News
FOOD PANTRY DRIVE BRINGS OUT THE BEST AT LCGH/RHCF
12/07/2009
FOOD DRIVE CREATES COMPETITION AT LCGH/RHCF
Each year the staff at Lewis County General Hospital and Residential Health Care Facility form teams and join the rest of the community in the annual food drive for the local Food Pantry. This year they decided to go all out and the results have been amazing.
So far the staff has delivered four full pick-up trucks to the Lowville Food Pantry and one stuffed truck to the Port Leyden Pantry. A total of over $6200 in food and monetary donations was collected. This was done for the benefit of all the community food pantries and in memory of Margaret Shultz who was a secretary in the LCGH laboratory that recently passed away. As an extra incentive Eric Burch C.E.O., pledged $100 to the winning team for a pizza and sub party.
Tina Schell , Chairperson of the Wellness Team that inspired the drive told us, “This turned out better than we expected. We had a preliminary goal of $5000 and we achieved well over $6200. This is quite a group of people to work with. They really like to help and support the community.”
A few departments joined forces with other departments and a total of 17 base teams were entered in the competition to donate the most items. Staff members brought in hundreds of cans of vegetables, fruits, jars of peanut butter, jams, jellies various cereals, Health And Beauty Aids, and many other selections.
The system to determine the winner was on a point program. They used an estimated cost per item system with each $5 worth of food counting for 1 point. The food drive continued until November 23rd with each team building up each departments point total. The declared winner for the project was the Clinic Offices which consisted of the Beaver River Health Center, South Lewis Health Center, Dr. Stillerman’s office, Women’s Health Center, Main Campus Lowville, Dr. Campbell’s office and Dr. Ellison’s office.
Deb Schell, who helped tally up the donations commented, “The winning team decided to donate the $100 prize offered by Eric Burch back into the food drive. Also, as a result of the staff showing so much spirit and willingness to help the community the Employees Association has generously agreed to sponsor a sundae bar for the staff.”
According to Daniel Taylor at the Lowville Food Pantry even though they are open 12 months a year this is probably their busiest time of the year. “People seem to want to give more during the holidays. In October we helped 309 individuals. November should be the same or more.” Daniel went on to say, “We have already collected over one thousand pounds of food in November.”
Some of the other businesses that help support the Pantry are P&C, Kraft Foods, Climax a number of churches, Hand & Hand and others. LACS provides helpful volunteers as does the River Valley Mennonite School. Individuals and family groups also contribute to the charitable bounty.
Anyone wishing to donate may call Daniel Taylor at 376-7431 or just stop by the pantry located at 7636 State Street across the street from the fire hall. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 until 11:30 AM.
This is a great way to show your holiday spirit and help create some smiling faces around the dinner table during the upcoming holidays. Please join your community hospital and other local businesses and make this a joyous holiday season for all in the community.
Included photo: John Schell handing donated groceries to Rich Schneider for the trip to the Lowville Food Pantry.
