Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:48:49 -0400
From: John Bonitz
Subject: Kay Hagan’s Canvass for Canned Food a Success!
Democratic Senate Candidate Kay Hagan’s Canvass for Canned Food a Success
A team of Chatham County volunteers recently collected 280 pounds of canned food for the CORA Food Pantry in Chatham. CORA (Chatham Out Reach Alliance) is a food pantry helping provide individuals and
families facing economic hardships with food during times of temporary need.
The Chatham collection drive took place in the Fearrington neighborhood this past Saturday, July 19th, with volunteers going door to door during a canvass on behalf of Kay Hagan’s U.S. Senate campaign. Hagan, the Democratic candidate opposing Sen. Elizabeth Dole for the U.S. Senate, initiated the Chatham food drive as well as canned food drives throughout the state.
In Chatham, Hagan volunteers contacted 78 households, either by dropping off literature or talking with a local resident face to face. One of Hagan’s campaign volunteers, Chatham resident John Bonitz commented, “Among the 39 people we spoke with, 33 were committed Hagan supporters!”
Hagan, currently a Democratic State Senator representing Guilford County, recently asked her supporters to collect canned food statewide in North Carolina. Many food banks around the state have experienced the impact of record-level high food and gas prices in recent months and are having trouble collecting adequate donations to serve their growing numbers of clients.
“Record gas prices have forced families to dig deep and struggle to make ends meet,” said Hagan. “Unfortunately, that kind of burden trickles down to food pantries and other charitable organizations. My
campaign is active and involved in communities around the state. We’re trying to do our part in helping those who are suffering right now, those lacking enough money to buy food for their families—we want to help all state residents who are less fortunate and now facing hardships.”
CORA Board member Bill Russell expressed great pleasure when Hagan volunteers delivered extra canned food. Upon delivery of the food to the CORA Food Pantry on Sunday, July 21, Russell said, “I can’t tell you what a fantastic surprise this is.”
Russell explained that the demand for food has increased so dramatically in recent months that CORA may be forced to reduce the amount of food they usually distribute to each family in need, or possibly shift their distributions to less expensive food-stuffs like beans and pasta.
The CORA Food Pantry was established in 1989, and is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization founded for the sole purpose of helping feed Chatham County residents who have a temporary need for community support to keep themselves and their families be fed.
CORA maintains extraordinarily low overhead expenses. Eighty five (85) to ninety (90) per cent of the funds CORA receives, mostly through donations, are used simply and directly to purchase food for Chatham individuals and families in need—whether they are laid-off family breadwinners or simply young people with no means of transportation, facing difficulties finding jobs in today’s competitive, limited market.
Senator Kay Hagan will be the keynote speaker at the Third Annual Chatham County Democratic Party Breakfast, August 9th, 2008 at Holland Chapel (near the eastern shore of Jordan Lake). Tickets cost
$15 per person. For more information, visit: http://chathamdemsnc.com/node/13
For more information on Kay Hagan, please contact Kay Hagan Campaign for U.S. Senate, (336) 617-5301, http://www.kayhagan.com/
For more information on the CORA Food Pantry, please contact Marci Whitaker, (919) 545-3030, email: cfp.marci-at-embarqmail.com.
—
John Bonitz
Silk Hope, NC
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