Donations Through April 30 Will
Go “A Long Way”
By Sherrie Norris
With just days left to participate in the Feinstein
Challenge, Compton Fortuna, executive director at The Hunger
and Health Coalition in Boone states, “We are off to
a great start and have had a very positive response from
the community. We are especially excited about the support
and involvement we have received from not only generous
individuals, but also groups in the community, such as local
faith communities, the school system and Appalachian State
University.” With time quickly slipping away for the
challenge, the need for more donations of food and funds
to support the Food Assistance programs is still present.
“We can provide a box of food for approximately $3.41.
Boxes are typically 25 – 30 pounds. This is an incredible
return on investment for every donor dollar.” While
Fortuna states that the challenge we first told you about
earlier this month “is not a 100% matching opportunity,”
the foundation will make a gift based on the amount collected
by the local organization. So far, Fortuna states, details
about the size of gift her agency will receive has no been
disclosed, nor does the Coalition have a specific goal in
mind as far as a dollar amount they hope to raise through
the opportunity. As always, however, every single donation
will “go a long way,” bit even farther through
month’s end.
Fortuna added that her agency participated in this challenge
in 2001, raising over $5,900 that year in response to the
foundation.
Just as the winter food drive supplies dwindle to a serious
low on the Coalition’s pantry shelves at the agency,
news of the challenge by the Feinstein Foundation of Cranston
Rhode Island was perfectly timed in Boone.
In a press release from the foundation, Alan Shawn Feinstein
shared his commitment to again divide $1million among hunger-fighting
agencies nationwide using it to help them raise funds during
March and April, 2007. “Agencies should simply inform
their donors that the more of a donation they make to their
agency - from March 1 to April 30- the more of the Feinstein
money will be added to their donation!” Only donations
received between those dates and from use of the Feinstein
challenge should be counted, and can include cash, checks
and food items (that can be valued at $1 per item or pound)
as well as pledges, as long as they were obtained only in
response to the challenge.
Fortuna and her staff are required to keep a record of what
they raise and from whom, should verification be requested.
Feinstein’s office states, “Our million dollars
will then be divided proportionately among all agencies
with a minimum of $250 and a maximum of $50,000. Checks
will be mailed from the Foundation by August 1.
Feinstein’s past $1 million challenges to fight hunger
have raised a record $620 million for agencies nationwide.
Fortuna excitedly tells The Mountain Tines that her agency’s
donors toward this campaign make them partners “in
the most successful grassroots campaign to fight hunger
of all times,” a fact in which each can take great
pride. “This is a tremendous opportunity for the Hunger
and Health Coalition to bring in resources from other states
to assist the people we serve locally. As food donations
have been dwindling, the Feinstein Challenge could not occur
at a better time. We hope this will encourage the community
to make donations to benefit the Food Assistance programs
we offer.”
Fortuna agrees that this would be a perfect time for schools,
businesses, civic organizations and families to sponsor
a food drive, knowing that each can or box of food that
is brought into the Coalition will be automatically increased
by month’s end.
For the last nine years, Alan Shawn Feinstein, CEO of The
Feinstein Foundation, has been giving away $1 million each
year to anti-hunger agencies throughout the country. Because,
he says, “I believe each of us was put here on earth
to do what we can to help those in need . . . Your donation
makes you a partner in it with me! My money started this
campaign but it is you who will help decide how many needy
people in your city or town will be fed this year. I’m
only here to give you some support and to remind you of
this: That all that will matter to us someday is what we
did while we were here to help those who needed us.”
Feinstein, founder of the Feinstein Foundation, is a nationally
known philanthropist and humanitarian. He has made an indelible
impact on American education and public service that has
spread throughout the country, believing that “Helping
to better the lives of others, regardless of race, creed
or color, is the greatest of all achievements.”
For more information, contact The Hunger & Health Coalition,
Inc.,141 Health Center Drive in Boone, (828).262-1628.;
hungerc@bellsouth.net;
www.hungercoalition.com |
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