More blogs about Africa are still to come, but we are taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a very important Fill-a-Belly update…From our first Wednesday night we have desired for Fill-a-Belly to be about community. We want FAB to be a place where 
everyone brings what they have and we “break bread with friends.” Unfortunately, the logistics of feeding 200 people a week makes it impossible to do a potluck style meal, but we can operate like a potluck, financially. Currently two people are supporting the majority of our food costs (over $200 a week) and they don’t have the resources to continue with this level of support.
Fill-a-Belly has the most committed volunteers and the best people support of any outreach I’ve ever heard of. Over the last month we have had some people step up with donations and commit to being monthly partners, thank you! Regrettably, we aren’t there yet; the financial need each week still far outweighs the donations.
The breakdown has been in communication. We have failed in letting the need be known and have we pretended that everything is fine when monetarily things aren’t fine. As Fill-a-Belly leadership we have made those mistakes and I’ll be the first to apologize, I’m sorry.
I believe that Fill-a-Belly is worthwhile. Great things are happening at FAB every week and we all want to keep this outreach flourishing. So here is the proposal…
1) Raise $1,600 in monthly donations in the next 30 days. That will cover all food costs for both Carlsbad and Encinitas. (In order to save costs and time we are going to begin cooking for both locations in Carlsbad.) This means we need 64 people to commit to $25 a month, or 32 people to commit to $50 a month. In order to sign up for a donation amount please e-mail [email protected]. Please request via e-mail if you want more information about how to set up an automatic monthly donation or receive a tax-exempt receipt for your donation. Checks can be made payable to Fulfilled Life Inc. and can be sent to P.O. Box 4621, Carlsbad CA, 92018.
2) Until we reach our goal of $1,600 per month, we will only spend what we get in donations one week to cover the next week. We risk not having enough food for our travelers and might be eating things like plain noodles or donated Starbucks pastries. At Fill-a-Belly we love being able to provide high quality nutritious meals but we can only do that with enough steady donations.
3) We would love to have small groups or individuals provide the costs for an entire meal, it’s about $300-$350 per meal, but that feeds around 200 people in both Carlsbad and Encinitas. This will be especially helpful as we work towards raising the $1,600 a month.
4) If you have connections with businesses, churches or individuals who you think might be interested in helping us keep Fill-a-Belly alive, invite them to come see what it’s all about. If you want to present Fill-a-Belly to possible supporters e-mail [email protected], and we can get you promotional materials.
I am grateful for everything that’s happened at Fill-a-Belly over the last year and for everyone who has been a part the Fill-a-Belly family. I’m excited to see what happens during the next month!
Sincerely,
Morgan K. McKeown
Chief Operations Officer
Fulfilled Life Inc.
