Food for the Hungry drive raises $214K for those in need

MOUNT VERNON – After a year of planning, organizing and executing, the 37th annual Food for the Hungry drive ended how most do – with tears.

They were tears of joy, tears of gratitude, and they came from the organization’s leaders as they saw the drive’s donation total at 5 p.m. Saturday. This year’s Food for the Hungry drive raised $214,191. Nearly 24 truckloads of food were collected.

All proceeds will go to local branches of The Salvation Army and Interchurch Social Services, as well as additional agencies and organizations that provide food-based initiatives.

For Lisa Mazzari, in her fourth year as drive coordinator, it never gets old.

“The love that comes with Food for the Hungry and the compassion is nothing short of God,” said Mazzari, still in shock by the six-figure donation total. “It truly is a blessing.”

Food for the Hungry came up short of its $220,000 goal, but not by much. And there is still time to donate, Mazzari noted, as several county-wide food collection points will be open until Dec. 31. The Salvation Army, Interchurch Social Services and Food for the Hungry itself will all accept donations until the end of the year as well.

Last year, FFTH raised over $240,000 during its drive and finished the year with a total of $341,000 donated. The organization easily surpassed its goal of $200,000, which led to a heightened benchmark this year.

While Food for the Hungry came up short of that goal, Mazzari believes it will easily be surpassed by Jan. 1. She also noted that the drive came earlier this year – it always occurs on the second Saturday of December, and this year that meant it fell on the 8th – which she believes may have factored into the final drive number.

“I think it affected the school drives and when they were able to do their collections. I think a lot of people out there are going, ‘Wait, it’s not time yet!’” Mazzari said. “So I’m excited our total was what it was today, but I’m sure we’re well on our way to meeting the goal.”

Goals aside, Mazzari and the organization seemed thrilled with the total. They thanked the community for its generosity, and they emphasized that every penny donated will stay in Knox County to help those in need.

“If there was one thing I could wish, it’s that the spirit of Food for the Hungry, we’d see it all year long,” Mazzari said. “Because you go to someone and you ask if they can help with something for Food for the Hungry and it’s an instant ‘yes.’”

Suspense built throughout the day as donation totals were announced every 90 minutes. The total at noon was nearly $79,000, but that increased immensely by 4 p.m., when it jumped to $191,000. With one hour remaining, donations poured in from across the county, some coming just a handful of minutes before the 5 p.m. deadline.

The drive was headquartered at the Knox County Memorial Building, but there were collection points set up in Apple Valley, Centerburg, Danville, Brinkhaven, Fredericktown, Gambier, Howard and Millwood as well. People pulled up in cars and trucks to drop off boxes of food. Monetary donations were also accepted at each location.

Back at Memorial Theatre, the eight-hour drive was broadcasted live on multiple platforms. WMVO 100.9 FM and 1300 AM carried the radio broadcast, while live video streamed on mvnu.tv. WNZR’s Marcy Rinehart and WMVO’s Curtis Newland co-hosted the day-long broadcast, interviewing all Food for the Hungry partners and grant recipients.

There was also an award administered during Saturday’s drive – the Stephen W. Zelkowitz Award – which is given to a community member who exemplifies an exceptional giving spirit, especially when it comes to Food for the Hungry. This year’s award recipient was Mount Vernon’s Bob Tiell, who accepted the award alongside his family.

Tiell, who admitted he doesn’t seek the limelight, said afterwards that he was “shocked” to have received the award. Tiell was recognized not only for his service to Food for the Hungry, but also to the Mount Vernon school district.

“I think it’s very important,” Tiell said of giving back. “If you’re fortunate enough to give and help others, then you should.”

Local non-profits receive over $30,000 in grants

While Food for the Hungry is best known for facilitating generous donations, it also makes many itself. Every year, the organization sets aside 10 percent of its monetary goal (this year it was $22,000), as well as roll-over funds from the year before to re-distribute as grant money.

Local non-profits can apply for a FFTH grant of up to $2,000, and the organization aims to award as many grants as possible. This year, Food for the Hungry was able to award 19 grants, for a total of $30,050.

Most of the non-profits receiving grants are not well-known. They serve vital roles in the Knox County community, but their mission lends itself to privacy. However, many of these non-profits also depend on yearly FFTH grants to function.

One of this year’s recipients was the Knox County chapter of the Byron Saunders Foundation, which assembles free Thanksgiving meals for those who might not be able to themselves. This year, chapter founder Ginny Williams said that BSF was able to provide 285 meals, and that the non-profit has fed an average of 350 households each year for the past four years.

BSF received a $2,000 grant, which Williams said would be essential for buying the meat coupons that are placed in each meal box.

“It was exciting,” William said afterwards, smiling widely. “It all helps – every dollar helps – because we have to make it somehow.”

Knox County’s BSF chapter has been in existence since 2003 and has received a Food for the Hungry grant every year since 2013. But some of this year’s grant recipients were much younger organizations, such as the Mount Vernon Association of Police Chaplains and the Half Units support group.

The organizations were given a combined $1,000 grant, which MVPD Captain Scott McKnight said would help immensely.

The Half Units support group helps families of first responders during dire times, such as when there is a death in the family. The group provides an in-home meal service, free of charge. This grant money will go directly toward that food.

It will also benefit the Police Chaplains, whose goal is to provide first responders and their families with comfort during similarly dire situations. The grant money could go towards uniforms for the six-month-old organization, McKnight said, as well as many other things.

On top of all that, the joint group plans to give some of its grant money back to the community, thus continuing the chain of giving.

“I know we’re helping out with the Angel Tree here locally,” McKnight said. “Also, we have donated some money toward individuals that are less fortunate within Knox County, from the chaplaincy side that we currently are serving as well. So it will be much appreciated and it will be good for us for the future, in 2019.”

Here is the complete list of local non-profits that received FFTH grants on Saturday:

• Mount Vernon Association of Police Chaplains, The Half Units
• Centerburg Church of God Food Pantry
• ACTS Food Pantry
• Byron Saunders Foundation, Knox County Chapter
• Knox Educational Service Center/Knox Learning Center, Hungry for Knowledge Project
• Covenant Food Pantry
• Jacque Cordle Children’s Fund Food Pantry
• The Freedom Center
• Mount Vernon Farmer’s Market Nutrition Incentives
• Winter Sanctuary Emergency Homeless Shelter
• Central Christian Church Food Pantry
• TouchPointe Life Center
• CHOMP Ministries
• The Church on the Rise Food Pantry
• Lifepoint Church Backpacks of Hope
• Gay St. United Methodist Church Hot Meals
• New Directions
• feedtheVERN
• Peace Meals

Donation totals from auctions, gala announced

In addition to countless individual donations, Food for the Hungry also benefited from two major fundraising pieces: the Snowflake Gala and its several auctions.

Near the end of Saturday’s drive, Kenyon College Director of Board Relations Kathryn Brechler announced that Friday night’s Snowflake Gala had raised over $90,000. Those participating in the live broadcast broke into applause at the time of the announcement, producing a cheer so loud it could be heard in the hallway outside the far end of the theatre.

There were also several items up for auction during the drive. There were five themed gift baskets, four of which were assembled by the Knox County Career Center. There was also the Car-B-Q tailgate trailer, which was built last school year by KCCC collision repair students.

Through a solely online auction, the Career Center’s baskets were able to raise $3,030 for FFTH. There was a simultaneous live and online auction for the Car-B-Q trailer, with the bidding beginning at $1,100 (the highest online bid at the time). The live auction lasted nearly an hour, as FFTH volunteers answered the phone lines and auctioneer John Ruckman rattled off numbers to those standing in front of the Memorial Building.

The auction was competitive, as four different participants placed bids to up the stakes.

In the end, the man who won had braved the 20-degree temperatures and participated in the live auction. His name was Shawn Dennis, and he bought the trailer for $3,000 on behalf of his Mount Vernon law firm, Jack Moser Law.

Dennis said the firm wanted to bid on the trailer as a way to give back to the community and support a worthy cause. And now, the firm also has a trailer that can cook up to 50 hamburgers at one time. Dennis said he plans on hooking the trailer up to his own 1968 Pontiac GTO, which matches the tailgate’s original model.

Career Center students watched as their product finally hit the streets, over two years after it began as an idea.

“It was pretty exciting,” Career Center Principal John Feltman said. “To see the kids out there explaining what they were involved in, having an alumnus come back to talk about his experiences when they first started to build the Car-B-Q… just fantastic.”

Feltman added that all of this year’s auctions likely benefited from the new, online component. It was Food for the Hungry’s first year initiating online bidding, and Feltman believed it upped donation totals for a variety of reasons.

“Maybe it has to do with going throughout the day, putting the auction on several weeks ahead of time,” Feltman said. “But we seem to have gotten a bit more money this year with the online (auction).”

Centerburg, Danville and Fredericktown also held separate auctions, where community members bid on homemade Christmas wreaths and other holiday decor. The Christmas walks of Mount Vernon and Fredericktown generated additional funds as well.

What’s next

Food for the Hungry will continue to collect donations for the rest of the month. The donated food items will be distributed to Knox County’s Interchurch branches and the Mount Vernon Salvation Army, providing a sizeable boost to food pantry inventory as the holiday season nears.

For Mazzari, Saturday marked the end of a year-long organizational process. The FFTH board will soon assess this year’s drive and go back to work, with its sights set on 2019.

But on Saturday, Mazzari simply wanted to take a breath and soak it all in. She wanted to say ‘thank you’ to all who donated and contributed to the cause.

“I would just remind you what a blessing you are, to so many,” Mazzari said. “And I would encourage you to continue to support Food for the Hungry because it does so much good and reaches so many people.

“The wonderful thing about Food for the Hungry is every dollar, every dime, every penny stays right here in Knox County to help our own. That’s just one of the beautiful things about this.”

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