Rally for Change

Anytime you check-out at City Market, you can choose to "round up" your total to the nearest dollar. At the end of the month, we donate 50% of those funds to Feeding Chittenden (previously Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf), 40% to an organization that aligns with our Global Ends, and 10% to a local non-profit.

In October, you collectively donated $22,131.48! 

  • $11,065.74 for Feeding Chittenden
  • $8,852.59 for Vermont Community Garden Network (VCGN)
  • $2,213.15 for YWCA Camp Hochelaga

November's 50% Partner: 

Co-op Seedling Grants

When you choose to round up during the month of November, you are choosing to support local projects working to strengthen the food system through our Co-op Seedling Grants Program. Over the years, grant funding has been used to support the creation of farm to school programming at various locations, the construction of a fresh produce stand and mobile pantry trailer at Feeding Chittenden, trail extension and kitchen construction at the Intervale Center, a job training program at Salvation Farms, and many other worthy projects. Thank you for rounding up this month and helping us support the work of the many incredible organizations in our community!

November's 40% Partner:

Feeding Chittenden

Feeding Chittenden received a total of $11,065.74 through October’s Rally for Change register round-ups.

As we prepare for the cold winter months and for the holidays, these donations will make a massive difference in our efforts to provide local families with much-needed food and support. We’ve seen a significant increase of around 30% in the number of people helped by our services in the past year, and we anticipate that this holiday season will be one of our busiest ever. Feeding Chittenden is aiming to provide 4,500 full Thanksgiving meals for those we serve in November, and support from Rally for Change helps to reach this goal.

Rally for Change donations also help in providing the very best service for people like Yarrow, a working mom who came to us last year for help in putting together a Thanksgiving meal. She was hesitant to ask for help, but quickly found that she and her daughter felt at ease after meeting our staff and volunteers. Yarrow told us, “The second I walked in, I felt so welcome.”  She was able to get the food she needed to provide her loved ones with a happy holiday, and, today, Yarrow volunteers her time at Feeding Chittenden to assist others who are in need of help.

We’re so grateful for the support of everyone who rounds up at the register. These gifts add up to make a massive difference in the lives of our neighbors!

More about Feeding Chittenden:

In 2018, CEFS embarked on a listening campaign to gather input on our future direction from our program participants, neighbors, volunteers, donors and other stakeholders. Through this campaign, we collected information on the changing needs of those we serve and our role in the broader community. 

Feedback from these sessions focused on our role as a source of food, community and opportunity for those we serve. 

We also heard over and over during these listening sessions that we were seen by both those we serve and those we work with as “more than a Food Shelf” and that the scope of our programs was not accurately reflected in our name. 

The feedback we received through our listening sessions mirrored the experiences that we have had regularly with community members – including our guests, volunteers, supporters, etc. – who are nearly always surprised during their first visit to our organization when learning about our variety of programs, the volume of people who we serve every day and our mission of providing more than just food to people who are facing food insecurity and hunger. 

While we operate the Chittenden Food Shelf as our cornerstone program, we also operate the following programs and services:

            - Good Food Truck: bringing meals, groceries and outreach services to local neighborhoods throughout Chittenden County

            - Homebound Grocery Delivery: helping older adults and people with disabilities who are homebound access our services through deliveries of groceries and prepared meals

            - Food Rescue: fighting food waste locally by working with local markets and farmers to save ~10,000 lbs of edible, nutritious food every month 

            - Hot Meal Program:  operating 6 days a week and profviding thousands of fresh, buffet-style meals each month

            - Community Kitchen Academy: providing culinary job training and support to people who are un-employed through a partnership with the Vermont Foodbank

            - Service Coordination: providing program referrals, case work and support to our guests who need additional services. 

After working with FourNine Design to explore rebranding, we determined that the name “Feeding Chittenden” would better reflect the varied work and advocacy we undertake to help all members of our community who are facing food insecurity and hunger. 

“Feeding Chittenden” has long been our website URL – www.feedingchittenden.org – and has been our tag on our various social media channels. Our supporters in the community are already familiar with this name, and we hope that this will ease our transition. 

November's 10% Partner:

Passion 4 Paws

We got started as a registered 501c3 non-profit in April of 2014. Our mission is to rescue homeless, abandoned, neglected or abused dogs primarily from the South where there are thousands of dogs in need (we pull from kill shelters and transport to Vermont). By working with committed Fosters, Volunteers, Supporters, Adopters, Veterinarians, and Trainers both in Vermont and in the South, we rescue, nurture, provide medical care, housing and rehabilitation to these precious pups while providing a safe and loving environment for as long as it takes for their families to find and adopt them in to their forever homes.

To date, we have successfully rescued and placed over 1700 dogs. We are foster-based, no facility, which means 100% of all funds received go directly towards saving dogs and are used strictly for this purpose to include shelter fees, boarding fees, medical bills, transport fees, food, supplies, etc. We have an amazing team of professional, highly-dedicated volunteers who help us rescue these dogs from high kill shelters, provide safe environments with foster families/adopters, educate the community and advocate for animal rights. Our group is staffed entirely by volunteers and served by a board of directors.

Our efforts are supported through donations, charity events, corporate/employee benefit tax deductible donation programs, and the generosity of animal lovers from within the community.

Past Recipients