CFD runs contest for food banks around the state

The Combined Fund Drive marked the end of its 2011 campaign with another incredibly successful contest, this time offering the chance to win a free Xbox with Kinect for anyone who made a donation to any number of food banks around the state.

The result was an outpouring of support, generating more than $15,000 of new or increased pledge donations to food banks and distribution centers, including more than $4,800 new or increased monthly donations, providing much-needed stable contributions to a segment of charitable organizations that continue to be strained under new demand.

One of the biggest recipients of new pledges was Robert Coit, director of the Thurston County Food Bank, who recognized those who started giving during the holiday season.

“The food bank does not run its own annual campaign,” he said. “Instead we rely on workplace campaigns like the Combined Fund Drive. This allows us to reduce our administrative costs related to fundraising, and focus more of our efforts on ending hunger. It’s contests like this one that will help us in the future.”

The most donations came from the employees of the University of Washington, who offered up more than half of the donations that were eligible for the contest. The UW also housed the winner of the Food Bank Contest.

Ted Gross, Professor with the Department of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, was in a drawing at the Thurston County Food Bank during the holiday season. His donations to Northwest Harvest and the Ballard Food Bank landed him in the drawing.

One of the most tragic side effects of these dire economic times has been the increase in hunger throughout the United States, and Washington isn’t immune to the problem. There has been a substantial increase in services over the past two years. Meanwhile many food banks struggle to maintain the donations they already receive.

Donors to the Combined Fund Drive can feel good about the fact that they helped feed those in need during the holiday season and beyond.

Here are some of the food banks around Washington State that benefitted from the first-ever Food Bank Contest:

*These are one-time collected amounts that were deducted from paychecks and are to be disbursed in the fourth quarter distribution.

**These are recurring pledges that are scheduled to be collected and disbursed over the next calendar year.