Former meteorologist feted for Summer Cereal Drive
Tom Brannon was the face of the Summer Cereal Drive for almost two decades. For his part in helping make the drive successful, Brannon, a retired meteorologist at KTHV, Channel 11, will be honored at this year’s Empty Bowls, an annual fundraiser for Arkansas Foodbank.
“Tom Brannon is a very special person. Twenty years ago he saw an opportunity to truly make a difference in Arkansas. He dreamed big and he followed up on that dream. Not very many people do that,” says Rhonda Sanders, director of the foodbank.
Sanders says the foodbank honors a person who has made a difference in the fight against hunger. “Tom is an obvious choice as he has been helping us fill the empty cereal bowls of thousands of Arkansas children for 20 years. Tom is truly a champion for those who are hungry.”
Brannon says the success of the cereal drive has involved many people.
“There are many teams, groups, individuals, colleagues and unsung heroes with whom I’d like to share this recognition. Let me be clear on this. … This is not something I attempted or achieved on my own.”
He says he believes a television news station has the responsibility to not only report the news, but be a proactive participant within the community. “So, with the necessary tools … along with the support of producers, executive producers, news directors and general managers, ‘we,’” he emphasizes, “were able to share an important message and invite participation from fellow Arkansans to help provide at least one meal for children and their families during the summertime.”
The cereal drive began in 2000 when then Foodbank executive director Phyllis Haynes approached the station’s morning show with the idea of something fun and
beneficial to the community, Brannon says.
“There were six of us at the table — Theba Lolley, Kat Robinson, B.J. Sams, Robyn Richardson, Phyllis Haynes and myself — all co-founders of the Summer Cereal Drive.
“The concept was simple,” Brannon says. “To ensure that children who depended upon free and reduced meal programs at their school would have access to at least one meal — breakfast — during the summertime.”
The first year 28,000 boxes of cereal were collected. Local businesses were invited to create teams for some friendly competition as they collected cereal.
Brannon says the drive grew in popularity every year as did the number of participating teams — from 25 teams the first year to eventually about 100. The competition grew to include community and school drives, but the cereal collected by businesses is the lifeblood of the program.
Brannon recalls with admiration the competitive spirit of Wanda Bateman of Margland Bed & Breakfast in Pine Bluff.
“Wanda was very competitive in her efforts, in a very good way… and her team — maybe 4 or 5 members— at Margland were instrumental in collecting the most cereal of any team during [the] years I was involved. Wanda will always be known as the ‘Cereal Queen’ of the Summer Cereal Drive.”
Bateman died earlier this year from cancer, but she worked tirelessly while she could, Brannon says. Bateman collected more than 84,000 boxes of cereal in 2019 — almost a quarter of the overall total and the most collected by a single team.
“I will always consider Wanda to be the single most important team member and cheerleader of the Summer Cereal Drive,” Brannon says. “I’ll miss Wanda, for her generosity, her competitive spirit and, most importantly, her heart for children.”
As part of the cereal drive, Brannon would travel across the state broadcasting live and encouraging local communities to donate. “We’d collect thousands of boxes of cereal that would benefit the local food pantries,” Brannon says. “The cereal collected in the community stayed in the community.”
During the drive, Brannon would often hear words of thanks from community members and local food banks. “I don’t recall the total of on-location visits in the time I was at THV. But, I will say that I had a number of moms, grand-moms, dads and even kids come up and say ‘thank you.’ They either knew someone that benefited from the cereal that was collected, or they too had experienced a point where they didn’t know where their next meal was going to come from and wanted to do their part and give back.”
Brannon is thankful for Arkansans who have donated to the food drives and says they are making a huge difference. The cereal drive now collects around 500,000 boxes a year to give to Arkansas Foodbank — enough cereal to give to hungry children not just through the summer, but the whole year.
“I’m very pleased the Cereal Drive is in its 20th year and hope that it continues for another 20. It doesn’t matter where you live in Arkansas, there’s going to be food insecurity [and] … there’ll be a need for a Summer Cereal Drive or another type of drive to help fill that void. The Arkansas Foodbank is doing the best it can to help lower those numbers. The rest of the help comes from communities and the good people of Arkansas donating their resources, time, cereal, milk, canned goods, whatever they can to provide a meal for someone that may be having a difficult time.”
Brannon, who lives in Little Rock with his wife, Leigh Ann, and daughter Sophia, no longer works at THV and is now operations director and lead talent with Ron Sherman Advertising. He is still active in the cereal drive and the agency participates as a team.
“We have been a participant the last couple years, and I hope that continues in the future. Whether you provide one, five, 10 or 100 boxes, at least you participated.”
This year because of the pandemic, the 18th annual Empty Bowls fundraiser will be handled a little differently, says the foodbank’s Sarah Riffle. “Due to covid-19 and its impact, we have decided to turn our event into a virtual auction and broadcast to engage our community safely from their homes.”
Because of the pandemic, the need for donations has grown.
“The foodbank has seen a vast increase in those visiting our partners. In fact, in March alone, the foodbank distributed 1 million more pounds of food than they did in March of 2019,” Riffle says. “The funds raised from Empty Bowls will help the foodbank with this critical work now, and for many months to come, as we know this will impact us all for quite some time.”
Those who wish to participate can tune in to THV11 at 9 a.m. Friday. “We will air an hour-long special about Empty Bowls from 9-10 a.m and then also give updates throughout the day,” Riffle said. “We will air segments to update everyone on auction items, Arkansas Foodbank information, and the amount of donations we have raised.”
To participate in the auction visit emptybowlsarkansas.org.