Submitted by Dave Wirth
Feeding Fluvanna began in 2017 by a group of people from Grace and Glory Lutheran Church. It is a county wide event to collect food and monetary donations to assist Fluvanna Christian Service Society (FCSS) and the Monticello Area Community Action Agency (MACAA), who work together to manage the local food bank based at the Carysbrook Complex. Our first year the project began simply enough: host a food drive to support our local food bank. As our team began discussing how to make it a success, our project quickly grew into a community-wide event, bringing together 11 local churches eager to share our mission. Working side-by-side with other congregations and local civic groups that heard about our plan, we learned the true meaning of community. Many of us had neighbors in our county that needed help feeding their families and we were determined to help them out.
That first year, 2017, the event was an amazing success. We raised approximately $1,300 and collected 2,000 lbs. of food donations. Our community enjoyed a day filled with good food, shopping among the many local vendors, games for the kids, a dunk tank (pastors and other likely candidates volunteered) and a chance to adopt a pet from several local animal rescues, raffles, and most important of all, the opportunity to come together as one community, helping each other.
Again in 2018 we repeated a one-day event at Grace and Glory. We raised around $4,400 and collected 3,000 lbs. of food for the food bank! Once again coming together as a community was a fun-filled day.
In 2019 circumstances did not allow us to host another large scale event but with a month long food drive challenge by many congregations and food collection efforts hosted at local businesses we managed to collect 4,500 lbs. of food and $3,500 in funds! The joy of working together and hosting vendors was sadly missing, but we met the challenge of hunger in Fluvanna County.
Now in 2020 we faced another challenge – the coronavirus! While we had solicited quite a number of vendors very few wanted to commit to even an outdoor event. So we took a look at how else we could accomplish our mission. What was decided was to expand our direct solicitation by expanding the number of collection sites and doing more publicity. In place of the 4 locations used in 2019 for 1 day, we selected eight locations who agreed to be collection points for 1 to 3 days. It was a wonderful success. This October we raised $10,786.50 and 2,710 pounds of food!
We are blessed with incredible volunteers with inspiring ideas and willingness to work to plan and carry out the tasks needed to support Feeding Fluvanna. We are blessed with store owners who allowed food collections at their place of business. We are also blessed with incredible people in Fluvanna who so generously opened their hearts and wallets.
We look forward to continuing this much needed assistance to FCSS and MACAA. We are always looking for ideas and volunteers for future Feeding Fluvanna events. To join next year‘s team visit our website Grace and Glory Lutheran Church Palmyra VA or contact us at : Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, 683 Thomas Jefferson Parkway, Palmyra, VA. 22963 or email: Admin@Graceandglory.org.
Our thanks and appreciation go to the following businesses, and churches: Ace Hardware Store – Renny Megahan and Jeff Craig, Beautiful Gate – June Clifford, Bethel Baptist Church, Cunningham United Methodist Church – Pastor Amy Grant, Cloverdale Baptist Church, Bethel Baptist Church – Pastor Scott David, Salem and Zion United Methodist Churches, E. W. Thomas Grocery – Beth Thomas, Grace and Glory Lutheran Church – Pastor Meredith, Jefferson Pharmacy – Tracy Williams, Poor’s Auction, Scottsville Farmers Market, Subway. And lastly and most importantly, many thanks to all the volunteers that made this event the biggest success yet.
Dave Wirth , Keith Weimer, Dottie Brandeley, Paul Crowther, Scott David, Kitti Mann, Juanita Steere, Walt and Audrey Vetter, Connie West, Julie and Paul Dwyer, Patricia Guill, Ann Holeywell, Louise Jargowsky, Carla Lee, Ned and Joyce Long, Edee Povol, Dave Simmons, Jennifer Starkey, Paula Tomko, Richard and Marilyn Pyne, Kate Skovira, Craig Conboy, Bekah Williams, ET AL !
