Floridian Seasonal Residents Bring Sunshine to Hunger Coalition

Sponsorship Will Feed Hundreds

By Sherrie Norris

The big rig from Oklahoma’s Feed The Children Ministry was due to pull in at any moment early Tuesday morning. A crowd of volunteers hovered around the Health and Hunger Coalition, eager to help unload the massive load of food that was heading to Boone.

In the meantime, the truck driver had discovered his destination “was farther back in these hills than they told

me,” he later stated, but in the meantime while they waited, those anxious volunteers went to work helping sort and shelve perishable goods – fruits, vegetables, breads, etc. – arriving through a routine daily delivery from local grocery stores.

“All but one of the supermarkets in Boone donate their day-old goods to us,” a spokesperson said, “and we’re working hard to get that last one to help, too.”

Several of the volunteers lending a helping hand were, in fact, Coalition board members joined by the area’s seasonal residents from Florida, who were solely responsible for the highly anticipated Feed The Children Truck.

It was over dinner one night, said regular volunteer Ann Spinetto, that she mentioned to some of her Florida friends the ongoing needs of the Coalition and the difficulty therein of meeting the growing needs of High Country residents. “That’s all it took,” Spinetto said Tuesday morning.

Within 48 hours after sharing her heart with “an incredible benefactor” from Florida, who makes his summer home in the Vilas area, a major plan to help feed the hungry was taking shape. While the “Floridians” do not mind being referred as same, they wish to remain anonymous, but do want the area to recognize that they are sensitive to the needs of the local community and hope to inspire others from the Sunshine State and beyond to get involved in a similar way. In addition to raising $7,200 within a few days’ time, the group of 10 is currently discussing creating a foundation to insure that their interest continues and others have a chance to give.

Compton Fortuna, executive director of the Hunger and Health Coalition, referred to the generous group as “second homeowners from Florida making an investment in our local community that will help feed many hungry children, men and women,” and any funds remaining over and above the cost of the truck will be used to purchase baby formula.

Due to a busy summer in which the food pantry shelves hit an all-time low, Fortuna said the timing was perfect, just as it was last winter when local Realtor Sandy Byrum with the Sterling Company of Banner Elk organized a similar delivery through the Watauga-Avery Realtors Association. And just like Byrum, these seasonal residents share a passion to help others.

Due to the need of many families requiring additional food in the summer to feed their school-aged children, who otherwise eat at least two nutritional meals at school, Fortuna said the shelves have been extremely low. In fact, she encouraged some of her clients on Monday to try to hold off until the truck arrived before taking home a half-filled box, rather than a whole one.

Because Ann Spinetto knew of an ongoing need and was aware of how Byrum helped fill that need in the winter, she found that just mentioning it to her Florida friends was enough to get the ball rolling.
Fortuna responded, “The Hunger and Health Coalition is extremely grateful for the generosity of the donors who contributed to the Feed the Children Food delivery. Donations are typically down in the summer, and with the increased demand we have seen this particular summer, the pantry is dangerously low. While we are typically able to receive large amounts of food from Second Harvest Food Bank in Winston Salem, their supplies have been diminished, as well, which results in less food on the local level. This donation will help fill the empty shelves and keep the food pantry meeting the needs of the hungry in our area. The truck will contain 400 boxes of non-perishable items, 400 boxes of personal hygiene and household items, and two additional pallets of food.”

Fortuna stated that dividing up the boxes and packing the goods with other food and staples from their pantry and daily donations will stretch their abilities to provide food from about one month to three or four. She commended Spinetto and the Florida community for caring enough to make it happen. While the coordinator of the seasonal group really wishes to remain anonymous, he did share that only one of the nearly dozen people he asked to help refused. In fact, one of his friends who owns a jewelry store in West Palm Beach collected more than $1,000 in his store simply by posting a sign asking for donations from his customers.
Gayle Henson, chair of the coalition’s board of directors, along with fellow board member Floyd Domer, was present on Tuesday morning, assisting with the deliveries, as were students of Cove Creek Farm and regular volunteers. Henson and Domer spoke of their passion for helping those less fortunate, remembering what it was like “growing up in the Depression,” agreeing that hard times are never forgotten, but the memories lend themselves to reaching out to help others.

Speaking for his generous Florida friends, the “leader of the pack” stated, “Sometimes people forget that there are people who are still hungry – they don’t look under the covers to see what’s going on. Once we were made aware of this pressing need, we were more than willing to help.”

He added that most from Florida have what he described as “a volunteer mentality,” where they put their heart and soul into what they do, adding, “We don’t want to jump in to something for a short period of time and then just disappear for the rest of the year. We would like to mobilize and create a foundation so that we can commit to a cause and have an impact and make a difference.”

Feed The Children is an international nonprofit Christian relief organization with headquarters in Oklahoma City, Okla. Delivering food, medicine, clothing and other necessities to individuals, children and families, who lack these essentials due to famine, war, poverty or natural disaster during its 27-year history, FTC has created and developed one of the world’s largest private organizations dedicated to feeding hungry people.
Last year, the organization shipped 183 million pounds of food and other essentials to children and families in all 50 states and in 65 foreign countries and supplemented more than 1,463,000 meals a day, worldwide. The heart of FTC is distributing food to needy families, working closely with corporate partners that donate surplus food and other supplies, as well as with individual donors who help defray the cost of transporting the product donations. Its international programs focus on providing food, medical assistance, emergency relief and creating sustainable development, having done so since 1979, in more than 115 nations around the world.
The Hunger and Health Coalition was established in 1982 and began serving the community through the Food Pantry program. Pharmacy services and additional food services have been added over the years in response to community needs. The Hunger and Health Coalition is a member agency of the High Country United Way. For more information, call (828) 262-1628 or visit online at www.hungercoalition.com.