Food For Fairview

From ancient Greece to modern times, people have often despaired of the youth of their day. Take this quote from Hesiod, 8th century BC poet:

“I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words…”

I am glad to report that we do not have that problem in the Fairview community!

Food for Fairview has recently been the beneficiary of two outstanding efforts from two different groups of young people that prove the naysayers wrong.

First, the students of Fairview Elementary School wrapped up their annual Food for Fairview food drive a few weeks back. The winning grade level was to receive a pizza party, sponsored by Gloria Berlin Allstate agency, in recognition of their efforts. We are pleased to announce that the winner was: the 3rd graders! Incidentally, this same group also won the year before when they were 2nd graders. Cash and can donations were both accepted, with one dollar equaling one can of food. We were thrilled to receive the equivalent of 2,386 cans of food from this food drive! Way to go, Fairview Elementary students!

Second, we also benefited from the efforts of EmmaRae Fender, AC Reynolds High School senior. Each senior in the state of NC is required to complete a senior project at part of the prerequisites for graduation. EmmaRae chose to complete a “Farm to Table” project, studying such diverse topics as organic gardening, GMO’s, and hunger in our area while completing tasks such as working at The Lord’s Acre garden and cultivating the school’s garden. Her culminating project was a fundraising dinner for Food for Fairview. We were thrilled to receive $2,610 and 103 cans of food due to her efforts! Many thanks to EmmaRae as well as her friends and family who worked together to make this successful event possible.

As I grow older, I too wonder how the world will fare in the hands of today’s young people. It is comforting to know that, at least in our community, we have nothing to worry about.

Temperatures are dropping, leaves are falling. It must be time for Fall Cleaning! Yes, yes, I know – the real phrase is “Spring Cleaning”. Nonetheless, we have been fortunate for the past number of years at Food for Fairview to have a Fall Cleaning, courtesy of the great folks at Covenant Community Church.

For the past five years, the church has held an event called “Faith in Action Sunday”. Following a brief worship service, the members of the congregation depart from the church to various locales and engage in community service projects designed to help those in need. This year, 300 members of this caring congregation fanned out around town to 18 different locations and participated in 18 different service projects!

We were lucky that church members Jack and Lois Adair , who are faithful Food for Fairview volunteers, suggested that their group come to the food pantry to help out.

The group they led participated in many much-needed tasks, such as cleaning the pantry, organizing our shelves, and re-bagging the large bags of pet food we received from a generous donor into smaller packages.

The pantry looks great, and we greatly appreciate the completion of many needed tasks.

We’d like to salute the volunteers of Covenant Community Church and thank them for the great job they did!