Music concert raises funds for local food shelf

About 25 years ago Dodge
C Shelf volun- teer Dave Koehler came up with the idea to have spring Christian concerts to help raise money for the food shelf.
Since then that idea expanded into having an annual fall concert as well.
On Sunday, despite the snow, a room full of people gathered to Faith Lutheran Church in Dodge Center for the fifth annual fall food shelf concert.
During the fundraiser, peo- ple in attendance were very generous and raised over
$1,500 for the worthy cause. “With those kind of
dollars it’s a great way to
purchase a lot of food and
special foods that we don’t get from donations,” said Audrey Erwin, director for the Dodge County Food Shelf.
During the bi-annual con- certs, musicians and talents from all over the county and the area volunteer their talents to help out with the fundraisers.
Aside from generous dona- tions of food from communi- ty members one of the plac- es that the organization gets food for the shelf is through purchasing it from the food bank in Rochester, called Channel One.
At the food bank they are able to buy a pound of food for about fourteen cents.
With the donations col- lected during the concert that means they are able to purchase over 10,000 pounds of food to help people in
the community who may be
struggling.
Last year the local food shelf helped assist over fourteen hundred individu- als from over four hundred households.
“The money that comes in and the support from the community and churches is
so fabulous and important, “ Erwin stated after the fund- raiser.
While the food shelf only hosts two fundraisers per year themselves throughout the course of the year many non profit organizations and schools participate in food drives and fundraisers, including the Boy Scouts, Post Office and Lions Club just to name a few.
For those who would like to make contributions to the food shelf can either do so buy dropping off food or checks to the food or through the mail.

*/