Piece of the Pie
Food & Friends' Thanksgiving fundraiser tops 2009 total
Food and Friends sold more than 5,600 pies this year during its fourth annual ”Slice of Life” fundraiser Slice of Life, raising more than $200,000.
”We are thrilled,” says Craig Shniderman, executive director of the organization, adding that the organization raised nearly 20 percent more than last year’s earnings. ”What this means is we’re getting good growth year to year to year. There is a clear, stable, upward trajectory to the event.”
Food and Friends, founded in 1988 to deliver meals to 60 D.C. residents living with HIV/AIDS in, serves more than 2,600 clients living with a variety of life-threatening illnesses in the metropolitan region.
The Slice of Life event allows participants to buy Thanksgiving apple, pumpkin or pecan pies, among others, for $25 each. Each pie that is sold provides one full day of meals for a Food & Friends client.
”The money [raised] is wonderful, but it’s also a fun community event,” Shniderman says. ”It’s an accessible event, because someone who’s got $25 or $40 can make a significant gift. It doesn’t require a big contribution in order to make it successful, and a lot of people can do it.”
In the next few weeks Food & Friends will be seeking volunteers to help deliver food between January and March, when snow is expected. Should 2011 deliver a blizzard to match what locals saw at the beginning of 2010, Shniderman says the organization is prepared.
”Everybody wants to volunteer during the holidays,” he says. ”We can feed the entire world from Thanksgiving to Christmas, but that’s not when we need the volunteers. We need the volunteers when the weather gets worse. The truth of the matter is the only way the food gets to the client is if somebody delivers it. What we’re looking for is post-Jan. 1 volunteers.”
To volunteer as a food deliverer between January and March, call 202-269-6824 or visit foodandfriends.org.
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
