Turkey-A-Thon Raises $33,926 for Food Pantries in Washington County
For Immediate Release
Date: October 16, 2020
Program Contact: Regina Grabrovac, Healthy Acadia, (207) 255-3741 or Regina@HealthyAcadia.org
Media Contact: Tracey Carlson, (207) 667-7171 Ext. 112 or Tracey@HealthyAcadia.org
Turkey-A-Thon Raises $33,926 for Food Pantries in Washington County
WASHINGTON COUNTY. On Friday, October 9, 2020, dozens of volunteers from schools, businesses, and community organizations across Washington County spent the day (mostly) outdoors alongside employees from Classic Hits 92.7/95.3 FM Radio, Dunkin’ in Calais and Machias, V.L. Tammaro in Calais and Baileyville, and Healthy Acadia, collecting donations for local food pantries during the 16th annual Washington County Turkey-A-Thon.
Teams stationed at seven locations throughout Washington County enthusiastically encouraged passersby to support families in need, noting that $12 could purchase a turkey for a family. Broadcasting live from the Dunkin’ studio at V.L Tammaro in Calais, Classic Hits 92.7/95.3 FM Radio kept the momentum going throughout the day, even encouraging a little friendly competition as collection sites reported their tallies hourly via phone.
The event has raised $33,926 so far - the equivalent of 2,827 turkeys – surpassing this year’s goal of 2,500 turkeys as well as last year’s record-breaking tally. Additional donations that come in after the event will continue to be added to the total. Every dollar raised during the Turkey-A-Thon event will be used to purchase gift certificates from local grocery stores that will be distributed among the ten Washington County food pantries and emergency school backpack programs and other food cupboards. The gift certificates will help ensure that local families in need enjoy a healthy holiday meal.
Classic Hits 92.7/95.3, Dunkin’ in Calais and Machias, VL Tammaro in Woodland and in Calais, and Healthy Acadia would like to thank all those who generously donated and/or volunteered their time during the event.
“Because of the incredible generosity of our community, all of the volunteers who make it happen with smiles on their faces and the businesses that sponsor or host this event, we continue to break previous years’ records even in 2020 in the midst of a pandemic and an economic downturn. It is one of the best days of the year; we are working together in a very tangible way to share resources back out to our county’s food security organizations,” declares Regina Grabrovac, Food Programs Manager at Healthy Acadia and co-organizer of the event.
If you have not yet donated and would like to make a contribution, please contact Jeff Demmons at Classic Hits: (207) 454-7545 or jeff@wqdy.fm or Regina Grabrovac at Healthy Acadia: (207) 255-3741 or Regina@HealthyAcadia.org.
Healthy Acadia is a 501(C)(3) community health organization building vibrant communities and making it easier for all people to lead healthy lives throughout Washington and Hancock counties. For more information about Healthy Acadia’s efforts to address food insecurity and other health initiatives, visit www.HealthyAcadia.org.