Thanks to an incredible effort by an incredibly giving and loyal community, the Good Samaritan Ministries raised $180,000 through the annual Feinstein Challenge held during March and April!
“Our goal was $140,000 and we were afraid that might be a bit lofty, but, as usual, our community came through in a huge way,” said Angelia Bostick, Executive Director of GSM. “We are beyond excited to report that we brought in even more than the goal we had set.”
Bostick said the two-month campaign included annual projects like the Empty Bowls Project and the Easter Buffet, but also took into account grants, personal monetary donations, food drives from schools, local business donations and various other food drives and donations.
“It really is a community campaign,” Bostick said. “Every year I am so thrilled to see the response of the Brown County community to do their part to aid in the fight against hunger locally.”
This year’s Feinstein Challenge was the most successful ever in the 12 years GSM has participated. The focus of the Feinstein Challenge is promoting hunger awareness through campaigns, drives and projects.
“Individual participation in not only the Feinstein Challenge itself but the Empty Bowls Project, as well, has been phenomenal this year,” Bostick said. “More people than ever before painted bowls and attended our Empty Bowls Project which brought in almost three times as much money as last year’s.”
Just more than $16,000 was raised through the 2012 Empty Bowl’s Project. And, because of the generosity of sponsors like Big Country Ford Lincoln, Landmark Life, Texas Bank, TXU Energy and Wal-Mart, there were no additional event costs to come out of that total. Of that, GSM was able to tithe $1,600 to Food for the Hungry, an organization that provides hunger relief to Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Around $7,000 was raised during the annual Easter Buffet and more than $15,000 was brought in from individuals and businesses in the community during the March and April challenge! In addition, almost 14,000 pounds of food were donated from individuals, more than 18,000 pounds from churches and clubs, 9,000 from businesses, and more than 4,000 from schools! And that’s not counting what came in from grants and larger donations!
“When you think about it, $140,000 was a huge goal, but to surpass that goal by $40,000 was beyond incredible,” Bostick said. “We can’t thank our Brown County community enough for their support so far this year. Each and every person who has given money or food is an integral part of this ministry and the people it serves!”
So far, 2012 looks to be on track with last year in regards to the number of families coming to the pantry for assistance with food. It is important to note that last year was a record year with higher numbers than ever before.
No one can predict the future.
“Things can change in the blink of an eye for families struggling to get by,” Bostick said. “Therefore, we are continuing with our existing projects and campaigns, as well as adding a few new ones.”
A few things to look forward to this summer include the annual Christmas in July campaign to raise money for the Christmas food boxes given out in December, a summer volunteer program for children and youth, a summer pilot program of Food for Thought, and a Reuse, Repurpose or Refashion contest for the GSM Clothing Store.
For more information on any of the programs or projects, please call 643-2273 or 325-203-2489.
