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Weekly fund raisers to support the efforts of various groups
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| By Ben Orcutt |
| Daily Staff Writer |
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| FRONT ROYAL - The Coalition Against Hunger is hoping that a taste for turkey will turn into dollars to feed the hungry.
Formally based in Haymarket, the group is the first beneficiary of "Fund Raising Wednesdays" at the Royal Scoop & Eatery at 21 S. Royal Ave.
Warren County resident Leslie Gardner opened the restaurant in September, and is delighted that the Coalition Against Hunger is planning to operate a distribution center from her business and that they kicked off the weekly fundraising program.
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| "I think it's fabulous," Gardner said. "They have always needed a certified kitchen to be able to prepare food. If a pound of hamburger [came] in to them where they were in Haymarket, it remains a pound of hamburger. But if it comes to a certified kitchen, it can turn into meatloaf or it can turn into other items other than just a pound of hamburger. So by having them work with me and my certified kitchen, then we'll be able to prepare meals."
Gardner said food will be distributed to the hungry at her other town business, The Meeting Place On Main, at 216 E. Main St.
"We chose the Coalition Against Hunger for the first one, but we'll be doing other fundraisers, whether it be for a booster club, Brownie group, Boy Scouts," she said, adding that she will donate 10 percent of her sales on the special Wednesdays to the featured group.
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| Sam Gadell, 53, of Vienna, was busy smoking turkeys on Wednesday. Gadell, the director of Coalition Against Hunger, said the proceeds from the sale of the turkey breasts and sandwiches would go toward the purchase of a computer, and to defray operating costs.
"We find a lot of people that fall through the cracks," he said of the hungry. "We don't make anybody dance through hoops or fill out a lot of stuff. When somebody needs food, we just give it out. They just say they're hungry and they fill out a simple form for us that says that we I served them, that we helped them out and that's all we do."
Wayne Rodgers, 55, of Woodstock, founded the Coalition Against Hunger in 1989.
"We're searching for other ways to make money so we can operate," Rodgers said of his United Way affiliated group.
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| "We're going to have a food bank that's going to be opening here, hopefully in December. There's no requirements or, anything, except for, 'I'm hungry.' We have no religious affiliation. We have no government affiliation. The only thing anybody needs is to be hungry.
They could be drunks. They could be crackheads. They could be cokeheads. They could be junkies or they could just be down in their luck. It doesn't matter."
Coy Funkhouser and his wife, Diana, of Mathias, W.Va., enjoyed the smoked turkey they purchased.
"You can pay more but you can't buy better," Funkhouser said.
The Coalition Against Hunger is also smoking turkeys as a fundraiser. For more details, please call (703) 754-1355, or visit their website at:
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| www.coalitionagainsthunger.org |
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