June 17th Meeting

Rick introduced Jim Brennan, Co-Founder  of Meals 4 Others.

 

Jim co-foundered the enterprise along with Michael Simchik from Portsmouth. Having experienced serving on various  non-profit boards, they were familiar with the need to do more and more with less and less. After much thought they developed a concept that had to be profitable and also benefit a cause:

“We hand-select specialty food items and unique gifts from recognized and award winning vendors across the country. Gift collections and corporate gear have a broad range of price points to satisfy all gifting needs. Meals 4 Others tailors product options for corporations, including logo customization and item choices, thereby allowing the gifting process to be seamless and scalable to all requirements.

“Our corporate partners have received great feedback from using Meals 4 Others for gifting needs—recipients appreciate the company's involvement with the hunger crisis and the gifts are a proven way for our partners to differentiate themselves from others within their industry while highlighting their commitment to their communities. Our Clients have received a 30%-40% increase in responses from their customers who have received Meals 4 Others gifts.”

Jim explained how a $39 gift cube to a local Hannaford executive has generated an order for 425,000 recyclable bags which will provide 53,000 meals! This has aroused the interest of other grocery chains.

Each gift order is customized to allow individually named gifts to a local charity of their choosing. Jim disclosed that their “backroom” processing partner can produce up to 1,800 checks per hour.

Jim reminded us that 1 in 4 Maine kids are hungry.