On Saturday, March 28, we would have gathered at beautiful Willow Creek Falls with hundreds of friends and supporters to enjoy Feed Fannin’s Bowls of Hope 2020. Sadly, that could not happen.
We are all disappointed that we had to cancel our annual fundraiser, but we did so out of concern about public health and everyone’s safety. We are so grateful to so many ticket holders who have asked us to convert the value of their tickets to a donation to Feed Fannin. As many of you have urged us to do, we continue to explore other fundraising activities we might hold in 2020 to help make up the shortfall from this year’s Bowls of Hope fundraising goal. And, we are already thinking about Bowls of Hope in 2021!
Feed Fannin is committed to doing all we can to continue funding the necessary food purchases to meet the increased demand from the clients of the Food Pantry at Family Connection. As a result of the economic impact of the coronavirus public health crisis, the need has already increased significantly.
The most inspiring thing that we have experienced in unwinding all of the plans to hold Feed Fannin’s Bowls of Hope this year has been the generosity of our supporters and volunteers. So many of you immediately came forward to donate your tickets and to make unsolicited monetary contributions to help Feed Fannin purchase food for the Food Pantry at Family Connection. Our restaurant supporters, potters, silent auction donors, musicians, and many others have told us repeatedly that they are on stand-by to help whenever and however they can.
We all will come through this as we have other challenging and frightening times. Feed Fannin will continue purchases of larger quantities of food items from the Atlanta and Chattanooga Food Banks for the Food Pantry. Supplementary food items for homebound seniors have been ramped up in a new collaboration with the Fannin County Senior Center to help Meals on Wheels serve more seniors with more food.
Volunteers are preparing our large community garden at Ada Street and the Barbara Ferer Research & Demonstration Garden located next to the Family Connection building knowing that the vegetables we grow and donate to the Food Pantry this season will be even more important than in past years. Members and friends are offering to plant at home an extra row or a garden pot of vegetables to donate to Feed Fannin for the Food Pantry.
In January 2009, now over a decade ago, Feed Fannin was conceived in the midst of very difficult times in the last major economic downturn. Feed Fannin volunteers and friends will continue to apply energy, generosity, ingenuity, and dedication to help our community make it through the economic impact of this new crisis in our second decade just as we did in our first.
Neighbors helping neighbors has always been the way of this community. Feed Fannin carries on that tradition in partnership with others.
That is our pledge to the community we serve and to our volunteers, members, friends and supporters who make our work possible.
Ron Ciochon
Chairman
Feed Fannin Board of Directors