Much food, $500 raised in MLK Day of Service project

Beth Berlin is calling this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service project a success.

Monroe County RSVP, under the direction of Berlin, hosted a large food drive throughout the county as a service project earlier this month.

Volunteers set up donation boxes at several area businesses, library branches and other locations. Needed were foods such as canned fruits and vegetables, cereal, oatmeal, jelly and jam, pancake mix and syrup, peanut butter, and soup.

In all more than 3,000 food items and $500 was collected.

“Monroe County RSVP wants to send a great big thank you to all those locations/businesses that participated in our 2023 MLK Day of Service Food Drive,” Berlin, RSVP director, said. “By allowing us to place a donation box on site, in just one week, they helped us accumulate over 3,000 food items and cash gifts of $500 to purchase items in lowest supply.”

Several volunteers collected, sorted and delivered the food. Volunteers included Jo Anne Bray, Janet Allen, Lois White, Tom Heywood, Peggy Behrendt, Valerie Bezeau, Tommy Bray, Paula Diehl, Jim Cooley, Mary Goode, Joann Kunich, Debbie Lentz, Clara Lloyd, Brenda Lewis, and Patricia Rousselo.

The food was delivered to seven Monroe County food pantries: Bedford Veterans Center, Salvation Army, Oaks of Righteousness, St. Anne’s Food Closet and Monroe County Opportunity Program, which supporting Lord’s Harvest Pantry and the food RXs in Bedford and Monroe.

“We are very pleased with the results of our first drive and have learned some great lessons for next year,” Berlin said. “The best part was delivering the food to the pantries. They all expressed gratitude for the drive and said the timing was wonderful, as their pantry shelves were getting low.”

RSVP received notes of appreciation from the food pantries.

“You guys are awesome for putting on this food drive. I cannot believe the amount of food collected. Thank you so much for remembering our veterans,” Kathy Torony from the Bedford Veterans Center said.

“Thank you for the generous donation of food. It was a very thoughtful way to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. We will be able to help a lot of families who are battling hunger because of your hard work,” Tamara Courts from MCOP said.

“An impressive amount of food was contributed to our program at St. Anne. Beth went above and beyond with bringing the food staples to us,” Donna Dushane, co-director of the St. Anne’s Food Closet said. Dushane runs the closet with her husband, Ray.

Berlin also was pleased with the local people’s generosity.

“With the rising cost of food these days, I am very touched by the generosity of the people in Monroe County. I lived in the northern suburbs of Detroit my entire life before moving to Monroe, and the way Monroe County residents support each other is truly special and warms my heart. I am very proud to call Monroe ‘home,’” she said.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Much food, $500 raised in MLK Day of Service project