food donation box

Virtual Inaugural Ball

A friend of ours, Rachael Dubinsky, is hosting a virtual inaugural ball as we celebrate President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris during their swearing in ceremony. Her event is also an effort to raise funds for community fridges in the Boston Area.

These fridges are stocked with food items by volunteers in a community. Folks in need of noursihment can go to the fridge and take what they need, no questions asked. We love this concept and are thrilled for the opportunity to offer support and be a part of the event. 

It is exciting to share that Braeden will be giving a brief talk at the beginning of this event tomorrow evening. For those of you interested in supporting Boston Area Community Fridges, you can donate to receive a link to this Virtual Inaugural Ball event. 

Click through to the event below for more information.

Spark Change

This summer we had plans to hold a 3B Summer Celebration. Our initial planning phases began prior to the coronavirus pandemic hitting the globe. And while we are hopeful that things will continue to improve as Delaware reopens in phases, there is still a great deal of information we do not know and cannot predict.

At this time, we are sad to share that we do not have a location at which we can host our celebration. In part, this is due to the number of people our events can potentially bring to one place in a short period of time. It is also understandable that locations for group events will ask organizations to have special event insurance.

Additionally, we’re not comfortable asking for event sponsorship from the local community and companies during this unprecedented time. We would rather your generous donations go to direct assistance of organizations who can immediately help those in need.

Examples of where we encourage you to donate right now are the Food Bank of Delaware, Friendship House, the Sunday Breakfast Mission, the Delaware COVID-19 Strategic Response Fund, and United Way of Delaware.

6fd5270332c5b02687bd8c7f74877d26Now, the theme of our event was going to be “Spark Change.”

We still want you to embrace this theme. We must spark change and it must happen now. For those of you old enough to vote, please make sure you vote locally and nationally. For those of you not old enough to vote, please make sure you encourage the adults in your life to make sure they exercise that right. It is not only our responsibility as adults to vote in elections, but it is our obligation and we must take it seriously. We are seeing millions of people protesting, making their voice and their presence be heard. It’s an inspiring thing to see and we need to see the same numbers at the polls.

Be the spark that ignites the change we need to see in the world. You can do it. You are the ember. You are the light. No one else can do what you can do. And when we stand together, we can pave a path so bright that every dark corner is blinded by our unified strength.

Spark change.

It is overwhelming to see so many who are lost, but if we let our sparks shine then we can help them find the way. Sometimes the lost are scared, they are hurting, but we can dare to help them heal. We do not need to host a community event to make this happen.

We can spark change now. Today. Tomorrow. And beyond.

 

Time to start thinking about our 6th Bi-Annual Summer Celebration

As you know, we took a reprieve from the 3B Summer Celebration in 2019, because we hosted our 3rd Bi-Annual Kids’ Hunger Conference. So now it’s 2020 and it’s time to think about the next big celebration!

Our theme this year will be “Spark Change.”

The event will be held during the afternoon of Saturday, August 29, 2020.

If you are interested in sponsoring or helping out with the event please fill out this form and we will make sure to keep you posted as we iron out the details.

We would also like to share our 2019 Annual Report, which you can download and read at the following link.

2019- 3B Brae’s Brown Bags Annual Report (pdf)

Our summer celebration is now a bi-annual event

First, thank you for your emails and messages asking about the 3B Summer Celebration. We appreciate your support and are grateful to know you look forward to our event.

During the first five years of growing 3B Brae’s Brown Bags we planned an annual summer celebration to thank our community and supporters for their continuous encouragement.

We have held contests for t-shirt artwork and for nominating local heroes. We have made great friends at the celebration and worked with very kind sponsors including the Bear-Glasgow YMCA and 93.7 WSTW who assisted with the space and the entertainment. Braeden’s grandparents and extended family have also been a huge support and help for this event. Truly we could not do what we do without the help of many others.

This year we co-hosted our 3rd Bi-Annual Kid’s Hunger Conference with the Food Bank of Delaware. We had a successful event with fantastic feedback from teachers, parental chaperones, and the youth who attended the conference. Being able to educate other kids about food insecurity, healthy living and the importance of public service has brought us great joy!

Now for the sad news, we are not able to host a 6th 3B Summer Celebration this year. Due to expenses we occur when co-hosting the hunger conference and while maintaining operations during the year with bag supply and travel, it is not sustainable for us to hold a summer celebration just months after a successful hunger conference.

Moving forward both events will be bi-annual. This means in 2019 we held the kid’s hunger conference and in 2020 we will host our 6th 3B Summer Celebration.

Again, I thank all of you for sharing you excitement for wanting to attend the event this year. Please know that you will receive information in June 2020 about next years celebration. We will send out an email to our subscribers and have a social media campaign to alert everyone.

We hope your summer has been going well! Enjoy the sunshine and please, as always, be sure to carry a 3B Brae’s Brown Bag with you when you travel. We recommend adding chapstick and travel sized sunscreen to bags you hand out in the summer months. Such a simple act of kindness, yet you just might be someone’s savior.

Don’t miss our hunger conference this Spring

Save the Date for the Hunger Conference

Participation is available through a school application process. Schools interested in applying to bring *students to the conference may fill out an online application by clicking here.

Applications are due January 25, 2019.

Agenda/Schedule information will be coming soon.

Station topics include:

Healthy food demonstration
Bee activity
Food waste/recovery
Fitness
Eating on a budget
Vegetable regeneration
Worms and butterfly garden
Brae’s Brown Bag packing
Letters to our Elected Officials
Yoga/Mindfulness

Congratulations to YOU!

One thing we have learned in the last five years is that we have heroes all around us. And this year we want to make sure they are recognized.

We have emailed and are now announcing to you all of our “Every Day Local Heroes!” You can find out more about these amazing organizations and the people who make it happen by attending our 5th Annual 3B Summer Celebration on Saturday, August 18, 2018 at the Bear-Glasgow YMCA from 1pm to 4pm.

MEET OUR HEROES

Christiana Fire Company, Ladders 3, 6 and 12

Jacqueline Means (Wilmington Urban STEM Initiative)

Brooke Scuse (Teacher with Clayton Elementary School)

Skye Bunting (Girl Scouts of America – Service Unit #18 – Troop #34)

Stephanie Jaynes and Kathy Fintak (Girl Scout Troop #537)

Renee Yarrington (Diapers for DelMarVa)

Honorable Mentions

Nichole Eveland (Nichole nominated Renee and we are so touched by their story that we would like to honor both Nichole and Renee and share about their organization, Diapers for DelMarVa)

Braeden Mannering (nominated by his Gram, but does not qualify since it is his event and contest)

Local Heroes and Local Support – We Thank You

We are happy to report we have received a few “Every Day Hero” nominations. Emails will be going out to them to see if they can attend our event, along with their nominator. We’re so happy to see people choosing to share their appreciation to those who serve our community and provide inspiration or hope in times of need.

We would like to show appreciation and thanks to our sponsors who are helping to make this event possible!

Armstrong Relocations Moving Company (CHAMPION SPONSOR)

  • Greg and Margie Mannering
  • Bob and Rose Willey
  • John and Sue Ferenbach
  • Bob and Jamie Kahn
  • Dolores Thomas
  • Bobbie Willey Stump

And for many who are providing services:

  • Bear-Glasgow YMCA – for use of your outdoor pavilion
  • 93.7 WSTW – music, personality and prize wheel
  • Sam Lawson, logo design, 14-years-old
  • Cajun Sno
  • Party Business – face paint and airbrush tattoos

Please register for free here: https://3b-summer-celebration.eventbrite.com

Event registration is now open

We are happy to announce you may now register to attend our 5th Annual 3B Summer Celebration honoring “Every Day Heroes.”

We’re using Eventbrite again this year: https://3b-summer-celebration.eventbrite.com

Please pass along the link, if you received an email because you are on our email list then please forward the email to your friends and family.

We want to make sure this is our biggest, most awesome summer celebration yet. Not just because we’re celebrating five years, but because we are honoring Every Day Local Heroes!

Thank you for your support!

And please let us know if you or anyone you know is interested in sponsoring our event!



Feeding Better Futures Scholar Program Finalist

We are so excited to finally be able to announce that Braeden is one of five national finalists for the General Mills Feeding Better Futures Scholar Program. As a finalist he has an opportunity to win $50,000 for 3B Brae’s Brown Bags. 3B is a small nonprofit so this prize would go a very long way in helping us sustain our mission.

Packing a brown bag is simple, but ensuring that the food is healthy is not as simple due to affordability, accessibility and shelf life. Further, making sure those bags reach the people who need them most is a challenge, fortunately Braeden doesn’t turn away from challenges.

A wonderful video production team came out to Delaware to visit Brae’s school, Gauger-Cobbs in the Christina School District. They produced a video which includes interviews with students, Erica Young and Nhi Nhi Nguyen, Mrs. Kathy Bin-Yusif, educator, and an interview with both Braeden and myself. It includes a bag packing event in which Gauger-Cobbs Middle School students worked together to pack 60 bags of healthy food. They then took those bags home so they would have something to give should they see someone in need in their community. (We always encourage students to give bags with a parent or trusted adult and not on their own.)

The video shares a little bit about the 3B mission of improving nutritional security, in part by getting youth involved in the solution. Winning the contest would help us to reach and feed more people in need. It will be easier to grow our 3B Ripples program with schools and youth organization. We are also happy to assist with natural disaster relief across the country. 3B has been able to provide bags after wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding in several states.

We Need Your Help

Anyone can vote on the videos that were produced and we need YOUR help to get Braeden votes.

Learn more about the General Mills Feeding Better Futures Scholar Program on their website: https://blog.generalmills.com/2018/04/5-students-changing-the-future-of-food-and-the-world/

3B relies solely on donations and youth grants to sustain our nonprofit, we do not receive federal or state funding.