The Cheshire Branch strongly exceeded its goal to provide 50 families in need with holiday dinners. The food drive, which took place in Middleport, Ohio at Dave Diles Park, provided turkey or ham dinners with all the trimmings for 75 families! Kyger Creek Account Manager Samantha Chabot organized and led the December event.
“Our original time to start handing out meals was 10 a.m.,” said Cheshire Union Regional Manager Ryan “Peach” Venham. “When we arrived around 8 o’clock, there were already people lined up to get their meals. We handed out nearly 55 meals before we were supposed to start at 10. When we were out of food and leaving around 11:30, there were still people arriving at the park.”
Venham said some MPW employees contributed food, money or their time distributing dinners. Contributions came from many sources externally, in addition to internal contributions from employees and management. He said a couple of farmers made particularly significant donations.
The first was from Eric Cunningham and Cunningham Family Farms near Belpre, Ohio. “Eric works at one of our customer sites—Kraton Polymers—and decided to help when he saw our flyer on Facebook,” Venham said. “Eric helped out with contributing a gracious number of sides as well as two hams.”
Secondly, a Gallipolis farmer—who benefitted from a previous Cheshire Union District community involvement project—donated $300 worth of food to the drive. Other Gallipolis businesses contributed as well.
“It was a true blessing to see the smiling faces of the folks that received a meal,” Venham said. “I am so proud of how this event turned out and I’m very proud of the effort Samantha put into making this a success. Thanks again for everyone’s support during these projects and making a positive impact on the community through MPW!”