March events...wooowza!

Wow friends! I am completely amazed at how much fun we had at our March events! THANK YOU for helping create these two very special nights of community and contribution...now THAT is creative generosity at its finest.

Our Raining Jane show at Linksoul Lab created 4.5 scholarships for the Rock n Roll Camp for Girls, LA. That means 4 girls will be able to enjoy a week of empowerment through music education....annnnd get to spend time with 4 of the most ammmazing women I have ever met.
Thank you Becky, Chaska, Mai and Mona for allowing us to contribute to such a great organization and for bringing sooo much love and fun to Oceanside! We love Raining Jane!

Thank you to our dear friend...and global do-gooder Jason Mraz (and Toca too) for bringing your beautiful energy and songs...what a wonderful surprise!!! We love you so.

Another wonderful surprise...LIVE ART by our dear friend Jon Marro. Jon is an inspiring friend with so much creativity....thank you Jon for sharing it with us and for always being love. Jon's art was auctioned off and help raise an additional $1,000 for the scholarships. Amazing.

And to all our Raining Jane attendees...so much gratitude to YOU and your love and support!!!

Now let's talk Nutrition Awareness CELEBRATION with the Makepeace Brothers and Matty & Avasa!!!
Our dear friends at SuperFood Drive inspired us to have our own food drive and bring music, healthy foods and art together. As the day came together (before the doors opened) I knew this event was going to be high energy and fun. It's rare you get a glimpse behind the scenes where Vallie & I go shopping with a $200 gift donated by Jimbos, SuperFood-ers and Colin AND Vallie prepare food for 100+ attendees, I work on the raffle coordination, Ruthi runs around picking up donations for the raffle, sound check fills the empty venue with harmony, our volunteer friends Natalie, Nicolle, Philly & Allie come early to help me in my state of frenzy and Cat runs off to pick up last minute equipment in the hills of bandland....pheww...so much coordinating...so many wonderful volunteers...all come together to create an unforgettable night with YOU!

How about the Love Couple...Matty & Avasa Love...beautiful!!! What an honor to help spread their music to our Oceanside community.

Again we were blessed to have more Live Art! Thank you to our SUPERFRIEND Jason! His masterpiece helped raise an additional $800 for SuperFood Drive which helps with 3,200 meals to those in need. YES!

The Makepeace Brother's energy is amazing. They give us songs that make us think, dance, give thanks and support our heroes. I have been a fan for years and support their messages through their music. There is something about their sound that gives me the comfy feeling of home...the music I listen to as a child with my family full of musicians. I am so honored to have created this night with them. I love you guys!

Way to dance friends!!!

To sum up our month of contribution during our 12-months of giving...YOU helped gift $1,860.00 to the Rock n Roll Camp for Girls, LA annnnd $1,760.00 (7,200 meals) to SuperFood Drive as well as 304lbs (250 meals) of healthy food to North County's Food Bank...not bad for 2 nights of music and fun huh?
Let's do this again sometime shall we?

So to all the friends, family, sponsors, volunteers, dancers, singers, artists, restaurants, organizations and do-gooders....THANK YOU for being a part of our very special March.

Much love and gratitude,

~ Melissa and Team FTSF ~

A special thanks to Linksoul Lab, Olive PR Solutions, Nika Water, Natalie Warr Photography, Kindred Journey, The Naked Cafe, Creme of the Crop, Gina & Michael's Blown Glass, Jitters Coffee Pub, Stone Brewery, Spoken Glass, Chuao Chocolates, Jimbo's...Naturally, Sushi by Colin, Jennifer Cupcake and Redfearn & Associates. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Feeding your SuperKids

Okay, so as you may remember...on December 18th we had our CD Release party where we raised over $8,000 for the Lewy Body Dementia Association. We chose LBDA to celebrate Vallie's mother, Mrs. Norma, and her beautiful life. We were also inspired by our new friend Ruthi Solari of SuperFood Drive and wondered how we could contribute to her organization that believes in "Giving the Gift of Health by providing nutrient dense non-perishable food items to populations in need." So we agreed that our CD sales from our CD release party would be donated to SuperFood Drive....115 CDs and $2,300 later we handed a check to Ruthi and asked her to let us know what great things were to become of that money.
This is us. This is SuperRuthi.

Little did we know that our donation would help develop a program to raise awareness in schools about hunger, healthy eating and good nutrition, which if you are listening to the news lately they estimate that childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Yikes. Being that Vallie & I both come from the child development field this seemed like a perfect fit for us. Oh, and we love us some healthy eats too.

A message from Ruthi...
"SuperFood Drive is grateful and excited to use the $2,300 from FTSF CD sales to assist with the launch of our pilot program for SuperKids for SuperFoods (SKSF), which is a service-learning program to raise awareness about three concepts: hunger in the local community, healthy eating and good nutrition, and how to fight hunger with healthy food!

In addition to an educational presentation, students are empowered with a tool kit to host their very own SuperFood Drives. Students learn how to ask for healthy non-perishable food items (such as black beans instead of refried with lard, whole grains and fruit canned in its own juice instead of high fructose corn syrup) as well as how to ask peers, parents and local organizations for food donations. By hosting their  own SuperFood Drive, students learn how to Give the Gift of Health to themselves and to populations in need in their local community. SKSF empowers future leaders with a transformative experiences that includes providing a (healthy) service to the community. Lastly, each SuperKids for SuperFoods program culminates with a nutrition night for parents and community members complete with samples and cooking demos on how to use the healthy SuperFood non-perishables. This funding contributes to the creation of a concrete SKSF pilot model in the Chula Vista and City Heights community which will help obtain further funding for more sustainable, ongoing programming."

It's been such a pleasure to work with Ruthi and her team that we decided to partner up with them for Nutrition Awareness Month and create an event where you will be educated, entertained, feed and inspired!!! Our event is also a SuperFood Drive where you can bring a item off the SuperFood Shopping list and be entered for our SuperRaffle.

Thank you, SuperFood Drive, for bringing awareness and transformation to food drives and our children.

~ Melissa

For more information on SuperFood Drive and the SuperKids Program please find them at:

http://www.superfooddrive.com/

Come celebrate with us...

Happy Soul-iversary!!!

Happy Anniversary to Feeding the Soul!!!

It was one year ago that our founder, Vallie Gilley, created the first Feeding the Soul Event! It started as our community coming together for a fun night of dinner and music to donate money to Brother Bennos Soup Kitchen...and I, Melissa Grove, was there! I had an event the weekend before and I was still on that high so having another event just seemed like the natural way to increase the high...and it did! The next few days after the events Vallie and I did nothing but smile and talk about our friends, family and supporters that jumped in and created the best night ever! I clearly remember her looking at me with a big smile and happy eyes..."Wanna keep going?" she said.
"Um.YEAH!!!!" I said. And that was a year, 20+ events, $40,000+, a compilation CD and mmmmany songs ago. I have enjoyed each breakdown, breakthrough, lesson, manifestation, hug and macaroon with all my heart.
And with that I say...HAPPY ANNIVERSARAAAY!!!

Wanna keep going? UMMMM.YYYYEAHHHHH!
Love you all,
Melissa Maria Grove
Promoter of the Soul