Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010

Food charity shuttles on

Jill Staton Bullard believes it's unacceptable for someone to go hungry.

She acted on this conviction more than 20 years ago when she co-created Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, which collects unused food from Triangle groups and businesses and distributes it to charity programs throughout the area.

The shuttle that now boasts a fleet of 11 refrigerated trucks and provides food to more than 200 local programs, including soup kitchens, shelters and outreach missions, started with the belief that the the system was wrong.

"My first recollection of the shuttle was just good people trying to do a good thing," Bullard, who's also the CEO, said of the organization's early days.

In 1989, after buying 11 fast food breakfast sandwiches for the downtown Shepherds Soup Kitchen and seeing them divided up into 44 pieces to feed all who were there, Bullard was horrified.

"The need of these people seemed so great, and the answer just seemed so simple," she said. "We have enough food. It just isn't in the hands of the folks who need it."

For Bullard, it was a stewardship issue.

She could just not stand to watch all the extra food from organizations, restaurants, hotels and retirement homes go to waste. Her dedication to the cause has made her a celebrity in local charity circles.

"Jill is so driven - she would work a 90-hour week if she thought it would help someone," said Maxine Solomon, the organization's co-founder and fundraising event organizer. "She has a true vision and is always on the next step, always seeing what else she can do to make the community a better place."

Asked how the food shuttle has evolved from just a few people to a fleet of refrigerated trucks, Bullard simply says, "I believe that God sent who we needed when we needed them. God uses all of us to accomplish a mission."

Her mission is not only to help the Triangle community.

Bullard says she has a heart for all who are needy.

She recently returned from a trip to Haiti where she volunteered at the St. Vincent's School for the Handicapped in downtown Port-au-Prince.

Bullard said traveling to Haiti put things in perspective for her.

"The children we work with might be deaf, or blind or missing a hand or leg, but they know joy and radiate this in the midst of such devastation," Bullard said. "They do not feel limited. They believe that they can accomplish whatever they want to accomplish."

While these feelings linger, Bullard has returned to the states and back to getting food to the needy in the Triangle.

Bullard's favorite part of the food shuttle is brainstorming about how to fill in the gaps and make sure everyone who needs food has it.

"My goal is to create food security," she said.

Bullard and the shuttle also have found other ways and programs to lend a helping hand.

From community gardens and a culinary job training program, to children's nutrition programs and BackPack Buddies, which provides children from food-insecure homes with weekend meals during the school year, Bullard has made it her job to provide stability to those she says "never know when their next meal will come."

"Jill is so passionate about what she does and engaged," said Marionna Poke-Stewart, Raleigh's Community Services director.

"She has such vision for the Triangle, and she has instilled the same vision in all of her employees.

"They move mountains and will continue to do so."

Though Bullard recognizes the positive steps the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle has made in the community, she knows the need is still dire.

"In the Triangle area, for every 10 children, two of them are hungry - really hungry," Bullard said.

"We simply must and can fix that. ...We all must make sure that hungry neighbors have access to healthy foods."

5 Minutes With ... spotlights local people who are doing interesting things. Know someone we should profile? Contact Sarah Rubenoff at srubenoff@gmail.com or 434-989-4970.