PRESS RELEASE
The ACCF awarded a grant to Adams Central High School for the Sunshine Society and its project: The Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) event. The mission of the Adams Central Sunshine Society is to serve others in Adams Central, as well as those in the community. This is accomplished through a variety of local activities, such as volunteering at the Monroe Lighthouse Bread of Life Food Pantry twice a month, treating Adams Central faculty and staff throughout the school year, among other activities. In efforts to expand serving others, the Sunshine Society initiated the fundraiser event at Adams Central in April.
“The Adams Central Sunshine Society serves others in our school and in our community to create leaders who will continue to serve throughout their lives.”
The Sunshine Society raised $62,000 to host a Feed My Starving Children MobilePack on Friday, April 5th. Students and staff will pack approximately 180,000 meals. A community pack will take place on April 4th. Additionally, a food drive will be hosted to stock the shelves of the Monroe Lighthouse Bread of Life Food Pantry, which provides commodities to the Adams County community twice a month.Â
The Feed My Starving Children event is a schoolwide event where students K-12 take a role in donating to the Sunshine Society fundraisers and packing meals alongside volunteers throughout the community. Feed My Starving Children meals feed children in Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, and Belize.
In addition, the Sunshine Society / Feed My Starving Children Committee hosted a food drive to stock shelves of the Monroe Lighthouse Bread of Life Food pantry. These activities allow the Sunshine Society to serve others and provide opportunities for Adams Central students to serve others too.
Krista Jauregi, Adams Central Sunshine Society Sponsor and grant writer, expressed her appreciation for the ACCF grant as it aided students to work together to serve others.
Louise Ray, ACCF BoD member and active with Hero Meals and many programs serving youth, reported that the ACCF is pleased to support educational programs to heighten awareness in our community that there are some people that do not have confidence about where their next meal will come.
This ACCF grant was sponsored by the Blair & Deborah Brown and Don & Louise Ray Community Enrichment funds.
Blair and Deborah (Haffner) Brown met because of Manchester College. Even though they are both Manchester graduates, they did not meet while in school; rather, they met at a Manchester alumni event years later. Neither had attended a Manchester alumni events prior to 1983; however, by happenstance, they both opted to attend this event. Coincidentally, they were seated next to one another. Both were single, working professionals – Blair, a Decatur attorney, while Deborah was a Bluffton-Harrison elementary teacher. Fast forward to 2018, they celebrated their 34th anniversary.
The Don and Louise Ray Community Enrichment Fund was established in memory of Don, 61, and in recognition of Louise and Chasity, and the many generous (often covert) contributions they have made. Theirs is the ‘American dream’. They blended personal risk, hard work, courage and creative energy into a successful business that has provided employment for hundreds since 1974. Louise reports, “With the Lord’s help, Don and I built (the) Don Ray Drive-A-Way.”