MOUNT VERNON — Food For The Hungry began handing out its first round of checks Monday afternoon.
Joe Rinehart, Food For the Hungry of Knox County board president, presented a check for $21,642.93 to the Salvation Army. The funds for the four branches of Interchurch Social Services — Centerburg, Danville, Fredericktown, and Mount Vernon — were combined in one check for $32,473.64.
Another check will be presented to Interchurch at a later date for special projects, such as freezer units at the Centerburg, Danville, and Fredericktown branches.
The check presentations represented only the first quarter distribution of the funds raised in 2017.
The $200,000 goal was easily met at the annual Food For The Hungry live broadcast in December and a new record was set that day. As the calendar year counted down, however, the funds kept rolling in until an astonishing $341,818 was recorded as the final tally.
Of the original $200,000 goal, 42 percent will go to the Salvation Army and another 42 percent will benefit Interchurch Social Services. Another $21,500 was earmarked for Food For The Hungry’s grant program while the remaining portion of that original number helps pay for organizational costs.
The Food For The Hungry board spent time at its meeting Monday to recap the 2017 campaign and choose how the remaining $141,818 would be spent, which will be announced soon.
