Shown posing outside the Worcester County Food Bank in Shrewsbury are, left to right: Paul Fontaine of Liberty Movers, which distributed and collected the food-donation containers during the month-long Food Drive; James Leary of UMass Medical School, which raised nearly 300 pounds of non-perishable food items; Jean McMurrayof the Worcester County Food Bank; Jack Hyland of Fallon Community Health Plan, which provided $2,500 in funding to run the Food Drive; and Katelyn Andrews of Webster First Federal Credit Union, which raised more than 1,000 pounds of non-perishable food. Webster First placed first and UMass Medical, second, in terms of the amount of food raised.

 

Click here for more information on this year's Food Drive.

 

To see how great the need is, the Food Bank goes through 10,000 pounds of food in only one-half of one day. The need is continually growing as increasing numbers of laid-off working-class people find themselves in need of Food Bank and other social and human services.

So why did we set 10,000 pounds as our goal? Because, according to the Food Bank, campaigns such as ours help tremendously to raise public awareness of the mounting food and hunger crisis in our own backyard.

The Worcester County Food Bank is Central Massachusetts’ largest anti-hunger organization distributing over 5 million pounds of donated food and grocery products annually in partnership with food industry donors, financial supporters, and volunteers.  The Food Bank provides this product to a network of 178 partner agencies that have programs for feeding people, including food pantries, community meal programs, and shelters.  In fiscal year 2009, the Food Bank and its partner agencies provided food assistance to 93,299 individuals, including children, senior citizens, as well as those who are unemployed or underemployed.  For more information, visit the web site at www.foodbank.org.

 Shown are the initial 4,250 pounds of donated food that were collected and delivered by Liberty Movers to the Worcester County Food Bank.

Popular radio personality Hank Stolz (shown, far right) of WCRN/830 AM broadcast live on April 2 from Percy's TV & Appliance, to promote the final-weekend push for the month-long Hunger Hurts! Food Drive to benefit the Worcester County Food Bank. Click here for this and other photos of Hank's four-hour broadcast, which included interviews with numerous Worcester Local First and Food Bank representatives.

Click here for the 30-second TV spot for our Think Local, Thank Local campaign. It stars Jean McMurray of the Worcester County Food Bank, Jack Hyland of Fallon Community Health Plan and three other Worcester Local First food-drive captains: Sandy Lashin-Curewitz of Becker College, Stephen Pond of L.B. Wheaton and Jack Woods of Thomas J. Woods Insurance Agency, a member of Worcester Local First's Steering Committee. The spot was shot by Ernie Floyd of Pride Productions and edited by Aaron Keyes of Beyond Creative Associates. Shown, is Jack Woods (right) being taped by Ernie Floyd (left) at the Food Bank in Shrewsbury.

Watch Hank Stolz' Wake Up Worcester interview with Jack Woods of Thomas J. Woods Insurance Agency and Janice Sioui of the Worcester County Food Bank. The show, which aired on Charter TV3 on March 18, is now available 24/7 on You Tube

Hear a 30-minute interview with Jean McMurray, executive director of the Worcester County Food Bank, for The Business Beat on WICN/90.5 FM, visit http://wicn.org/podcasts/archive.

This March 2, Worcester Local First, Fallon Community Health Plan and the Worcester County Food Bank held a Hunger Hurts! Food Drive Kick-Off Party at the new headquarters of Webster First Federal Credit Union, which was catered by Struck Catering and attended by more than 50 people. Webster First held a raffle for a $200 U.S. Savings Bond, which was won by Erin Zamarro of A.A. Zamarro Real Estate in Worcester. Shown during the party, left to right, are: Cliff Wilson of Framed In Tatnuck, co-chair of Worcester Local First; City Councilor Barbara Haller (a Worcester Local Firsy member); and Bill Cavanagh of C.C. Lowell, co-chair of Worecster Local First.

In the photos, above:

Top: On March 2 at Webster First Federal Credit Union, City Councilor Barbara Haller (center, a Worcester Local First member) read and presented a Mayor's Proclamation on behalf of Mayor Joe O'Brien, declaring March 2 to be "Think Local, Thank Local Day" in Worcester regarding our Hunger Hurts! Food Drive. Also shown are, left to right: Cliff Wilson of Framed In Tatnuck and Bill Cavanagh of C.C. Lowell, co-chairs of Worcester Local First.

Bottom: On March 2 at City Hall, Mayor Joe O'Brien (far left) presented his Mayor's Proclamation to Jack Hyland (third from left) of Fallon Community Health Plan and a member of Worcester Local First's Steering Committee. Also shown are, left to right, City Councilor Joe Petty, City Councior Kate Toomey (a Worcester Local First member), City Councilor Bill Eddy and City Councilor Phil Palmieri.

Last November at Friendly House in Worcester, Fallon Community Health Plan presented a $2,500 grant to Worcester Local First for our 2010 Hunger Hurts! Food Drive to benefit the Worcester County Food Bank. The grants to Worcester Local First and several local food pantries stemmed from proceeds raised during Fallon's fourth annual Golf FORE a Goal tournament, held last September. Shown, left to right, are: Kate McEvoy-Zdonczyk, senior director of government and community Relations, Fallon Community Health Plan; Carol LeBlanc of St. John’s Parish; Sheryl Spafford of Auburn Youth & Family Services Food Pantry; Pastor Muriel Sanborn of Victory in Christ; Gordon Hargrove of Friendly House; Ralph Weirich of St. Paul’s Food Pantry; Peg Naylor, executive director of Goddard House and treasurer of Worcester Local First; Jack Hyland, director of retention sales, Fallon Community Health Plan, and a member of Worcester Local First's Steering Committee; and Steve Jones-D’Agostino, coordinator of Worcester Local First.