Local theaters join forces to boost holiday food drive

Hungry schoolchildren will eat better during the holidays, thanks to Central Florida theatergoers.

Orlando Repertory Theatre has long collected healthful snacks for students in need through Conway Cares, a food-distribution program started in 2011 by its artistic director, Jeff Revels. This year, five other theater producers have joined forces to give the ongoing food drive a holiday boost.

“I’m very grateful that the theater community of Orlando has shown up this year to increase the donations and awareness,” Revels said.

The idea for theaters to team on a community project first arose after the Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016. Arts organizations renewed their spirit of collaboration with various programs aimed at helping Central Florida mourn and heal, as well as a slate of fundraisers to benefit victims of the tragedy.

When Orlando Shakespeare Theater artistic director Jim Helsinger needed volunteers for a post-Pulse event, Revels responded. Afterward, the two men “talked about theater leaders working together on projects for the greater good of the communi-

ty,” Revels said. “Not necessarily theater projects, but service projects of theaters working together.”

They met with Mitzi Maxwell, executive director of Mad Cow Theatre, and Beth Marshall, who runs her own production company, and settled on the holiday food drive — a natural choice given Revels’ work in the area.

Conway Cares distributes food each Friday to about 150 students at three schools in the Conway neighborhood, southeast of downtown Orlando. Revels started the program — which is completely supported by donations — after learning that some of his children’s schoolmates were going without food from Friday’s school-provided lunch until they returned to class for breakfast on Monday.

He immediately began seeking donations.

“My wife and children were the earliest workers on the project, and my dining room was the warehouse for a while,” Revels recalled.

Soon, members of his church, First Presbyterian of Orlando, were helping send bags of food home each Friday with students in need. Today, Conway Cares partners with Servant’s Heart Center, an Orlando nonprofit. The affiliation allows Conway Cares to accept financial donations, and provides space for storing, sorting and bagging the weekly food deliveries. “We have yet to miss a school-year Friday,” Revels said.

The program makes a difference, said Cindy Valdes, school counselor at Lake George Elementary. Other schools regularly served are Conway and Durrance Elementary; Shenandoah Elementary and Boone High occasionally are included, as well.

“We love this program. I have definitely seen a positive impact,” Valdes said. “We have a lot of scholars who are very appreciative, very grateful.”

Teachers help identify which students could use extra food for the weekend, Valdes said. Older pupils who are part of the National Elementary Honor Society deliver the bags to the classrooms.

An influx of displaced Puerto Ricans has added to the need.

“We’ve had quite a few families come in after [hurricanes] Irma and Maria,” Valdes said. “We automatically added them to the program.”

Other businesses serve as collection points, but much of the food comes from the generosity of visitors to the Rep, where a donations bin stands year-round in the lobby.

“That bin has been there now for almost seven years, and our patrons have become the most consistent donors,” Revels said. “Between audience members and Youth Academy students, they have provided donations regularly the entire time.”

Wendy Windsor Harper is one such theatergoer. The Orlando resident has been bringing her children — and now her grandchildren — to the Rep for years. On each visit, the season ticketholder makes sure her grandkids bring something to donate.

“It’s a great way to teach them about caring and sharing with other people,” she said. “They’ve very proud to help.”

For this holiday drive, Breakthrough Theatre of Winter Park and Phantasmagoria, which performs around Central Florida, have joined the effort. All the theaters are using social media to spread the word so their patrons arrive with one of the requested food items: Granola bars, fruit cups, juice boxes, peanut-butter crackers, canned vegetables or pasta dishes, and the like.

Donations are accepted at the theaters’ current shows. Phantasmagoria’s “A Christmas Carol” opens at the Shakespeare Center this Friday.

The theater collective will focus on another community cause in the spring, Revels said. But the work of Conway Cares will continue as long as neighborhood children are hungry.

Said Revels: “My personal hope is that one day this project is completely unnecessary.”