You know the Spirit of Acadiana loves the small gestures, but every once in a while, you’ve got to give the grand gestures a big ‘thumbs up’. $40,000 worth of food product, an anonymous donor, and FoodNet all came together to create a fabulous morning.
Forklifts lifting pallets. Those are the sounds of a philanthropic food delivery. An anonymous donor—and longtime supporter of FoodNet—purchased over $40,000 worth of nonperishable food items, and Wednesday morning, they were delivered to the FoodNet warehouse. “I’ve been here for over four years, and it’s not every day that you get somebody who calls you with a big idea for a donation,” says Ben Broussard of Catholic Charities of Acadiana. “I didn’t ask for this; but look at this!”
Super One Foods and its Brookshire parent company sent two trucks. That’s one individual whose donation required two trucks. And from those vehicles came pallet … after pallet …after pallet.. after pallet, signs of seemingly unceasing and incessant generosity.
“Do you typically get donation requests for over $40,000 worth of food products?” I asked Mark Cortina, Store Director of the Super One Foods location in Carencro. Cortina laughed. “No sir, this tends to be a first. Luckily we’ve been blessed the last few years, and we’ve done what we can to take care of it.”
The process actually began about two months ago—the donor making the purchase--and then it came down to logistical discussions, with Super One gathering enough product and making sure it had enough trucks available to meet the donation request.
It took about an hour and a half to unload these nonperishable food items---but let’s go back to this: what about our mysterious, anonymous donor?
“Here’s what I can say about our anonymous donor,” smiles Broussard. “This person is not only super-generous, but this person also believes in the mission of FoodNet.”
There’s a message here, actually a bunch of messages; and they’re all good. And from a for-profit, from a nonprofit… just imagine the possibilities. “If everybody works together, it’s a miracle what we can do in some situations,” says Cortina.
And Broussard wanted to assure the public that all donations, big and small, are most definitely appreciated by FoodNet. “I love the small gestures, the everyday gestures of people stepping out and saying ‘I see a need and I want to meet it’. That’s fantastic. Every now and then something like this happens and its beautiful.”
And our wrap-up stats: over $40,000 in food product, which will feed 1200 people for a week, or… try this…that means meals for 8,400 days. That my friends, is making a difference.
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