‘Foodstock’ fundraiser set for Sunday
TROY, N.Y. >> Capital Region musicians and the Food Pantries of the Capital District are teaming up Sunday Nov. 4 for their fourth annual “Foodstock” fundraiser.
The fundraiser takes place at the Rustic Barn in Troy and goes from 2 to 8 p.m.
“Nationwide we have 41 million people living under the poverty level,” event organizer Mark Emanatian said of the striking number of those living in poverty in the U.S.
“The poverty level the way
that the federal government defines it is $25,000 dollars a year for a family of four and in the Capital Region, $25,000 dollars doesn’t go far for a family of one,” Emanatian added of how those stark numbers translate locally.
“At the food pantry I volunteer at we’re getting new people every single week and the people that have been using it for years, they’re still using it,” Emanatian said of the increase in demand for food. “All of the food pantries are up about 20% from last year. Most of them are working poor, a lot of them are seniors.
“When the food pantries started in the Capital Region in 1980 they were doing about 15,000 meals a year, now there’s 64 pantries and last year they did 3.3 million meals.”
To that end, Emanatian hopes the fundraiser will spread awareness throughout the community and help bring people together to solve the problem of hunger and poverty.
“The great thing with any time people come together in a community and have some kindness, you have a chance to build community and have that kindness spread. So this little event, which is the fourth one on Sunday, well over 100 people have come to every one of them, we’re expecting a lot of people to come to this one, the bands are great, they all donate their time,” Emanatian said. “Food pantries of the Capital District have a staff of about 6 and they have about 300 volunteers, which is remarkable.”
The bands expected to perform are the Barn Boys, The Tyes, Off the Record, Diva & the Dirty Boys, Soul Sky, Back 40 Band, Greasy Fingers Band.
According to Emanatian, a single dollar can provide 6.25 pounds of food. While every donation is welcome and a $10 dollar donation is suggested, Emanatian stressed the need for food which can be used for full meals.
“It’s better for people to be able to go to the Regional Food Bank to buy the food that they need for the pantry that they have. Then you can have a uniform thing so when I go for my family of three this week I get hamburger, spaghetti, pasta, things that assemble meals for me, rather than and sauerkraut, lima beans and spaghetti sauce,” Emanatian noted.
The Food Pantries of the Capital District is a coalition of more than 60 food pantries. The coalition provides funding, delivery, coordination of services and food drives, and education and training to member food pantries. Every gift given stays local.