Campaign update
The JournalNews and Shared Harvest Foodbank have partnered to ask for your help to stamp out hunger in southwest Ohio through your support of the Hamilton JournalNews Food Relief campaign.
The program has so far received $20,630.31 in individual gifts, along with $20,000 from the Hamilton Community Foundation, for a total of $40,630.31.
Contributions can be made online at Journal-News.com/foodrelief or by mail to Hamilton JournalNews Food Relief, P.O. Box 421545, Middletown, OH 45042-1545.
HAMILTON — The eighth-annual JournalNews Food Relief has topped the $40,000 mark and has set a record for the highest average gift.
As of Friday afternoon, the campaign generated $20,630.31 through 506 individual gifts, making the average of $40.77 per gift the highest in campaign history, according to Tina Osso, executive director of the Shared Harvest FoodBank.
“Add to this the $20,000 grant from the Hamilton Community Foundation, and we have the second highest campaign to date with a total of $40,630.31,” she said.
The previous high average gift was in 2009, when 700 gifts, averaging $40.62, generated $28,242.38. Coupled with the Hamilton Community Foundation matching grant of $25,000, that was the best year for the JournalNews Food Relief campaign as it generated $53,242.38.
“Over the years, the Hamilton JournalNews Food Relief Campaign has contributed $214,064 in this daily struggle against the empty cupboards of our neighbors,” Osso said. “For Shared Harvest, that translates into nearly 1,713,000 meals on the table of families right here at home who would have gone without otherwise.”
The money raised in the JournalNews Food Relief campaign is set aside by Shared Harvest to provide food for pantries in Butler and Warren counties, filling in the gaps from what the food bank cannot get in donations and government commodities.
“It enables us to find deals and best buys on the foods that the pantries tell us they need more of,” she said.
“This has been another wonderful campaign, and it’s not over yet,” Osso said. “Traditionally, we will continue receiving contributions well into January.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.
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