Mike and his family traditionally made gifts to support families facing hunger near Thanksgiving and during community fundraisers such as Scouting for Food. Like so many in our region, they were deeply touched when the COVID-19 pandemic hit our community, leaving many of our neighbors sitting in long lines waiting for food.
“When COVID happened, it made me realize that people are hungry all the time, not just at Thanksgiving. When I saw the lines of cars, I was really struck that this is impacting a lot of people.”
It was the sight of those lines that inspired them to act.
“We decided to make a gift for the Grow Share Thrive campaign, which was nice, and it was coincidental that the Food Bank was upgrading their facilities to better serve our community. At the same time, we decided to do a monthly gift. Because once again, the idea is that people are hungry all year long. They’re not just hungry at Christmas or Easter or Thanksgiving. They’re hungry in the summer too.”
While Mike’s campaign gift helped us renovate so we can increase our distribution of food, especially fresh produce, his monthly gift makes the greatest impact in our region by providing food and other life stabilizing resources all year long.
“I feel like it [monthly giving] is going to be a core part of our philanthropy going forward; to make sure that we continue to support the Food Bank in that way. Because, hopefully, for many people this is a temporary challenge. They may move in and out of food insecure situations because of job loss or COVID where they’re temporarily in need, but I know there’s a permanent need there as well. And so, we address the permanent need through the monthly giving program and then also with larger gifts, that may be more sporadic or at higher times of need throughout the years and decades.”
Join Mike as a monthly donor to provide consistent support to our neighbors during the year.
While Mike and his family make financial contributions to us, he shares there are other ways you can help your neighbors facing hunger.
“We can give our treasure to the Food Bank, but there’s also time and talent. You can drop off food, you can go down and help package food, you can help distribute food, you can volunteer in several different ways – either directly at the Food Bank or through your community pantry.”
Learn more about all the ways you can support our community.