Fill the Bowl

The Big Finish

2010-09-19T15:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an incredible day for hunger relief! Not only did we set a new world record for hunger relief but thanks to the generosity of so many donors, we collected more than 515,000 pounds of food for Western Washington...and had a great time doing it! Here are some videos of the finish line.

In the first video, volunteers and staff were filling the very last bin of food before it was taken over to the scale.

In the next video, we were all adding more food to the last bin right before it was weighed -- and right before the 4:00 deadline! That's Northwest Harvest's executive director Shelley Rotondo announcing the total with Emergency Food Network's executive director Helen McGovern.

And in the final video, Shelley congratulates event coordinator Matt Campbell for his help in organizing the staff for both Northwest Harvest and Emergency Food Network.

WE DID IT!

2010-09-18T16:14:00.000-07:00

In what was undoubtedly the most exciting, nail-biting, last-minute finish ever, we BROKE the Guinness World Record with 515,067 pounds of food shortly before the deadline at 4:00 pm today! Stay tuned for photos and video of the finish! And THANK YOU ALL for helping us make this happen, not only for the record but also to help our neighbors in need across Washington!

Latest Donors

2010-09-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

This morning is getting off to a fantastic start. Seabury School, LDS and the oldest living graduate of Stadium High School (he's 101!) have all stopped by this morning with donations. We're at about 318,000 lbs but need to get to about 510,000 by 4 pm to break the record!

Sunny Day!

2010-09-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

The rain's over and we're about halfway to breaking the current record of 509,000 pounds! Donating is so easy -- traffic's moving and we've got volunteers available to help unload your car. We've got until today at 4:00 pm. Come on by or text "hunger" to 85944 or donate through PayPal at 27138!

Ivar's Donates Half a Semitruck!

2010-09-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

Just learned that Ivar's donated half a truckload of food to help us Fill the Bowl! Thanks, Ivar's!

Bag by bag and truck by truck, we are getting closer and closer to setting a world's record. We'll be out here all night accepting donations -- don't let the rain stop you! The Stadium-Bellarmine game starts in about 45 minutes and will be televised by KING 5. We'll be asking everyone in attendance to TEXT their donation to Fill the Bowl. You can participate, too, by texting "hunger" to 85944. We need $12,000 to buy one semitruck load of food....and we need 25 truckloads to meet our goal of a million pounds of food!

$12,000 for a Truckload of Food

2010-09-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

Financial donations will play as big a role as food donations for this drive, and as you know you can text "hunger" to 85944 to make a gift of $10 or visit Emergency Food Network to make a larger donation if you wish.

Here's some really exciting news -- we just learned that an anonymous donor gave a gift of $12,000 to purchase one full semi-truckload of food!

We'll need 24 more semi-trucks to meet our goal, so keep those bags of food and financial donations coming. We know we can make it with your help!

27 Hours....and Counting!

2010-09-16T13:05:00.000-07:00

It's almost here...our record-breaking food drive that will put Western Washington -- and our hunger relief efforts -- on the map! We hope you'll be joining us tomorrow up through Saturday at 4:00 pm to help us shatter the current Guinness World Record. Take pictures and video and post to our Facebook fan page!

If you can't make it to the Bowl but still want to have fun and help fill it, Whole Foods in Interbay is hosting a Beer 'n Burgers party on Saturday, September 18 from 12-3 pm with donations going to Fill the Bowl!

Farelli's Pizza Offers a Great Deal!

2010-09-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

Pizza sounds SOOOO good right now! And Farelli's Pizza is going to make it happen for us. Today and Thursday, they'll be offering a special for anyone making a donation to Fill the Bowl -- a FREE 1-topping 12" pizza with the purchase of any 16" specialty pizza.

Thanks, Farelli's, for helping us break the record while enjoying your fabulous pizza!

Use PayPal to Donate to FTB!

2010-09-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

Looking for an easy way to donate to help us Fill the Bowl and SHATTER the Guinness World record?

You can text "hunger" to 85944 to donate $10 toward food that will be purchased and delivered in REAL TIME to count towards the total.
Or you can make a larger contribution towards the total at www.efoodnet.org.

Either way, you're making a big difference for our neighbors in need throughout Western Washington!

Special Events During FTB!

2010-09-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

As we start to really get into gear for this weekend, we have a few more announcements!

First, movies are being shown in the Stadium Bowl from 10:00 pm until 2:00 am. We'll be watching a few classics: 10 Things I Hate About You -- part of which was filmed in the Bowl as well as other locations in Tacoma and Seattle -- and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Of course, when we're not watching movies and waiting for you to show up, we'll be unloading donations from other donors!

Should you find yourself dozing off late night after the movies wrap up, never fear. The Pancake Breakfast starts at 8:00 am and goes until 11:00 am or until they run out of pancakes. But don't eat too much, otherwise you might embarress yourself during the military agility tests in the stadium.

At 2:30 on Saturday, more festivities are underway as the official 100th Anniversary of the Bowl program kicks off with former Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma. And part of that celebration will include the announcement of how -- thanks to you! -- we set a new Guinness World Record for the most pounds of food collected during a 24-hour period in one location!

Red Cross at FTB

2010-09-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to the American Red Cross Mount Rainier Chapter in Tacoma for providing 5 cots and a volunteer and staff rest area for Fill the Bowl!

Text Your Donation!

2010-09-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

Don't forget that you can text your donation (in $10 increments) to Fill the Bowl by texting the word HUNGER to 85944! We'll also be accepting cash and credit cards at the event.

Football in the Bowl

2010-09-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

If you've been following our event schedule for this weekend's massive food drive, you'll see that Bellarmine High School plays Stadium High School Friday night in the Bowl. The teams are currently in the lead to have the game televised, which would be great promotion for Fill the Bowl!

We need all the votes we can get to mnake this happen! Vote now on KING 5's web site and remember -- you can vote as many times as you wish! The more times you vote, the more likely it is we'll receive game coverage.

Latest updates from the game: Marv Harshman, former UW basketball coach, will be there for the ceremonial coin toss and the football will be brought in by parachuters!

Volunteers Needed!

2010-09-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone -- we could really use additional volunteers for Fill the Bowl! Please contact stephanied@northwestharvest.org if you can help.

Friday, September 17: 61 more volunteers needed!

3pm to 6pm - 28 more needed

5:30pm – 8:30pm – 26 more needed

11pm – 2am – 3 more needed

Saturday, September 18: 137 more this date

2am – 5am – 10 more needed

3:30 AM – 6:30 AM 13 more needed

6am – 9am – 34 more needed

8:30 am – 11:30 am – 31 more needed (this is where we need the most help due to timing and numbers needed)

11am – 2pm – 25 more needed

1pm – 4pm needs 15 more

Coastal Harvest Collecting at Various Locations

2010-09-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

Coastal Harvest in Hoquiam partners with Emergency Food Network and Northwest Harvest to provide more and better quality food to the communities they serve. The Coastal Harvest truck will be out and about this week and next collecting food at various locations to support our attempt at a Guinness World Record!

Thursday, Sept. 9 - Westport, Red Apple Market, - 4-7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 10 - Ocean Shores, location TBA- 4-7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 11 -Hoquiam, Swanson's, 1-4 PM, hosted by the Boy Scouts of America
Sunday, Sept. 12 - Montesano Thriftway - 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. hosted by the Montesano Kiwanis
Monday, Sept. 13 - South Bend, Pioneer Grocery - 4-7 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 14 - Raymond Everybody's - 4 -7 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 15 -Elma, Everybody's- 4-7 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 16 - Aberdeen, Top Foods- 4-7 p.m.

For more information, contact Coastal Harvest at (360)532-6315.

How YOUR Business Can Help

2010-09-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Multicare in Puyallup is hosting a huge internal food drive to help us Fill the Bowl. Their participation is greatly appreciated! MultiCare is also participating in our "text-to-give" program. If your business wants to do the same and track donations made in your name, here's how to do it:

Text "hunger" to 85944 to donate $10 to purchase food to be delivered the day of the event. If you text "hunger [company/group name]" to 85944, we can track how much your office or group raises for the record and we will report your success! i.e.: “hunger windermere” or “hunger Toyota” or “hunger Seattle Mariners”

QueenBee Coupons To the Rescue!

2010-09-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

Are you interested in donating AND saving money at the same time? Who isn't? Thanks to Heather at QueenBeeCoupons, you're in luck. She will set you up with the latest deals on non-perishable items in the area.

She's also hoping to have a booth at the event, so stop by and say hello!

University of Washington Helps Fill the Bowl

2010-09-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Facilities Services Department at the University of Washington in Seattle is hosting a food drive on campus to help us "fill the bowl" -- and they're planning to bring their UW vans to the Stadium Bowl to drop off the donation!

If you're a business or other organization with a truckload of food to donate, consider participating in the parade that preceeds the food drive. Great visibility for you! Contact Jeff Klein at Emergency Food Network for more information.

Dining Delicacies Comes On Board!

2010-08-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

Wow! We just heard that Dining Delicacies will be taking care of volunteers and staff during Fill the Bowl by providing breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as hot dogs and hamburgers between meals. It's not too late to sign up to volunteer and enjoy these treats! Great food and movies in the Bowl...what more could you ask for?

Seventeen days and counting...

About Dining Delicacies:

Dining Delicacies is the only company that delivers a Five-Course, Five Star dining experience in the comfort and privacy of your own home. We create delectable dishes for intimate and romantic dinners as well as parties.

Movie in the Bowl

2010-08-31T10:52:00.000-07:00

Waste Connections, Le May Enterprises and Murrey's Disposal will be the hosts for the movie to be shown overnight in the Bowl during the food drive....name to be announced later! We are grateful for their support -- this will help keep volunteers and donors entertained (and awake) during the wee hours!

Drop Sites for Fill the Bowl

2010-08-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

We've got a running list to share of drop-off sites for food donations. If you can't make it to the Bowl, we welcome your donation at any one of the locations below. Boxes will be located in each hospital's cafe.

St. Joseph Medical Center
1717 S. J St.
Tacoma, WA 98405

St. Francis Hospital
34515 Ninth Ave. S.
Federal Way, WA 98003

St. Clare Hospital
11315 Bridgeport Way SW
Lakewood, WA 98499

Enumclaw Regional Hospital
1450 Battersby Avenue
Enumclaw, WA 98022

St. Anthony Hospital
11567 Canterwood Blvd. N.W.
Gig Harbor, WA 98332

The following members of Pierce County Credit Unions are also collecting donations:

Puyallup Meridian NFC
13308 Meridian E Puyallup, WA 98373 (Safeway)

Puyallup South Hill NFC
3803 South Meridian Puyallup, WA 98374

University Place NFC
3929 Bridgeport Way W Tacoma, WA 98466

Tacoma Westgate NFC
2637 N Pearl St Tacoma, WA 98407 (Safeway)

Gray Lumber Helps Fill the Bowl

2010-08-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Gray Lumber for a generous donation to help us Fill the Bowl on September 17-18!

Wondering What Type of Food to Donate?

2010-08-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

For Fill the Bowl, we're looking for donations of nonperishable, shelf-stable food such as:

Peanut butter
Canned fish
Canned meat
Canned fruit
Canned vegetables
Chili
Soup
Stews
Baby Food
Baby formula
Pasta
Rice
Cereal
Macaroni and cheese
Shelf-stable milk
Granola bars
Dried fruit
Applesauce

Your donations will not only help us shatter the world record for largest food drive, but will help feed those in need throughout Puget Sound.

Schedule of Events

2010-08-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

The schedule of events for Fill the Bowl and the 100th anniversary celebration of the Stadium Bowl are coming together! We wanted to share with you what we've got so far:

Friday, September 17

2:30-2:45 Parade assembles at Classic Car site
3:00 Parade begins
3:55 Parade ends down in the Bowl
4:00 Press conference to kick off Fill the Bowl
4:00 Food collection begins!
7:00 Football game between Stadium and Bellarmine
Post-game and through the night...the food collection continues. Join us for movies in the Bowl!

Saturday, September 18

8:00 Pancake Breakfast
11:00 Military Endurance tests in the Bowl
11:00 Tacoma Concert Band
2:30 100 Year Celebration Event
4:00 Food collection ends

Johnson, Stone & Pagano Steps Up to Donate

2010-08-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

Johnson, Stone & Pagano is a Fircrest CPA firm offering accounting and consulting services to businesses, non-profit organizations, and utilities. Now they are also helping us break the Guinness record!

They'll be delivering the food they collect in their office to the Bowl during the event. We thank them for their support!

Broadway Center for the Performing Arts -- Special Promotion

2010-08-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

We just found out some really exciting news! Broadway Center for the Performing Arts in Tacoma is making a special offer to donors to Fill the Bowl -- $10 off a ticket to the opening night performance (and world premiere) of Cirque Mechanics Boomtown!

The first 6,000 donors will be lucky enough to take advantage of this offer. Opening night is October 1-2 at the Pantages Theater.

And there's more...we're hoping some of the performers may make an appearance at the Bowl during the drive on September 18.

About Broadway Center Presents Cirque Mechanics Boomtown:

From the creators of Birdhouse Factory (which the Broadway Center presented in 2005 and helped launch to Broadway in New York), Boom Town has united some of the world's best artistic circus stars including many from Cirque du Soleil.

Wells Fargo Foundation Lends Support

2010-08-16T14:18:00.000-07:00

The Wells Fargo Foundation donated 280,000 bags that we'll be distributing to the Tacoma community to collect food for the big drive.

This donation will go a long way towards helping us advertise the event and give donors something useful to bring along to the grocery store while they shop. A bag of groceries typically weighs between 4-6 pounds so we'd need between 166,000-250,000 bags of groceries donated to meet our goal! If everyone who receives a bag fills it and brings it to the Stadium Bowl, we'll more than make our goal.

Why Break a World Record?

2010-08-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

So, what made Emergency Food Network and Northwest Harvest decide to try to break a Guinness World Record? It was a couple of things. First of all, the Stadium Bowl in Tacoma -- and incredible, historic place -- is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and a lot of people wanted to do something remarkable to honor the occasion. Breaking a world record (and setting a new one) is a pretty great way to do that.

Second, this is a way we can continue to bring attention to the incredible need that exists for food in the Puget Sound region. A million pounds of food translates to 23 semi-truckloads, all of which will make an impact.

We're hoping YOU will come help us Fill the Bowl sometime between the hours of 4:00 pm on Friday, September 17 and 4:00 pm on Saturday, September 18! We're going to be filling this blog between now and then with behind-the-scenes stories about how donors are helping us out and how we are preparing for this gargantuan food drive. If you're a donor, we WANT to hear from you! Send us your pictures, your videos, your stories about how you are helping us break the record!