D
espite the loss of a significant donor, the Rhinelander Area Food Pantry is holding its annual spring fundraiser with help of new matching funds.
As Director Guy Hansen explains, the Feinstein Foundation typically provides matching money for food pantries nationwide. But that isn’t happening this year.
“The Feinstein Challenge will not be offered this year, so we scrambled a bit. And we do have an anonymous donor locally who will contribute at the same percentage that we normally get from the Feinstein Foundation. So we’re pretty excited about that.”
Hansen says the food pantry is raising money for its ongoing expenses.
It recently moved to a new and larger location on Coon Street.
Hansen says the new building is fully paid for, but utility expenses have gone up since the move.
He adds that the holidays are the pantry’s peak fundraising time, but expenses continue year-round.
“And when we get into this time of the year, contributions tend to fall off. So it’s just a way of reminding people that the food pantry’s still there, we’re still serving the same number of people, they have the same needs.”
The Rhinelander Food Pantry’s Cantastic Competition, featuring sculptures made out of canned food, is also coming up this weekend.
