Feed the Hungry Auction Raises US$84,000
On February 23rd Feed the
Hungry held its largest fund-raising event of the year, the Annual
Mexican Fiesta. “The Auction and Raffle raised nearly US$84,000,
about the same amount as last year,” according to Executive
Director Tony Adlerbert. The benefit will help provide nutritious
hot meals to young SMA children in 2005.
“The generous support from local residents and visitors will
help us further our current program of feeding more than 3,000 hungry
young children a day from 25 kitchens in San Miguel and the surrounding
communities,” Adlerbert commented.
“One of the most touching aspects of the auction was 10-year
old Victoriano Chavez Ramirez who baked and donated cookies for
the event,” said Murrell. Victoriano, who is from San Miguel,
started his cookie-making business, ‘Galletas Victoriano’s’,
when he was seven years old. He is in the fourth grade at Fragua
de la Independencia School and sells his cookies throughout San
Miguel including Bagel Café and El Tomate. According to Murrell,
“Victoriano said he wanted to help children less fortunate
than himself by contributing his cookies as part of the evening’s
refreshments for auction participants.”
“Without our generous donors and buyers, all of our wonderful
volunteers, the media and our auctioneer, this auction would not
have been the success that it was,” said Auction Chairperson
Jeannie Schnakenberg.
Schnakenberg said the Los Pinos Fiesta Hall, where the event took
place, was beautifully decorated by volunteers in an authentic Mexican
theme from the hundreds of papel picado de china suspended from
the ceilings to the colorful tables for over 300 people. The centerpieces
were large comals filled with paper mache fruits and vegetables
to remind the buyers of the food that Feed the Hungry serves each
day. The coordinated placemats at each table showed photographs
of the children who benefited from the auction.
Feed the Hungry was founded in 1987 as an outreach program of St.
Paul’s Church to address malnutrition among children in San
Miguel. It has been an independent organization since 1995. Support
for the program comes in part from funds raised at the Annual Mexican
Fiesta Auction & Raffle, the annual appeal during the holiday
season, generous donations received throughout the year from individuals
plus funds from Mexican companies and U.S. companies doing business
in Mexico. Contributions are tax deductible in the U.S. and Mexico.
Of every dollar raised, only nine cents goes for Feed the Hungry
administration, leaving 91 cents to feed the children. Over the
past decade, prudent nutrition management and strict inventory controls
have reduced Feed the Hungry’s per-meal cost by half: from
38 to 19 cents.
Feed the Hungry can build a new kitchen, attached to a school, for
US$10,000, operate it for US$7,500 a year and feed a child for an
entire school year for US$65. For more information, email: contact@feedthehungry.org
or visit www.feedtheungrysma.org
Contacto: Harold Green, (415) 154-7282 o Jay Clark, (415) 154-6848
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