Welcome to PORCH Western Wake!

We started as a group of women in Cary who got together every month or so to network, chat and have good old fashioned girl time.

We are all business/working women in one profession or another (lawyer, designer, teacher etc.) that have lived in Cary for a number of years and are all now in our … hmmm… in our … 40s, 50s and 60s! In other words, we are still young, and at the same time we are old enough to know that we still have a lot we CAN and want to do and accomplish.

We first learned of PORCH, www.porchnc.org (People Offering Relief for Chapel Hill Carrboro Homes) and its successes as a grass-roots hunger-relief program in late December, 2010, and within weeks we were talking about and talking through ways to get a similar program started in Cary. What appealed to us immediately was not only the energy and success of the existing PORCH program in Chapel Hill but also the simplicity of the program:

• Participation is easy … on a given date people leave their donations on their front porch for volunteers to collect
• Participation is ongoing … donors can participate every month OR just during the months of their choosing. There’s no pressure, no advance commitment
• The impact is local … all of our donations help individuals and families in the Western Wake Communities of Cary, Apex and Morrisville
• Everyone and Anyone can participate … just like our recipients, donors are not asked about political or religious affiliations. This program is just about those who CAN helping those in need!

So, it seemed like a winning formula to us and one that we couldn’t resist! Six weeks later, we had our first collection and fortunately, our feelings and belief in our neighbors were correct! PORCH-Cary (which soon became PORCH-WesternWake) has been successful from its first month. Not because of us but because of the many giving donors who participate and are helping to spread the word to new donors and new neighborhoods.

Now, as our collections and donor lists grow so do our goals and our commitment. We would love to have volunteers and donors from every neighborhood in Western Wake (Cary, Morrisville, and Apex). We’d love to expand to multiple recipient organizations so that we CAN help as many different local people in need as possible. It’s truly amazing the difference that every CAN of canned food CAN make!

So, please join us and enjoy the great feeling of giving all year long!
We are anxious to have you on board!

How PORCH Works

PORCH is built around the very simple idea of a neighborhood food drive. Here's how it works, in three easy steps:

1. Once a month, on a designated day, residents place a food donation of individual sized-portions on their front porch.
2. A volunteer neighborhood coordinator goes porch to porch and picks up the food donations.
3. The donated food is transported by car to a central location where it is sorted, packed into backpacks, and then delivered to Western Wake Crisis Ministry, USO-NC and National Guard families.

The three-step process is easy and it's also fast. With the help of dedicated volunteers, all the food collected from the many neighborhood food drives moves from porch to pantries and those in need in just a few hours' time.  From there, it goes to children struggling to get enough food to eat.

Donation History

Below are our annual donation totals for past years:

2017: 7,502 lbs (3.75 tons)

2016: 21,010 lbs (10.51 tons)

2015: 36,691 lbs (18.35 tons)

2014: 29,387 lbs (14.69 tons)

2013: 17,423 lbs (8.71 tons)

2012: 17,733 lbs (8.87 tons)

2011: 7,776 lbs (3.89 tons)

And below are our monthly totals for 2016 and 2017:

Date	Weight
May 20, 2017	1510lb
Apr 22, 2017	1593lb
Mar 18, 2017	1184lb
Feb 18, 2017	1718lb
Jan 21, 2017	1497lb
Dec 17, 2016	2464lb
Nov 19, 2016	2080lb
Oct 15, 2016	2352lb
Sep 17, 2016	1446lb
Aug 20, 2016	1595lb
Jul 16, 2016	2036lb
Jun 28, 2016	1005lb
May 21, 2016	1491lb
Apr 16, 2016	1234lb
Mar 19, 2016	1494lb
Feb 20, 2016	2172lb
Jan 16, 2016	1641lb

Participating Neighborhoods

We collect in the following neighborhoods.

If you don't see your neighborhood listed, we would love to add you to our list! Email westernwake@porchcommunities.org for more information.

 

For more information on Neightborhoods or to contact your neighborhood coordination, go to 'Get Involved'.

Partners

Partner Overview

All of these business hold periodic food drives on behalf of PORCH-WesternWake.  If your organization would like to participate monthly, quarterly or even annually please let us know!

Operation Eagle - United Drug Supply

Thank you to United Drug Supply Inc. and Operation Eagle for their support. Operation Eagle is a 501c3 non-profit that started by sending out care packages to our active duty service men & women deployed overseas. We have been trying to get more involved in our community over the past year. Our mission: To do what we can to provide medical supplies to our troops & medical aid workers overseas in care packages due to need or lack of funding.

Orange Theory Fitness

We would like to welcome a new corporate sponsor to PORCH-WesternWake – Orange Theory of Wake Forest and owner Kris Bernecki! They have made 2 cash donations to PORCH so far - a cash donation earmarked for The National Guard Family Boxes; and in the month of June they gave a cash ddonation earmarked for The USO. Stay tuned for details about an upcoming event on September 30th!!!

Campbell University

Campbell University RTP campus.

Burger 21

Burger 21 at 14220 Bradford Green Square, Cary, NC 27519.

National Honors Society

The object of this chapter shall be to create an enthusiasm for Scholarship, to stimulate a
desire to render Service, to promote worthy Leadership, and to encourage the development of
Character in all students at Apex High School

Apex High School National Honors Society

Apex High School National Honor Society

Green Hope High School

Green Hope High School -Teens Feeding Neighbors Club

PPD

 

 

PPD is a leading global contract research organization providing drug discovery, development, lifecycle management and laboratory services. Our clients and partners include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 46 countries and approximately 13,000 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a commitment to quality to help clients and partners accelerate the delivery of safe and effective therapeutics and maximize the returns on their R&D investments.

St. Mary Magdalene

St. Mary Magdalene Catholic School was founded in 2000. We have a 90,000 sq ft facility situated on 32 wooded acres in the beautiful Scotts Mill neighborhood. We are accredited by AdvancEd, the parent organization of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Our teachers are certified by the State of North Carolina.

Glass Plus Inc.

Professional Glass repair in Cary, NC. For over 20 years, Glass Plus has been restoring the function and beauty of residential glass. Whether it’s a window or a door, they can make it whole again.

Be Better Vending

Be Better Vending has more healthy snacks and drinks than any other vending company in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. They deliver great tasting, healthy snacks, beverages and sports nutrition products with the most advanced and reliable, smart vending machines on the market.

DNA Group Inc.

Established in 1987, DNA Group is a locally owned business in Raleigh. Our mission is to provide integrated solutions to our OEM customers through engineering, manufacturing, and logistics services. We service the Smart Grid, Greentech, & Home Appliance Markets, among others. We are committed to giving back to our local community. This year in honor of our 25th anniversary, we have pledged 2500 hours of community service to the local area.

My Soccer Fitness

MSF is a soccer development training program for ages 8 to 18 located in Morrisville, NC.

Moore & Van Allen

Moore & Van Allen is one of largest law firms in the Southeast, advising over half of the NC based Fortune 1000 companies. Outside of the ongoing food drives they host for PORCH-Western Wake, the attorneys at MVA provide sophisticated legal services within their nationally recognized Corporate, Finance, Litigation and IP law practices for national banks & manufacturers, energy leaders, and growing healthcare & technology companies. Learn more about Moore & Van Allen here.

Recipients

Recipient Overview

Currently, all of our donations are allocated between three main recipient organizations:

Western Wake Crisis Ministry - 65%

The Western Wake Crisis Ministry provides assistance in the form of food and/or crisis financial aid to those in the community whose ability to sustain independent living is threatened by unexpected circumstances.

WWCM helps our neighbors in need solely through community donations. Our neighbors include the owner of a tree removal company whose work was affected by drought; the waitress at a local restaurant who was in a car accident; the house painter who is in between jobs; the school bus driver who has an insulin dependent child; the grandmother who cannot make ends meet on a limited social security income; and the manager who was laid off from a large company that was downsizing.

PORCH-WesternWake contributes nonperishable food and personal care items to the WWCM Food Pantry which serves over 350 families (over 1000 people) each month.

Key Benefits of the WWCM Food Pantry:

• Helps clients stretch their monthly food budget
• Helps clients by allowing them extra income to use toward bills
• Helps the community by increasing awareness of food insecurity in our area

WWCM is totally dependent upon community donations such as those collected by PORCH-WesternWake.

www.wwcm.org

The USO-NC (at Raleigh-Durham Airport) - Variable

The United Service Organizations of North Carolina (USO-NC), founded 70 years ago in 1941, is the lead organization charged with supporting military servicemen and women in the state of North Carolina. With seven major military installations, North Carolina has the fourth largest demographic of active and reserve duty components in the country.

With five centers statewide, USO-NC serves an average of 330,000 troops over the course of a year. Two travel-based centers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Raleigh Durham International Airport host an average of 8,750 visitors per month and performed over fifty dignified returns and aided nearly 700 family members of the Fallen by Honors support team.

Statistics suggest that the impact of military deployments on soldiers and their families left behind is undue emotional, psychological and financial stress.  USO-NC is passionately invested in helping to alleviate some of these challenges. This past year, USO-NC supported hundreds of troops with meal needs by hosting local holiday meals, distributing grocery store food cards, and food pantry items – this is where PORCH-WesternWake is able to directly lend a hand!  We support our Troops and want to welcome them home.

http://www.uso-nc.org/our-centers/raleigh-durham-international-airport-center

National Guard Families - 25%

Interact - 10%

InterAct is a private, non-profit, United Way agency that provides safety, support, and awareness to victims and survivors of domestic violence and rape/sexual assault. InterAct fulfills this mission through the support of its volunteers and community. PORCH-WesternWake is proud to be able to provide support to this great organization in the form of monthly food donations.