Hornbacher’s has presented a check for over $49,000 to the Great Plains Food Bank from proceeds of its Feed Hope Campaign.
Samantha Simmons is director of operations for Hornbachers. She says during the month of December, shoppers at Hornbacher’s were asked if they wanted to round up their purchase one, three or five dollars in a donation to the Great Plains Food Bank. She says since 2011, the Feed Hope campaign has donated over a million dollars to the Great Plains Food Bank, due to the generosity of the Fargo-Moorhead community.
"The beauty of the Fargo-Moorhead community is the way they give; we're lucky to have great partners like Great Plains Food Bank. It's very easy to give to an organization like this, because we know the impact it has directly in our community - and I think that's the piece that resonates to all of our guests that donate."
Melissa Sobolik is CEO of the Great Plains Food Bank. She says the donation will go a long way to help hungry people in North Dakota; every dollar donated turns into two meals. And with demand steadily increasing, every dollar donated counts a lot.
"The demand is going up, and up. I wish I could tell you it was going down, but that is not the case," Sobolik said. "We see more and more people struggling to make ends meet. They're really having a hard time paying their rent, their medical bills, and their food bill. Prices are continuing to rise, and so people are turning to us more than they ever have before. We are now reaching one in four individuals, and one in three kiddos." She paused. "Yeah. It's pretty heartbreaking to think about."
Simmons says in July, Hornbachers will run a similar campaign called Check Out For Hunger to raise more money for the Food Bank. She says when schools close for the summer, it creates a critical need for students who are food insecure when they are no longer eating meals at school.