NBC15 Share Your Holidays final meal count revealed
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Thanks to your generous donations, the NBC15 Share Your Holidays campaign helped raise more than 5,389,000 meals for those in need! That surpasses our goal of 5 million meals.
This is equivalent more than $2.126 million for Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. Thanks to its buying power, 25 meals are purchased with every $10 donation.
"Our communities have been hurt by the food supply chain and the demand across the country for food has never been higher. In our community, this has resulted in higher food prices and the mission of Share Your Holidays has never been more important. I am so proud of our corporate sponsors and the viewers who make it a point each year to make a difference," said Don Vesely VP/GM WMTV. "Beating our goal helped change families' lives-- thank you".
The 26th annual campaign spanned Nov. 3-Dec. 31. The campaign got a big push through a "Giving Tuesday" event and the Dec. 14th NBC15 Share Your Holidays Phone-A-Thon, where viewers donated $366,284 and sponsors matched $350,000, totaling $716,284 for the whole day. During the phone bank, volunteers also sorted the non-perishable donations collected through food drives at local schools and businesses.
Each year, the campaign raises nearly a third of all the meals Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin provides throughout the year. The non-profit distributes food to 200 partner agencies and programs across our viewing area.
Moments after seeing just how much the community had rallied to raise and by how far they beat the campaign's goal, a still visibly stunned Michelle Orge, Second Harvest's President and CEO, explained how those meals will carry them through the next three or four months.
"It's so important, especially during these cold, cold days where the heating bill is going to be even higher," she explained. "This is the community at work. It's $5 donations and $500 donations and everything in between. Thanks for coming to the table."
More than 88,000 pounds of food was collected during this year's campaign. 139 collection barrels were placed at 63 different locations. Here are the top participants in the fund and food drives based on the number of meals collected:
Epic- 212,145
Affiliated Engineers, Inc- 76,493
Potter Lawson + Friends- 46,273
M3 Insurance- 41,568
Steve Brown Apartments- 25,653
First Weber Foundation Inc- 21,161
Naviant- 17,098
Neckerman Insurance- 16,180
Coldwell Banker Success- 15,138
Trachte, Inc- 12,411