FIND Food Bank wastes no time putting telethon money to use, helping to feed those who need food assistance

Friday night’s FIND Food Bank telethon was a major success.

News Channel 3’s Caitlin Thropay followed-up with FIND Food Bank to see where the latest numbers stand as more donations come in and how they plan to use the money.

“Here’s where we are at today and we’re almost at our final number but there’s still a few more that are being counted but I am very happy to report that as of right now we’re at $551,370,” President and CEO of FIND Food Bank, Debbie Espinosa told News Channel 3.

Wow, well over half a million dollars raised at this year’s 10th annual find food bank telethon to help local families in need of food.

“All of that money is going out into the community to make sure people don’t starve, literally,” Espinosa said.

In comparison to last year's telethon, $171,000 were raised. Espinosa said her goal for this year’s telethon before COVID-19 was $200,000.

“You always need moments like this that remind you why you shouldn’t ever lose faith in people because they always have the ability to come through,” she said.

FIND Food Bank is wasting no time putting the money to use.

“Basically what happens with the money is right now because FIND Food Bank has converted to rapid response or emergency disaster mode of operations everything right now is dedicated to ensuring that food is being deployed out into all areas of the community even more so than what we’ve already done already,” she explained.

The money is going towards FIND’s mobile markets and travel expenses for their refrigerated food trucks. It will also go to ensure FIND’s 30 full-time employees are stable during this time. In addition, the money will buy masks for employees and supplies to clean and disinfect their warehouse.

Espinosa shared with us that though this time is difficult, we can always count on our regional food bank thanks to the generosity of our community.

“We know the deep pain that you can go through in order to make that decision to say it’s time to go out to a food bank site but we understand," she said. "There is no judgment… so please come out to the sites. Our staff wants to be able to see you there and we want to be able to serve you,” she added.

Donations are always still appreciated. You can find a way to help or locate an upcoming food distribution site at http://www.findfoodbank.org/