Food No More

Hello Everyone,
So we had this GIANT power outage over the weekend and lost our power all day and all night. Our house got so cold that we had to sleep by the fireplace all night. Our fridge was starting to stink because the temperature was starting to drop. We started putting stuff outside to keep it cold, but unfortunately we lost almost all of our food. We were lucky enough to be able to replace all of it. But that made us think about if that happened to someone with less money, they may have not have been able to do that. They would have had to save to do a giant grocery shopping, even though it might be hard enough for them to pay an average grocery bill every week. It made us realize how fortunate we are to be able to replace our food so easily. Not everyone can do that.

P.S. Still taking members for the we appreciate South Dakota club!!!!
--
Katie
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bread + butter + green beer?

Get ready to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in style with this NEW women's long sleeve V-neck tee shirt. It comes in black, white, and of course green. See them all in our shop. And just in time for the wearing O' the green, we have a St. Patrick's Day discount offer for 15% off all orders of $35 or more. Just enter coupon code MARCHSALE2 when you check out.

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Recognizing opportunity

Hi Everyone! Sue here...

Well, we spent a week in not-so-sunny not-so-warm Florida but had a great visit with my parents. I posted a picture of Tom and the girls that I took - you can see that we never made it out of our sweatshirts. Now we've got freezing rain and snow on the way here in New England. My sister is getting walloped up in Vermont with about a foot. I'm ready for summer myself.

Had some time off today so I did errands including my least favorite which is grocery shopping. When I remind myself that there are people who don't have the option because they can't afford food, it helps put things in perspective and I remind myself not to whine about opportunity. Also made it to the gym. Yup, gonna have arms like Kelly Ripa if it kills me - and it just might. I'm waiting for the day that I love to exercise but alas, it has yet to come.

Don't have much time today because I'm the gymnastics driver this week - 6 girls in the old Volvo wagon - fun times. Enjoy your night.

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Vote for a Champion Against Child Hunger

At the end of last year, Katie and Emma were nominated for the ConAgra Foods Foundation's Champions Against Child Hunger Awards, in recognition of their work on the bread + butter project. Five finalists were selected. While Katie and Emma were not among the top five, we are so impressed by the finalists - all people who are working hard in their communities to help hungry people - and we want to encourage you to check them out and vote for your favorite nominee on-line. Visit the site, check out the five nominees, and cast your vote. Each vote provides a $1 contribution to Share our Strength - an organization focused on ending childhood hunger in America by 2015. Check out the site today and cast your vote before March 19. When you do, you'll help ConAgra Foods and Share Our Strength meet their goal of $100,000. Over the next few days, we'll reveal which finalists are being supported by different members of the bread + butter project team. My pick is Tom Ramsey, who is helping fill bellies in Austin, TX.

Want to make a difference closer to home? Purchase a bread + butter product from our e-store before the end of March, and you'll help support food banks in each of the six New England states.

-Tom

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What’s next for the bread + butter project? You tell us!

As we approach the end of February, we have about five weeks left to help raise money for our New England food bank partners. And we need to decide what we’ll do next. Those of you who have been following us since August know that we started very locally, with a single food pantry partner – Pettengill House, Inc. of Salisbury, MA. In just eight weeks time, we were able to make a big contribution to this small organization. From there, we chose to expand regionally, and established partnerships with a large food bank partner in each of the six New England states. As a reminder, they are: Connecticut Food Bank, Good Shepherd Food-Bank, Greater Boston Food Bank, New Hampshire Food Bank, Rhode Island Community Food Bank, and Vermont Foodbank. 50% of our profits from November 2009 through March 2010 will be shared equally by these partners, and we need your help to maximize the size of these contributions.

But we also need your input to help guide us going forward. When we established the bread + butter project last summer, we had a simple mission: To work together as a family to help hungry people, develop a sustainable business model, and find out what it takes to make a real difference. Seven months into it, we’ve had a lot of great experiences, good results to share, and with your help, we believe we are making a difference. But the question remains, what should we do next? Continue with a regional focus? Return to local? Target other areas? For now, we know that we want to keep our focus on helping feed US families, rather than going global and supporting international hunger organizations, but we have a lot of options. We’re open to your ideas, and we hope you’ll use the comment feature below to share your thoughts. Thanks.

-Tom, Sue, Katie + Emma

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Forgotten State No More!

Hello people,
It's KATIE O. YO!!!! And today I have a question for all of you. You always hear about the popular states such as California and Florida, maybe Hawaii and Colorado too? Well you never ever EVER hear about some states such as... I don't know maybe...SOUTH DAKOTA!!!! Well it's not just a maybe for me because I simply never here about poor little South Dakota. South Dakota is an awesome state whose people deserve to be thought about. So I decided I would take action and form my own fan club; the We Appreciate South Dakota Fan Club!!!! Awesome right???? So here are the rules. To qualify for being in the We Apprecaite South Dakota Fan Club you must support South Dakota...yeah that's about it. So comment if you're interested in it and I'll write up a list of members. Thanks for participating in the We Appreciate South Dakota Fan Club!!!! Click "comments" below to add your thoughts or visit our SHOP

bread + butter + black eyed peas!

YouTube is a wonderful place. There you can find all sorts of nice videos. Search bread and butter, and you might find a nice little promotion for our project, starring Katie and Emma, a black and white film of the New Beats, performing their hit song from the 1950's, or this rather random piece, featuring a singing piece of toast.



Whichever you like best, I hope all will inspire you to buy one of our products and help feed hungry people throughout New England. Tonight's a big night for the US Olympic team in many competitions, and to quote the Black Eyed Peas, I gotta feelin' that tonight's gonna be a good night.



Watch their video, cheer for the US, and then celebrate the medal-winning performances with the purchase of a bread + butter T-shirt. What could be better than that?

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The Love Isn't Over...but the Shirts Are Going Away!

Okay bread + butterers, Sue here.

Hope you are still feeling the love even though V-Day is over. Yes, it's really true - the "Love Line" is being locked away...into the breadbox so to speak. The line will be retired on Friday so if you were thinking about purchasing one and helping some folks who really need it, don't wait!

It is winter vacation for the girls which gives even more meaning to "Let the Games Begin"...if you are a parent, you know what I'm talking about!! We'll share some pictures of our shananigans this weekend.

Having fun watching the Olympics - it's amazing how important 1/100th of a second can be to an Olympian. Amazing stuff. What dedication these athletes have - I think I'm a hero if I get on the treadmill at the climate-controlled gym and don't hurt myself going at the breakneck pace of a 15-minute mile.

Congrats to all the US athletes who have medaled and a special nod to our fellow New Englanders - Bode and company!

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bread + butter project food bank partner news

Our friends at the Connecticut Food Bank are hosting a Virtual Food Drive. Did you know that the need for food assistance is, unfortunately, greater than it has ever been in Connecticut Food Bank’s history. This year, more than 390,000 Connecticut residents are struggling with hunger. Please consider making a donation to the drive. Your gift can help turn hunger into hope for hundreds of thousands of people in Connecticut. For every dollar you contribute, more than 4 pounds of food is made available to those who might otherwise go without.
Contribute to the Virtual Food Drive today.

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Are you a bread + butter ambassador?

So many of our friends and followers have asked us what they can do to support the bread + butter project, beyond buying our products. Back in November, Katie and Emma made a video that captures the power of bread + butter ambassadors, and reminds people of three things:

1. When you buy bread + butter, you help hungry people;

2. When you wear bread + butter, you show that you care;

3. When you share bread + butter, you help raise awareness.

Their video's call to action is SPREAD IT - the word, that is. Because our project relies heavily on web-based and relationship (word of mouth) promotion, we need every ambassador we can get. So what can you do? Follow us, Friend us, ReTweet us, Tell your friends, family members and co-workers. Get some bread + butter for yourself and consider giving products for special events like birthdays, etc.

What other ideas do you have? Are their additional things we can suggest to our ambassadors? How are you helping to SPREAD IT? Use the comment feature to let us know. Thanks.

-Tom

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Hey bread & butterers...Sue here.

So it's Thursday morning. Tom is off to work and the girls are still asleep (but need to get up for school). On weekends they can rise with the sun, weekdays I have to wrestle them out of bed. I guess living for the weekends begins at birth. We can taste Feb vacation though as it's just a day away and we have some big plans that we'll share later, with pix of course!

Okay, so the big snowstorm that was supposed to hit here in the Northeast was a bust. We got a dusting rather than the 5-8" they were forecasting. You know you're from New England when you are disappointed not to be slammed with heavy wet snow, icy roads and a nail-biting commute.

I am off to work at Thomson today - that is my PR job that I really enjoy. Meeting with the bakery I represent - yum.

We'll be sending out some bread + butter shirts to some bloggers this weekend and will pitch some additional media. Sales in Jan have been slower than in December which is to be expected. Time to get it rolling again! Let us know if you can help. Any contacts, ideas, suggestions are always welcome. Just click comments below. Have a great Thursday everyone.
~S
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Ellen Should Wear B & B Shirt on Idol! (right?)

Hello peeps,
Katie reporting for duty!
Ok back me up here. Who in the world would look better in a B&B shirt then the one and only ELLEN DEGENERES? (and no I'm not talking about you Joy) She would look just so downright fashion forward. Come on let's here it. ElLEN! ELLEN! ELLEN! ELLEN! Ms Degeneres please!! It's for a wonderful cause!! And anyone who has any sense at all (and watches American Idol) should know Ellen is a new judge and she totally rocks!! Well if your Ellen's wardrobe person or you have "connections" with her, please hook her up right now with one of our fabulous shirts. Well...that's kinda it.
SeE Ya
LoVe KaTiE

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Mascot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi journeyers of the Internet, it's Emma!
Guess what I don't think you're going to guess... ok, ok I'll give you a hint - it has to do with the title of this post. Did you guess? Well if you didn't, it's too late cause I'm going to tell you anyway! The news is that we have our very first bread + butter mascot!!!!!

(I know, I know, big applause right.)

Coming from Emma you probably know that it's a MONKEY!!! If you don't know that, you don't know me (Aww, sad face) But...it's not just any old monkey. It's.......

UMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, she's my special pet monkey so now that you know the news I'm done writing for tonight...

Stay tuned for next time!!

bye

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Hunger in America 2010

This week, Feeding America released its latest comprehensive report on hunger in America. This is the largest study of domestic hunger, providing comprehensive and statistically-valid data on the national organization's emergency food distribution system and the people Feeding America serves. If you don't know a lot about hunger issues in the US, consider the following:

•Feeding America food banks provide food and groceries to 33,500 food pantries, 4,500 soup kitchens and 3,600 emergency shelters.

•68 percent of pantries, 42 percent of soup kitchens, and 15 percent of emergency shelters rely solely on volunteers and have no paid staff.

•55 percent, are faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious organizations; 33 percent are other types of nonprofit organizations.

Review the report's key findings, and think about what you can do to make a difference.

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Bread + Butter Meets Cake Boss!

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The Agony of Defeat

So it's official. The girls can ski circles around Tom & I. Sadly, our age is beginning to limit the stunts we can do...or are ability to buckle up our boots. This Saturday is the girls last lesson at Bradford with their school group. Here are some of my thoughts about skiing as a well...mature adult.

This Skier Still Has a Slight Edge

My husband and I used to ski before we had kids. In fact, we used to sleep in, take exotic vacations and go to the movies in the middle of the afternoon, but that’s not important now. Anyway, who needs a tropical get-away when you can take your whole family on a trip to an icy mountain in sub-zero temperatures for an afternoon of fun and pay more than you would for a week in the Caribbean?

Come on people, this is good quality family time. It’s all worth it, as long as you have stamina and really good circulation. I hadn’t been skiing in years but I discovered that you never forget how. It’s kind of like riding a bike, down a steep hill with no brakes. It’s the thrill that drives us to do it. (And sometimes the “après ski” part isn’t so bad either.)

Anyway, I’m being a bit facetious because I really do enjoy the sport. My daughters have already far exceeded my capabilities, and are not afraid to tell me that I stink, often and loudly. They were actually surprised – based on my history of extreme clumsiness – that I could even stand upright on skis.

It’s amazing how quickly children can learn new skills, and how hard adults can fall. Let me back up. As comfortable as I felt on skis after all these years, I still learned some very valuable lessons about the difference between skiing when you’re 45 versus skiing when you’re 21. I am happy to share some of my newfound wisdom with you:

1. Falling when you are 45 hurts a lot, even if you are completely stationary, on a flat surface and fall onto fresh powder. It might not look very impressive, but it feels like you’re the guy in the old ABC’s Wide World of Sports show who demonstrates “the agony of defeat.” Remember him?
2. Getting off the chair lift when you are in your 40s is a bit tricky. When you are 21, you simply glide off the chair in one smooth, effortless motion that requires very little thought. When you are older, it’s more of a pre-determined heaving of your body that requires much effort and maybe a silent prayer. You do not always make it.
3. If you call to your children from the chair lift while they are having a lesson, they will not acknowledge you or admit to knowing you. Ever. Waving your poles will not help. When you are 21, you can’t recall if children are even allowed on the mountain, but you can recall when the bar opens.
4. Your children will spend a good part of the day chortling wildly as you struggle to maintain your dignity. They will make fun of your hat, your goggles, and your reference to the “snow plow,” which is now called the “pizza wedge.” No one makes fun of you when you are 21 because you are perfect and charming and good-looking, and there is no one to dispute that fact.
5. When you are in college, you can ski for three days straight and feel great the next day. When you are in your 40s, you can ski for three hours and feel like hurling yourself out a window the next day; if you had the strength to open it.
6. When you are young, tumbling half-way down the slope and losing a ski is freakishly amusing and might mean missing class on Monday. When you are 45, the same scenario is just freakish and amounts to a week of missed appointments and being placed on short-term disability.

The moral of the story here is that everything we did when we were younger is still possible, as long as we take the necessary precautions and invest in some supplemental life insurance. Skiing is still great fun, especially if you stay at a resort that has a spa. That way you can soak your aching joints at the end of the day over a glass of expensive champagne.

Okay, despite my cynical ranting, I still enjoy a good clean run. Perhaps I can’t perform a back-scratching aerial while rocketing down some double diamond terrain, but I still have a bit of an edge. That much I’m certain of.


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bread + butter food bank partner news

What does an international hair and modeling competition have to do with the bread + butter project? Good question. The answer is that this event is one of our nonprofit food bank partner's biggest fundraisers. If you've been thinking about how you can help the New Hampshire Food Bank, this is a great opportunity. Find out more on their website. Can't make it to Manchester on April 22? You can still help the New Hampshire Food Bank and our other food bank partners when you buy a bread + butter product. All purchases from November 2009 through March 2010 help fill bellies throughout New England.

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Our Funny Valentines

Back by popular demand...we've got video diary #2 starring Katie & Emma. We captured the girls making some Valentines for their classes. Fun stuff!



So, there you have it. Support our project if you can or just follow our journey on this blog. We are so glad to have you along. You are helping us make a difference.

By the way, bread + butter products are very cozy undergarments for skiing according to Katie & Em. Stay tuned tomorrow for my thoughts on skiing when you are 45 versus 21. Yeah...

Night night b & b'ers.

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An Alarming Situation

Afer a "challenging" morning getting the girls off to school, I have vowed that from this day forward, I will no longer be the one to wake them up for school. The party is over: They will have to use their alarm clocks and I will hide somewhere with my coffee until they can do something other than snarl. Here is an excerpt from a column I wrote on the subject. I'm sure many of you can relate. We have the same issues here at bread + butter as every other family out there. How do you deal with school mornings? Let us know! Also stay tuned for another video diary tomorrow!!
~Sue

Here’s a question for you: If given the choice, would you rather be awakened by the gentle caress of someone slowly nudging you out of your peaceful slumber or by the abrupt and deafening blare of Lil’ Wayne or Ghostface Killa that literally shakes you vertical? I’ll give you a minute…and yes, there really is a rapper named Ghostface who is apparently part of the Wu-Tang Clan. I don’t know how or why I know that.

Here’s the ironic part of the whole thing: I like it. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. Lil' Wayne has practically saved my sanity in some bizarre twist of fate. Before he came along, I was the mean mother who actually tried to wake my kids up with kind words and gestures of affection. That worked about as well as Obama trying to help Martha Coakley’s bid for the senate seat.

So I bring it back to the alarming situation at hand. And believe me there’s nothing wrong with a little Jay-Z in the morning if it avoids this conversation.

Me: What’s wrong?
Daughter: There’s a lump in my hair!
Me: Do you want me to put braids in your hair? A pony? Help you brush it out?
Daughter: No, you’ll make it worse. It looks awful and it’s all your fault!
Me: But I haven’t touched your hair.
Daughter: I hate my hair (throwing brush) and I’m not going to school looking like a freak!

I’ll bet many of you have similar conversations if you have girls and I’m quite certain there is a boy version of the “evil lump” that is equally enjoyable. Who doesn’t like to have hateful accusations hurled at them before they’ve had their first cup of coffee? It definitely prepares you for anything else the day may bring like a short stint in a torture chamber or an afternoon in a guillotine.

But the alarm can save you from a disastrous first hour, even if the rest of the day is still a crapshoot. The key is to stay clear for at least the first 20 minutes, which gives your kids some time to be nasty and hideous without your witnessing it. By the time you emerge, they have transformed into fairly decent human beings who might even smile at you if you offer to make them some warm Toaster Strudel.

It’s not a perfect solution by any means. My kids will still spit toothpaste at each other, write things like “poop head” on each other’s sandwich bags and try to skip out on brushing their teeth if they can get away with it. But it’s definitely better than when I was dodging airborne hairbrushes.

The moral of this story is to keep an open mind. Pop stars can be our friends after all. I’ve learned to embrace the masterful artistry of Kei$ha. Tik Tok, Tik Tok…

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Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy...

Hey all you b & b followers - Happy Monday. So we had fun watching the Grammy Awards last night. I thought the Elton John/Lady Ga Ga performance was sheer genuius. Also enjoyed the spinning Pink number. Beyonce looked beautiful, as did Taylor Swift. Katy Perry is just...yuck. Sorry but there is something so pretentious and annoying about her. Emma has a crush on Justin Bieber - he was so cute but the pairing with Kei$ha was sort of...odd (Tik Tok, Tik Tok). Anyway, enough of my novice review.

Had the day off today and got a lot done. Went to the gym, the dentist and got my 9-year-old Volvo inspected - and it passed! Hey, I love my car and it's paid for so I'm not giving that sucker up until I absolutely have to. Plus it's the family pig mobile and it has the scars to prove it. There is something endearing about that.

I am thinking about pitching the Today show for their TodayMoms segment. Don't you think bread + butter would be a great feature for that? Of course it would! I also connected with a GREAT fashion mom blogger who is going to feature us on her site. Check it out at momgenerations.com. Thanks Audrey!

Okay, dinner is burning, Katie is home from ballet and I think it's time for me to check out. Don't forget to scroll down and view our first video diary. We got great positive response from that so we plan to do more. Also, don't forget to order you LOVE line shirt cuz they will only be available for a couple more weeks!!

Have a great night everyone.
Sue

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bread + butter food bank partner news

Our friends at the Rhode Island Community Food Bank are getting ready for this year's "Timeless" Taste of the Flower Show, coming up on Wednesday, February 17th at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Throughout the evening, you will have the opportunity to sample delicious specialties created by some of Rhode Island's Top Chefs. For more information, including a list of participating restaurants, wineries and breweries, and to purchase tickets, click here.

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