly, oatmeal, fresh bananas and oranges, canned fruit, canned chicken, applesauce, pudding, vegetables and soup, tuna fish, crackers, granola bars, tea and toiletries.

CCMI Meals on Wheels program is a member of the Meals On Wheels Association of America (MOWAA). MOWAA is the oldest and largest national organization in the United States representing those programs that provide meals to people in need. MOWAA's mission is to end senior hunger by 2020. To obtain more information about MOWAA or to locate a local Meals On Wheels program, visit the MOWAA website at www.mowaa.org.

CCMI's Community Montessori School receives APPLE accreditation

Our Community Montessori School has received the Accredited Professional Preschool Learning Environment accreditation under the Florida Association for Child Care Management.

APPLE is a national early-learning program accreditation. With over 700 accreditation programs and many more engaged in the process, APPLE is accepted into the Gold Seal Quality Care program, which provides additional benefits to childcare facilities such as tax incentives and increased reimbursement for subsidized care.

"We are thrilled to have accomplished this goal," said Cindy Venezia, Montessori directress of CCMI. "Having the accreditation has brought our preschool to a higher level in training the teachers, educating the children and guiding the parents."

The Community Montessori School provides quality early-childhood education as it prepares children for elementary school by focusing on the development of the whole child—physical, social, emotional and cognitive. Its graduates now enter kindergarten at an accelerated level, preparing them for future academic success. Its fully licensed facility is open to the community and offers a premier, affordable pre-school education in a safe environment to families who are committed to their children's learning. Tuition rates are based on the family income.

CCMI will be hosting the first Baby University of 2012 in Fort Myers. The first six-week series will be Baby U at Dunbar. This is a series of parenting workshops promoting healthy pregnancy, healthy children, healthy women and a healthy community. The workshop will be held every Tuesday March 6th- April 10th, 2012 from 5:00pm-8:00pm.

Workshops will be held at The Everyday Cafe at CCMI located at 3429 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd, Fort Myers, FL 33916.

Dinner is included and childcare is available. Space is limited. Register by calling CCMI at 239-332-7687.

Workshop topics include:

Changes in Your Body During Pregnancy

Eating for a Healthy Baby

Building Strong Bonds

Managing the Stresses

Keeping Baby Safe and How Quickly Babies Change.