About

Ballantyne Families Logo

Who We Are

Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors in Need (BFHNIN) is a grassroots, 501c3 organization that was born out of COVID when schools shut down. Concerned for children who depend on school breakfast and lunch, one local mom led a few food drives. This led to a realization that there was a large need for food assistance and that many in our community were willing, able, and energized to give.

Since 2020, we have grown and expanded to help more Ballantyne families facing food insecurity, by providing support at Thanksgiving, Winter holidays, Spring Break, and Summer with bags of food, grocery gift cards, encouraging notes from the community, and opened our first food pantry at Community House Middle School. All of the families who we support either work or attend one of the 11 public schools* in the Ballantyne area and are identified by the school counselors/social worker. To date, we have given support to over 10,000 people by providing over 2,000 bags of groceries, $274,000 in grocery gift cards and 1000s of encouraging notes from the community.

We feel so honored to be able to give back to our local community, but there are still many families facing food insecurity who need our help! Did you know that 1 in 5 students in the 11 Ballantyne area public schools that we support are eligible for free or reduced lunch?

Whether you are an individual, family, group, neighborhood, or corporation, there are many ways that you can help and support our local Ballantyne community through BFHNIN.

"We are grateful to help families in need of food assistance. We believe in our community… they are neighbors who care and come together in kindness to make a difference in the lives of 100s of local families with food insecurities throughout the year. #loveyourneighbor"

Executive Board

Heather McAfee

Executive Director/Founder

Lauren Rosenbaum

Director/Secretary

Tori Collins

Treasurer

Valerie Johnson

Counselor At Large

Sally Pickard

Member At Large

Committees

Database Administrator

  • Laura McCluer

Educator team

  • Susan Hicks
  • Sally Pickard

Neighborhood Champions

  • Denise Oswald

Pantry team

  • Pantry managers (pantry@ballantynefamilies.org)
    • Erin Furey
    • Sheilah White
    • Tammy Menzel
  • Inventory manager
    • Sheila White

Publicity

  • Open

School Champions

High school

  • Ardrey Kell – Lauren Rosenbaum
  • Ballantyne Ride – Denise Oswald

Middle schools:

  • Community House – Kristin Scully
  • JM Robinson – Susan Reikowski
  • Rea Farms – Sari Rosenberger

Elementary schools:

  • Ballantyne – Layla Latif
  • Elon Park – Beth Patterson
  • Endhaven – Amy Rothwell
  • Hawk Ridge – Amy Ward
  • Knights View – TBD
  • Polo Ridge – Shannon Denholm

School Counselors

High school

  • Ardrey Kell – Jon Rochester (social worker)
  • Ballantyne Ridge – TBD

Middle schools:

  • Community House – Valerie Johnson
  • JM Robinson – Lisa Smith
  • Rea Farms – Amber Heine

Elementary schools:

  • Ballantyne – Nicki Elkins
  • Elon Park – Amber Brown
  • Endhaven – Taletha Williams
  • Hawk Ridge – Mary Bleich
  • Knights View – Jeannine Roulette
  • Polo Ridge – Melissa Stevenson

Social Media

  • Sally Pickard

Spring Break and Summer Giving Team

  • Melissa Graham
  • Denise Oswald

Website/email

  • Geoff Parish

How you can help

There are many ways that we can use your help and support to make a difference. See the links below to get involved!

Ways to HelpDonate Now