Food drive frantic for funds

MILLERTON — Though there’s not much time between now and Thanksgiving, organizers of the Sunday in the Country Food Drive are in full gear — hoping to raise as much money as possible to buy full turkey dinners before the holidays for those in need.“We’ll get back on track with the fundraising,” said food drive founder and organizer “NASCAR Dave” MacMillan. “Fundraising is slow. We’ve done so much in the past, and if we can’t do that this year we don’t have to be embarrassed with what we can’t do. All we can do is work hard to get to a certain point and feed the people we can.”This year that might mean getting turkeys to the 16 food banks around the Tri-state region that participate in the Sunday in the Country Food Drive without the extra fixings, according to MacMillan, who started the program 18 years ago.“I would say this is the toughest year so far,” MacMillan said, pointing to the down economy. “I think because there are a lot of new nonprofits on board and everybody is looking for money [that also makes it difficult]. All the causes are good. People that are unemployed or on the cutting edge can only give so much money, so they will pick and choose among the nonprofits.”According to MacMillan, this time last year the food drive had $30,000 in its coffers; currently it has about $12,000. To put that in perspective, he said, the fundraising usually starts in August, but this year things have not started off as easily or as early. That means instead of providing the 620 full Thanksgiving meals it did last year, which included 12- to 14-pound turkeys with potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, soup and pumpkin pie mix, the food drive might only be able to provide 620 turkeys with no sides, which is better than nothing, according to a realistic MacMillan.“Some may be able to get some dry goods and some won’t; it depends where the money comes from,” he said. “I hate to have to do that, but there’s nothing I can do.”Even though this year’s food drive may look a bit bleaker than last year’s, its organizer said it helps to have support from volunteers like Pat Deneen. Deneen has been lending a hand to the Sunday in the Country Food Drive for the past three years, making this his fourth. It’s a tradition he said he’s come to look forward to, in good times and in bad.“I get a great response, really,” Deneen said. “You really get to know those who have been involved and who donate, and even when everything is tight, people try to help out. Good friends and people donate even when they have a lot going on and they can only donate so much, because this is a really good cause.”“There’s no question there’s a great need,” MacMillan added, citing the Roe Jan food pantry in Copake as an example. “We typically give them 50 dinners, but then I realized they give out 147 Thanksgiving dinners, so they get help from other sources. I didn’t realize they served so many, and there’s no way we could supply them all. They just appreciate the 50 they get from us. But there’s a big need out there.”And Sunday in the Country does more than just supply Thanksgiving dinners. It also serves Christmas dinners to food pantries throughout the Tri-state region. MacMillan is hopeful that by then word will be out that the program is tight on funds, which will generate more capital to buy food for those in need.“We should be OK for Christmas. I think we’ll have turkey and the trimmings,” he said. “But I can’t say that for certain, either. We’ll probably need to serve about 580 dinners for Christmas.”Ways to helpThere are a few ways to help the Sunday in the Country Food Drive raise much needed funds so it can provide meals on Thanksgiving, as well as Christmas. There is a dinner dance planned for Friday, Nov. 18, at the Immaculate Conception Church on Route 22 in Amenia, from 6 to 11 p.m. Tickets may be bought at the door for $20. Dinner will consist of turkey and all the fixings, “exactly what we serve during the holidays,” said MacMillan. To make reservations for the dinner dance, or for more information, call Linda Gregory at 845-373-9757.There will be raffles at the dinner dance for items such as fuel oil, a cord of wood, wood pellets and baked goods. There also will be a raffle for a two-night stay at Simmons’ Way Village Inn, which includes dinner at No. 9 restaurant in Millerton, as well as raffles for a NASCAR leather jacket and a muzzle loader shotgun.Additionally, there will be a Thanksgiving basket raffle at the Sharon Valley Tavern held on Wednesday, Nov. 23. The giveaway will include gift certificates to local restaurants, various goodies and wine. Raffle tickets cost $1 and can be purchased at the Sharon Valley Tavern or at the Big Grill in Millerton.Lastly, students in the CAPS program at Maplebrook School in Amenia collected money door-to-door from area businesses last weekend. MacMillan said he’s been working with CAPS for six years and it’s been a wonderful relationship.“Personally, I don’t care if it’s been $100 or $100,000,” he said. “I want to thank Maplebrook School and the CAPS program for what they’ve done for us. It’s one of the highlights of the food drive. I look forward to it every year and thank them for getting involved — it makes my Thanksgiving.”After all is said and done, MacMillan said the reason why he puts so much work into the food drive, and so much of his personal energy and dedication, is quite simple.“I don’t like to see anybody hungry,” he said. “If we can fill bellies, that’s what it’s all about.”To send a donation to the food drive, which is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization (and therefore all donations are tax deductible), mail it to: Sunday in the Country Food Drive, PO Box 789, Millerton, NY 12546.

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