The Academy Awards of Food Bank Donors and Volunteers

Last night the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina held it’s annual thank you awards and the Hunt-Morgridge Service award.  It is the one time during the year when organizations that donate funds, food, volunteer hours and in-kind services come together with the agencies, which get food from the Food Bank.

As the board chair of the Food Bank I was the master of ceremonies, a job you can imagine I love to do.  There was one theme that ran through the evening that really warmed my heart, which was of the hundreds of people who were there every person felt passionately about feeding hungry people and the good work the Food Bank does.

Running a Food Bank, or a soup kitchen or emergency food pantry is not glamorous work, but the satisfaction that comes from giving a hungry child a fresh pear and see the joy in his face when he tastes it for the first time is gratifying.  We are lucky that there are so many people in our community who feel drawn to this good work.

I am overwhelmed by the generosity of companies who raise money, send employees over to volunteer and look for creative ways to support the work of the Food Bank.  Our President’s Circle Humanitarian partners that have given over one million dollars or a minimum of ten million pounds of food or in-kind services in the last five years were, ABC-11, Cisco, Food Lion, Resers’s Fine Foods, Society of Saint Andrews and Wal-Mart.

John Morgridge the chair emeritus of Cisco has created a culture of serving the Food Bank in that company that has expanded every year and continued well past his retirement.  Our service award is named for Mr. Morgrdige and Governor James B. Hunt, both of whom are committed to our mission.  This year’s Hunt-Morgridge Service Award Winner was Barbara Oates, the founder of our Food Bank thirty- two years ago.

Barbara told the story about how when she started the Food Bank it was run exclusively by volunteers and she would go home at night and talk to her then eight-year-old son about “how the people at the Food Bank were the best people on earth.”  She later heard him repeating the phrase, which she obviously said more than once.  I would like to reiterate that sentiment.  The staff and volunteers at the Food Bank and the dedicated board which I serve is made up of a group of hard working and selfless people who really are the best people on earth.

I also got to introduce “Hungry Kate.”  If you want to learn what the Food Bank does please click on this link to watch a two-minute video.

http://www.foodbankcenc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=HungryKate

I was happy we got to show off for Bob Aiken, the new president of Feeding America and a group of his staff who were visiting our Food Bank yesterday and today.  Mostly I want to thank everyone who helps feed another person, whether you know them and do it directly or you give through the Food Bank.  God is smiling on your face today.