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Oh! What a joy!!
ALL-VOLUNTEER HUNGER RELIEF GROUP SURPASSES THE $1 MILLION RAISED MARK WITH ITS 16TH ANNUAL EVENT
Portsmouth, NH — It took 16 years and a variety of events, but on June 23, 2010 Share Our Strength Seacoast, an all-volunteer hunger relief group, raised its millionth dollar with Taste of the Nation Portsmouth, a food and wine gala under circus tents on the lawns of Strawbery Banke Museum.
“We couldn’t be prouder and happier,” says Lori Decato, a founding member of the group. “We started out as a handful of people from a variety of professions who thought if we pooled our talents and rallied our friends and neighbors we might be able to make a difference.”
Wednesday’s 16th annual Taste of the Nation Portsmouth event attracted more than 700 guests and raised over $135,000. More than 70 restaurants provided samples from their menu, there were over 20 beer and wine purveyors and 200-plus volunteers, most from the area’s food industry. An auction and dancing to Hush, a 7-piece band from Boston, rounded out the evening.
“This event sells out year after year,” says event co-chair Liz Levey-Pruyn. “I think one of the reasons for that is because of the reputation our chefs and restaurants have here. The wealth of culinary skill is incredible for a city this size. We also live in a community that actively supports the idea of a fund-raising group where no one gets paid, and 100 percent of the proceeds go to help hungry children.”
Local grant recipients receiving 70% of the funds raised through the Taste this year are Footprints Food Pantry in Kittery, Maine, The Seacoast Family Food Pantry in Portsmouth, Rockingham Community Action’s WIC (Women, Infants & Children) program, Strafford County Community Action, and The New Hampshire Center for a Food Secure Future at UNH.
Statewide advocacy organization The Children’s Alliance of New Hampshire in Concord and the New Hampshire Food Bank’s Farm to School program will receive 10 percent of the events proceeds.
The remaining funds are split between international anti-hunger organizations such as Grassroots International, Oxfam America, ACCION International, The Lambi Fund of Haiti, Los Ninos, and Bread for the World.
“We started in 1994,” says Decato. “Since then we’ve heard from the grant recipients about how much impact we’ve had and that drives us. At one point Footprints’ board said the pantry would not have been able to remain open if it weren’t for our donations.”
This spring the number of families that require assistance reached a record high, adds Levey-Pruyn. Nearly 17 million children in America—that’s almost one in four—face hunger. And it’s likely that these children will endure lifelong consequences as a result of having limited access to nutritious foods.
Thanks to generous corporate sponsors Liberty Mutual, Auger Building Company, Peter Paul Wines, Bottomline Technologies, Unitil, Optima, The Provident, Pax World Mutual Funds, Smuttynose Brewery, Hammer Construction, ADM, Sysco, GreenPages, Trade Wings, Seacoast Media Group, American Express, Yoga East, Bikram Yoga, Wells Fargo, Idea Outfitters, Strawbery Banke Museum, Marshall Tent Rental, and RAM Printing, 100% of the ticket proceeds go directly to the leading anti-hunger organizations here on the Seacoast and beyond.
The local Share Our Strength volunteers are part of a national group that has developed a strategy to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. This strategy focuses on long-term solutions that support access to nutritious foods and healthy choices—the difference between feeding a family tonight and ensuring that they never have to worry about when their next meal will come. It is designed to bridge the gaps between existing, effective programs and the families who need them. More than 60 Taste events will be held throughout the country this year.
The members of the board of Share Our Strength Seacoast are profoundly grateful to live in a community that so generously supports those in need, and reminds everyone to plan well ahead for next year because Taste of the Nation Portsmouth tickets will sell out early.
