About SummerFest
When I was in the sixth grade, my ninth grade sister and I organized The Gift of Food project to benefit a local food bank. We had heard about the problems the RCS Food Bank was having in the wake of the 9/11 attack in New York when the director spoke at church on a Sunday morning. The food bank feeds 4,000 people monthly, mostly single working mothers and their children, and funds were drying up. We decided to do something and created a charity organized and run by students to raise money for the food bank to buy food in bulk.
We thought that our initial goal was ambitious for 11 and 14 year old sisters: $500. But the community surprised us with its generosity, and we raised over $14,500. Excited by the success, we began to recruit friends from local schools to help us. The next year we raised $22,500, and the year after that over $31,000. To date we have raised over $120,000 for the food bank, all the money used exclusively for food, and have 13 core student volunteers. The Gift of Food soon became the food bank's largest cash contributor, and I was appointed to the board of directors when I was 12. It was interesting to see firsthand what a serious business running a charity really is.
The Gift of Food initially raised money with the design, printing, and selling of holiday cards. The artwork was done by local artists, the printing donated by generous area businesses, and mailing costs subsidized by separate donations, keeping our overhead one of the lowest in the state. The cards explained that a gift had been made in the recipient's name to feed a family of four for two days. Our idea was to sell the cards to local professionals and businesses for them to send at Christmas to their clients and associates instead of gift baskets or bottles of wine.
In later years, the organization also began to raise money by obtaining business and private sponsorships and by writing proposals and receiving grants from large foundations.
In 2005, we started an endowment for the Food Bank, planning to raise $200,000.00. The endowment is funded through an annual concert called Summerfest as well as grants and contributions. In its first year the plan generated almost $30,000. This year's Summerfest Concert will be an International Music and Food festival on April 21, 2007.
The Gift of Food has taught me the reality of community responsibility: that it is hard work. But it has also taught me some of the skills needed to run a small business, such as organization and planning, delegation, and supervision in areas of sales, public relations, and bookkeeping. I have learned the basics of writing grant proposals as well. I have learned that our own neighborhood has problems with poverty that I had previously associated only with developing countries. I have learned that communities are incredibly generous but that financial resources seem always stretched thin and that it is a difficult job to decide how best to use them. I have learned that my fellow students are unexpectedly hardworking for a cause they believe in. And I have learned that, with hope and a lot of work, I can make a difference in the world.
Margo Sultenfuss.
For more information about Summerfest 2007 or for more information regarding the RCS Food Bank, The Gift for Food Endowment, please visit www.RCSPinellas.org or call 727-584-3528 Option 3.
Thank you to our community for donating to and supporting the RCS Food Bank and The Gift for Food Endowment. Members of The Gift for Food Endowment are Kelly Coogan, Allegra Paolillo, Timothy Magidson, Erica Soike, Margo Sultenfuss, Charles Thomas, Sarah Wilkerson, Christina Cardy, Nicole Abdo, Christina Warner, Erin Showalter, Maggie Coogan, and Bre Beirl.
Thank you to our sponsors! Please visit our sponsors websites by clicking the sponsor logos at left.
