January 20, 2017– The 15th Annual WSOY Community Food Drive, held on October 7th of 2016 was another record breaking success, raising 1,402,246 pounds of food to benefit food pantries in our community. Today we are proud to present cash awards to the winning schools that raised the most amount of food during the 15th Annual WSOY Community Food Drive as well as present the benefiting agencies with donations to continue to feed the hungry in our community. We are also proud to announce the winner of The Geoffrey Neuhoff Spirit Award for our top volunteer, as well as our Good Neighbor awards for businesses instrumental in the 15th Annual WSOY Community Food Drive’s success.
Area schools once again rallied to raise pounds and funds to help the needy in our community. Thanks to our generous community partners; Team Soy – Soy Capital Bank & JL Hubbard Ins. & Bonds, Ticket n Trips, Jones & Thomas/JTnet, Decatur Back & Neck Center, Kroger, WAND TV, The Herald & Review, First Christian Church, Skeff Distributing, Dale’s Southlake Pharmacy & Colee’s Corner Drugs, ADM and DynaGraphics Wood Printing, we are once again presenting the top five schools with cash awards for raising the most food for the drive.
5th Place – $500: 42,835 Pounds Eisenhower HS
4th Place- $750: 45,341 Pounds Warrensburg Latham
3rd Place – $1000: 70,316 Pounds Our Lady of Lourdes
2nd Place – $1500: 90,812 Pounds Mt Zion HS
1st Place- $2500: 153,047 Pounds St. Pats’s School
The Geoffrey Neuhoff Spirit Award is given to honor and recognize a volunteer that shows exemplary service to the WSOY Community Food Drive. This year’s recipient of the Geoffrey Neuhoff Spirit Award goes to Jeff Daly for his hard work and dedication to making the WSOY Community Food Drive a success.
The WSOY Community Food Drive Good Neighbor awards are presented to business that go above and beyond for the drive year after year, whether it’s raising food and dollars or giving of their time and treasure. Good Neighbor award winners:
Refreshment Services Pepsi
United Way of Decatur and Mid Illinois
Kroger
In addition to the food raised during the drive, we are pleased to announce this year that the WSOY Community Food drive is presenting cash donations to the following agencies:
Catholic Charities $150,000
Salvation Army $150,000
Northeast Community Fund $80,000
Good Samaritan Inn $80,000
Reasonable Services $50,000
Judy Mason Thanksgiving Basket Project $20,000
Micro grants of $2,500 each have also been awarded to the Mound Free Methodist Food Pantry and Blue Mound Food Pantry. The WSOY Community Food Drive is currently accepting additional micro grant applications from pantries seeking financial assistance. Interested pantries can request a grant application by contacting Lindsay Romano at lindsayromano@neuhoffmedia.com
The WSOY Community Food Drive would like to extend a special thank you to the Howard G. Buffett Foundation for proving the event with a $100,000 matching grant. We would also like to thank the United Way of Decatur and Mid Illinois for continuing to provide and coordinate our volunteer base and The Community Foundation of Decatur and Macon County for their essential help in processing tax deductable donations. But our biggest thank you is reserved for the Decatur community for their continued support and compassion to help families in need.