Emporia’s first Anti-Hunger Challenge doesn’t officially end until this weekend, but area residents have already helped the Rescue Mission and Abundant Harvest take care of the fundraiser’s main goal.
On KVOE’s Newsmaker segment Tuesday, Director Lee Alderman said fundraising has topped the agencies’ longstanding partnership with the Alan Shawn Feinstein Foundation’s annual Feinstein Challenge.
The goal was $65,000, and Alderman says fundraising so far is approaching $75,000. The Anti-Hunger Challenge developed after Feinstein said he would no longer offer the Feinstein Challenge dollar-for-dollar match as he had for years. The Anti-Hunger Challenge uses the same dollar-for-dollar approach to generate funding.
With the main operating budget fully funded, Alderman says the goal now is to finish funding to repave the main parking lot on the west side of the building. Alderman says it’s slanted and can be a health hazard. About $15,000 is needed to finish that project.
Alderman says Abundant Harvest is extremely busy, with people lining up in the pre-dawn hours for daily commodity distributions.
Monday’s evening meal ran out of food in under 20 minutes, but Alderman says there is typically enough food to serve everybody at the evening meals. Those have been using a drive-thru format since the coronavirus pandemic started two years ago, and that approach will continue until further notice. The monthly mobile food bank, a partnership between Abundant Harvest, Tyson Foods and the Kansas Food Bank, is now on hold.
The Anti-Hunger Challenge ends Saturday. To donate, go online to the Emporia Community Foundation’s website, www.emporiacf.org, and select Abundant Harvest as the recipient or send checks to Abundant Harvest, Box 901 in Emporia.
