Milk Fund donations still coming in
WOONSOCKET — The final donations are being added up and that has Lisa Carcifero, Milk Fund chair, feeling a lot better about the 88th annual fundraising drive for the local charity.
Carcifero went to Landmark Medical Center on Tuesday to pick up a $2,000 check for the Milk Fund, a donation that had been raised by hospital employees in December and matched by Landmark as its contribution to the charity.
The Milk Fund, founded in 1932 by the “Woonsocket Day Nursery and Children’s Home” and the Woonsocket Call, provides working families, those unemployed, the families of deployed service members and seniors in need with a steady supply of milk through the course of the year.
Funding for the Milk Fund is raised through December and then distributed by Family Resources Community Action in the form of vouchers recipients use to purchase milk at L’il General Convenience stores.
While meeting Landmark CEO Michael Souza at Landmark to pick up the hospital’s donation, Carcifero noted the Milk Fund was able to help 250 local families last year due the support the charity received from local and area businesses, fundraising projects such as the WOON Radio Auction, and contributions from individuals and organizations.
“There were over 700 individuals who received the Milk Fund’s assistance, including working families, seniors, and those who were unemployed or had a family member deployed,” she said.
The large donation from Landmark would go a long way in allowing the Milk Fund to continue providing assistance to the local community this year, she added.
“Thank you so much, this helps so much,” Carcifero told Souza.
“I think this is great, it is all the result of our employees,” Souza said of Landmark’s contribution.
The Cass Avenue-based acute care hospital was able to make a similar donation last year and Souza said he was pleased to see Landmark’s support of the Milk Fund continue this year.
Landmark’s employees raised their share of the donation through denim days held on Fridays in December when they would contribute $5 for wearing casual clothing.
The hospital also held a holiday vendor sale that raised additional contributions, according to Carolyn Dery, Landmark’s business development and marketing coordinator.
After more than $900 was collected, Landmark matched that amount to round out the donation to $2,000, she explained.
With Landmark’s check in hand, Carcifero said she believed the final tally of the 2019 Milk Fund Appeal to be approaching $50,000, a significant improvement over her last projection of $40,000.
The receipt of a $2,000 donation from Dean Foods helped boost the overall total as did a $1,000 legislative grant turned in by state Sen. Roger Picard of Woonsocket, a $500 donation made by Autumnfest this year and another $100 from the Woonsocket Emblem Club.
Carcifero said she is still waiting to hear how much the Milk Fund’s paper bottle campaign in local stores raised this year and hopes that tally will be enough to top the $50,000 mark.
“I think that in my head, I always had that number in mind,” Carcifero said. “I would be really, really happy to make that mark,” she added while noting she expects to have a final tally for the drive later in the week.
And while the 2019 Milk Fund Drive is coming to a close, Carcifero said she is already looking ahead to 2020’s drive.
“We’ve already starting planning for 2020 and I’m actually calling together a committee to kind of strategize about new fundraising ideas,” she said. Anyone with ideas of their own can also contact her through Family Resources at 401-7660900, to offer their help, she added.
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