A pair of Pilot Mountain area non-profit organizations is reaching into their community to provide support in the form of food essentials to area children and their families.
Pilot Mountain Unites and the Pilot Mountain Civic Club have each donated $1,500 for food which group members then purchased and boxed. The food is to be distributed to area students and their families as part of the Surry County Schools expanded lunch program being utilized during the coronavirus pandemic. Some additional purchases were made bringing the overall contribution by the non-profits to about $3,200.
The project developed during a meeting arranged by Pilot Mountain Mayor Evan Cockerham shortly after a state of emergency had been declared. Those attending the meeting included Pilot Mountain Main Street Coordinator Jenny Kindy, Pilot Mountain Civic Club President Michelle Fallin and Pilot Mountain Unites representative Christy Craig.
“Before I could even ask for a dollar amount,” Cockerham noted, “both groups expressed that they wanted to give $1,500 each to make sure families with children had food during this time. They gave, they ordered food and we packed boxes and sent them to the school system so they could be distributed anywhere they’re needed. I’m so grateful to both non-profits for having a community-first mindset.”
Fallin took the challenge to her group which, with meetings currently on hold, voted by email to approve the project.
”Historically,” Fallin explained, “we take part in the school backpack program, usually in April. We felt like we needed to step up and this year we kind of doubled what we’d been doing. I made a call to the social worker in our district and asked, ‘What do you need?’.”
“As soon as I heard they needed help I knew that we have a lot of children in this town and in this community that go home hungry,” Fallin said. “We all believe that no child in our town or in our community should be hungry and we’re doing what we can to eliminate that.”
Craig noted that the donation was also a reflection of the generosity of local businesses.
“We were able to use proceeds from the sponsorships for our 5K that had to be cancelled,” she said. “Some of our sponsors had already given to the backpack program so they were familiar with it and nobody asked for their money back. A lot of parents are out of work and with kids out of school some families are really struggling. With this, we were able to help while putting those funds directly into our community. ”
The groups reached out to D&J Galaxy Food Center to arrange a bulk purchase of an assortment of food staples for the entire family.
“We really appreciate their help,” Craig said. “They worked with us to order what we needed and by ordering in bulk we were able to make the money go further. They were a big help.”
To assure social distancing, Fallin relied on the help of her husband and oldest son to pack some 50 boxes for delivery to Pilot Mountain Middle School. Boxes are then available to other area schools as needed.
“Our goal was to pack each box with enough to feed a family for a weekend and a few days more,” she noted.
“Our community was founded on and has been shaped by the work groups like these have done,” Kindy said. ”They’re a key to what makes Pilot Mountain feel like home. They are the reason our town is known as a caring community.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com