Donations to Food for the Hungry Total Over $250,000 and Still Growing

 

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — The 40th anniversary of the Food For The Hungry drive brought Knox County residents, businesses, schools and organizations together to help fight food insecurity. These collective efforts resulted in donations totaling $257,538 and 26 truckloads of food and the total is still climbing!

Community members came together again this year to support food assistance projects and provide emergency client services through Interchurch Social Services, The Salvation Army and other food assistance organizations of Knox County.

Volunteers staffed 12 different collection points around the county on Friday, Dec. 10, to collect food and money, while local media combined to produce an eight-hour live radio and livestream broadcast.

During the broadcast, FFTH announced the awarding of 19 grants, totaling $38,000 to county projects involving food assistance.

Grants of $2,000 went to:

  • ACTS Food Pantry
  • Byron Saunders Foundation, Knox County Chapter
  • Central Christian Church Food Pantry
  • Community Hunger Outreach Mobile Pantry (CHOMP)
  • Covenant Church Food Pantry
  • First Congregational Church of Christ Hot Meals Program
  • Fredericktown United Methodist Church, Peace Meals Program
  • The Freedom Center, Nutrition in Recovery Program
  • Knox County Career Center Food Pantry
  • Knox County Task Force for Older Adults
  • Knox Learning Center, Hungry For Knowledge Project
  • Lazarus Life Ministries
  • Lifepoint Church, Backpacks of Hope
  • New Directions, Hunger Needs After Hours Project
  • North Bend Church of the Brethren
  • Say a Prayer Ministries/In Joy Food Pantry
  • The Church on the Rise Food Pantry
  • The Father’s Table, Food Pantry and Hot Meal
  • TouchPointe Marriage & Family Resources

Here are some other exciting totals!

The Knox County Elementary school collection was hosted by Psi Iota Xi Sorority. The students collected $16,786.54 and 12,686 food items!

School Totals:

  • Centerburg 1,842 food items and $2,436.65
  • Danville 732 food items and $1,045.00
  • East Knox 1,384 food items and $1,358.00
  • Fredericktown 1,576 food items and $2,495.86
  • Columbia 979 food items and $1,060.00
  • Dan Emmett 1,045 food items and $241.00
  • East 667 food items and $1,348.00
  • Pleasant Street 844 food items and $485.00
  • Mount Vernon Middle School 760 food items and $1,731.00
  • Vincent de Paul 425 food items and $532.00
  • Twin Oak 1,021 food items and $1,571.00
  • Wiggin Street 1,051 food items and $2,075.00
  • The Learning Center 361 food items and $186.00
  • Extra ($222.03)

The Knox County High Schools collection was a huge success.  Local High Schools collected a total of $11,382.53 and 7,841 food items! That is 6.28 trucks!
Volunteer Shawn Dugan served as our High School Collection and Competition Coordinator.

School Totals:

  • Centerburg High School: 213 food items and $105.00
  • Danville High School: 201 food items and $152.25
  • East Knox High School – 1 truckload of food
  • Fredericktown High School: $1,464.07
  • The Knox County Career Center: $8,119.21 and 6,951 food items (5.57 truckloads of food)
    1. Lab that brought in the most items overall—Auto Tech Lab
    2. Lab that brought in the most food items (no cash)—Landscape Design and Management Lab
    3. Penny Battle Winner—Landscape Design and Management Lab
  • Mount Vernon High School: 476 food items and $1,542.00

The top collecting schools in both the Central Knox County and Greater Knox County competitions are recognized and awarded with multi-year traveling plaques to acknowledge their achievement and contribution to FFTH.

The 2021 Central Knox County Award goes to the Knox County Career Center.
The 2021 Greater Knox County Award goes to Fredericktown.
New this year to celebrate the 40th year of FFTH, a very special category was created for the next highest collecting high school after the two winning schools: All-Knox Runner-up Category – Mount Vernon High School

The Kenyon Snowflake Gala continues to be a significant contributor to FFTH. In another year with multiple challenges, the gala fundraising totaled $80,860! Kenyon presented this year’s William A. Stroud Jr. Award for community service to the People of Knox County.

Mount Vernon Nazarene University presented the Stephen W. Zelkowitz Memorial Award to Kathy Brechler of Kenyon College. Kathy was honored for her many years of service helping to coordinate the Kenyon Snowflake Gala and other collections at Kenyon. We honor her incredible commitment and passion for the annual FFTH Drive.

Other notable donations:

  • The Fredericktown Christmas Walk—$9,356.87
  • Mount Vernon Dental & SuperQ 93.7 WQIO—$4,668.00 and a quarter truckload of food
  • Knox Community Hospital $9,900.00 and ¾ truckload of food
  • Knox County Service Club Competition—$3,515.00
  • Mount Vernon Nazarene University Faith Works Program—$2,306.09
  • Turkey Trot $1,034 and 264 food items
  • Battle of the Coffee Shops—$1,881.59 and 31 food items
  • Folkfest (Foodstock)—$1,050.00 and 115 food items
  • Fire & Ice—$1,270.00 and 205 food items
  • Centerburg Wreath Auction—$90.00.
  • The Knox County Career Center Online Silent Auction—$3,542.00.

One event continues through Dec. 30, with the Festival of Trees at the Floral Valley Community Center in Apple Valley, continues through Dec. 30.

Collection Point Totals:

APPLE VALLEY/HOWARD:

  • Red Rover Marathon – 70 food items and $130.00

CENTERBURG:

  • Interchurch Branch – 27 food items and $784.29
  • Hometown Market: 87 food items and $251.00 Total:

DANVILLE:

  • Interchurch Branch – 26 food items and $497.00
  • Hometown Market – 23 food items and $74.00

FREDERICKTOWN:

  • BellStores – 29 food items and $146.00

GAMBIER:

  • The Village Market – .6 truckload of food (just over ½ truck) and $4,618.00

MOUNT VERNON:

  • Aldi – .4 truckload of food (just under ½ truck) and $99.00
  • Kroger – .75 truckload of food (2/3 truck) and $420.00
  • Lanning’s Foods – .35 truckload of food (just over ¼ truck) and $438.00
  • Baker’s IGA – .6 truckload of food (just over ½ truck)
  • Lowes – .25 truckload of food (1/4 truck) and $1,153.00
  • Wal-Mart Supercenter – .75 truckload of food (2/3 truck) and $1,790.00
  • The Knox Memorial – Lots of Food and $8,014.00

Thank you for doing your part to fight hunger in our community! You can stay updated on photos, radio interviews, videos and more at foodforthehungrycares.org. The video archive of Saturday’s broadcast is also available at MVNU.tv in the on-demand tab and will be available for a full year.

Food For The Hungry, celebrating 40 Years of working together to care for our neighbors.

 

Information courtesy of Food for the Hungry