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Pink flamingo fundraiser benefits church food pantry
By LINDA M. LINONIS
NORTH JACKSON
It’s a whimsical fundraiser with a serious purpose.
First Federated Church is sponsoring its second annual “Get Flocked” event, which will benefit its food pantry, Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard.
On Friday, April Fools’ Day, a Valley resident will awaken to a flock of plastic pink flamingos in his or her yard. That person’s name will have been drawn in the fundraiser. Ticket buyers put the name of a person or business to be “flocked” on tickets. “Get Flocked” tickets sell for $1 each, and flamingo insurance, to make sure the birds migrate elsewhere, is $5.
Pastor Jack Acri said tickets and insurance were “hot sellers” on Easter Sunday. Deadline to get tickets is noon Thursday. The winner will be drawn later that day, and that evening, volunteers will go out and place the flock of flamingos in the winner’s place. That person will wake up to a sea of 50 pink flamingos in assorted sizes.
The flamingo frolic is the idea of Amy Sudimak, vice president of the charities board at the church.
Pastor Acri said the food pantry started in the mid-1980s, an idea of women of the church. It was small, and only a few people used it. Food was donated.
Six years ago, the food pantry became affiliated with Second Harvest Food Bank. “We recognized a greater need in the community,” Pastor Acri said. He said about 90 families use the food bank monthly. The second Saturday distribution usually has about 40 families, and the fourth has 50 and sometimes more because food is running low toward the end of the month. The pastor added that other community churches contribute to the pantry with food and financial donations.
“The majority of the food-bank recipients are senior citizens and children,” Pastor Acri said. He noted that seniors may have limited incomes and need some help. Children are usually from single-parent households with the bread winner underemployed or unemployed.
“We serve about 2,000 families a year,” the pastor said. Recipients come from mostly Jackson and Milton townships and west Austintown. But, he added, some also come from Youngstown and Warren. At the food pantry, recipients can pick their own items.
The food-pantry budget is $10,000 annually with funds coming from the Sunday offering and fundraisers including the annual early summer car show, which accounts for 30 percent of the budget.
The “Get Flocked” funds are earmarked for a new freezer. The one the church has is showing its age, and more space is needed. This will allow for bigger purchase of frozen food including meat.
“We’re glad to be a resource for families,” Pastor Acri said. He said feedback from recipients includes comments that the church is “friendly” and “it’s like a shopping trip.” He added recipients also have conveyed they don’t feel “a sense of judgment” why they need the pantry.
What surprises and delights recipients is where the pantry is located – in a room behind the sanctuary that features a beautiful stained-glass window of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. “We have services, of course,” Pastor Acri said, “but this is service that God desires of us. We can’t call ourselves a faith community if we don’t address this need.”
The pastor noted that the window “is inspiring” and “poignant” to people. The pastor noted the window depicts Jesus on the night before he died, and late in his ministry he encouraged followers to help the needy.
Pastor Acri said the next project of the church is to tackle the “causation” of need. He said reasons include underemployment, lifestyle choices and budgeting issues. He said Ohio State University Extension offers a program on money management, which the church plans to offer.