Fundraising for one Harvest Fest Relay Race team is getting a dramatic boost.
An anonymous donor offered to match donations up to $10,000 total for the Coupeville High School Drama Troupe.
Teams are forming now for the Oct. 11 event and proceeds go specifically to Gifts from the Heart food bank.
As the troupe’s sponsor for the last six years, the Coupeville Historic Waterfront Association is helping raise the money.
“I sent out an email to anyone I could think of,” said Vickie Chambers, executive director for the association. “I wanted to let people know about this opportunity.
“We live in a community with such generous people. It just takes that one person to do something so incredible.”
Drama troupe advisor Peg Tennant said the donor is someone she knows personally but declined to comment further on how the pledge came about.
In years past, Tennant said the troupe had been fairly lax in fundraising but wanted to step it up this year.
“I’m fairly confident we’ll come up with the $5,000,” Tennant said.
And while $5,000 is the main goal, both Tennant and Chambers said they hope to exceed that goal.
Gifts from the Heart has two major programs. The organization, which operates regular food distribution program, serves 110 families and last year it started a program called Meals 2 Kids, which provides weekend meals to low-income students in Coupeville Schools.
In its first year, the program helped 42 students in the 2013-2014 school year, and the number continues to climb.
“There’s more need for the food bank,” Tennant said. “There’s more hungry children.”
In just a week since the matching donor was announced, Chambers said she’s collected $3,500.
Last Thursday during the State of the Town address, Chambers shared the fundraising endeavor with the crowd.
“I was just so impressed,” she said. “Four people came up to me after that and handed me checks.”
This year’s relays could potentially be the largest fundraiser in its history, according to Tennant.
In the event’s eight-year history, the last two years collected the most money, raising $10,000 each year.
To register for the Harvest Fest Relay, go to giftsfromtheheartfoodbank.com
