January 13, 2020
Tremont-Duck Island-Irishtown Bend Holiday Food Drive – Announcing Totals & Reigning Champs – and Thank You to All!
Members of: Auburn-Lincoln Park, Central Tremont, Duck Island, Holmden-Buhrer-Rowley & Mentor-Castle-Clark, Irishtown Bend, Metro North, North of Literary, and South of Jefferson Block Clubs and Tremont West staff:
In November, Metro North invited other block clubs to engage in a “friendly competition” to see which group could bring in the most donations in the annual Tremont, Duck Island and Irishtown Bend Holiday Food Drive – of nonperishable food items, paper products and cash/check donations. The ultimate goal is to help food pantries, like St. Augustine, Pilgrim Congregational, St. John Cantius, St. Michael the Archangel, Immanuel Lutheran, Westside Catholic Center, St. Malachi and Greater Cleveland Food Bank to feed our Duck Island, Irishtown Bend and Tremont families and children in need in the holiday season.
Eight block clubs took them up on the challenge for 2019/2020: Auburn-Lincoln Park, Central Tremont, Duck Island, Holmden-Buhrer-Rowley & Mentor-Castle-Clark, Irishtown Bend, North of Literary, and South of Jefferson. Joined by the Tremont West staff – our teams collected lots of canned goods, paper products and check/cash donations – the equivalent of 18,621 items (or $13,567 in cash/checks and 1,487 food items)! For the purposes of this year’s competition each dollar donated by check/cash was considered equivalent to two items (for example a $50 check donation was considered to be 100 items of canned goods). This increase from five years ago (where $1 = 1 item) is based on feedback that the food pantries can often purchase items at a better rate than is available to the public through retail groceries).
Donations have been taken to the food pantries in mid-December before Christmas. Late December/ January donations will be delivered in the next week to help re-stock for the new year ahead.
So now – drumroll please – we are announcing the “reigning champs” block club – based on the number of total food items and checks /cash donated through January 13th. This block club will have “bragging rights” in the competition for the coming year – until next year’s Holiday Food Drive! Well, here are the final standings for the block club donations in the friendly competition of the Holiday Food Drive 2019/2020:
The chart below, and here, compares this year to 2018/2019 and 2017/2018. These are the final totals and reflect food items and cash/check donations contributed through the Food Drive deadline of January 13, 2020.
| 2019/2020 Holiday Food Drive Results | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank 2020 | Rank 2019 | Rank 2018 | Block Club | Food Items 2019/2020 | Food Items 2018/2019 | Food Items 2017/2018 | Cash/Checks 2019/2020 | Cash/Checks 2018/2019 | Cash/Checks 2017/2018 | Point Total 2019/2020 | Point Total 2018/2019 | Point Total 2017/2018 | % Change 2018 to 2020 | ||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Auburn-Lincoln Park | 360 | 80 | 103 | $3,330 | $3,300 | $2,000 | 7,020 | 6,680 | 4,103 | 71.09% | ||||||||
| 2 | 1 | 5 | Metro North | 0 | 5,477 | 420 | $3,266 | $3,800 | $1,330 | 6,532 | 13,077 | 3,080 | 86.10% | ||||||||
| 3 | 5 | 6 | Duck Island | 385 | 126 | 920 | $1,531 | $1,500 | $1,070 | 3,447 | 3,126 | 3,060 | 12.65% | ||||||||
| 4 | 3 | 4 | North of Literary | 61 | 197 | 76 | $1,528 | $2,295 | $1,640 | 3,117 | 4,787 | 3,356 | -7.12% | ||||||||
| 5 | 4 | 1 | Central Tremont | 59 | 76 | 6 | $1,307 | $1,625 | $1,180 plus $4,366 (vehicle donation) | 2,673 | 3,326 | 6,732 | -60.29% | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | 2 | South of Jefferson | 230 | 338 | 495 | $1,200 | $1,228 | $2,000 | 2,630 | 2,794 | 4,495 | -48.68% | ||||||||
| 7 | 7 | 7 | Irishtown Bend | 32 | 33 | 0 | $915 | $820 | $815 | 1,862 | 1,673 | 1,630 | 14.23% | ||||||||
| 8 | 8 | 8 | Tremont West Staff | 100 | 45 | 128 | $365 | $384 | $160 | 830 | 855 | 448 | 85.27% | ||||||||
| 9 | 9 | 9 | Holmden-Buhrer-Rowley/Mentor-Castle-Clark | 260 | 242 | 133 | $125 | $190 | $80 | 510 | 622 | 293 | 39.29% | ||||||||
| TOTALS – ROUND 2 | 1,487 | 6,614 | 2,281 | $13,567 | $15,142 | $10,275 plus $4,366 vehicle donation | 28,621 | 36,940 | 27,197 | 0.73% | |||||||||||
Congratulations to Auburn Lincoln Park Block Club, champions now in Two Categories:
- Most Checks/Cash ($50 Prize)
- Grand Prize Total Points Winner ($100 Prize)
And – Congratulations to Duck Island Block Club, champion in the Food Item donations category:
- Most Food Items ($50 Prize)
Awesome, job Auburn-Lincoln Park and Duck Island Block Clubs!! Both block clubs won in their respective categories for the first time in the history of the neighborhood Holiday Food Drive competition! Many thanks!
All the block clubs can be proud of their efforts and the generosity of their memberships.
Top three food donations by block clubs:
- Duck Island (385 items)
- Auburn-Lincoln Park (360 items)
- Holmden-Buhrer-Rowley/Mentor-Castle-Clark (260 items)
Top three cash/check donations by block clubs:
- Auburn-Lincoln Park ($3,300)
- Metro North ($3,266)
- Duck Island ($1,532)
Top three point totals by block clubs for Grand Prize:
- Auburn-Lincoln Park (7,020)
- Metro North (6,532)
- Duck Island (3,447)
Everyone’s numbers were great – but a shout out to Auburn-Lincoln Park (their first time winning in the checks/cash category – and their first time winning the Grand Prize with 7,020 points!) to Duck Island (second smallest block club – moving from 5th place to 3rd place with 3,447 Points – a 10.3% increase from last year – and their first time winning the Food Items category with 385 food items donated), and Metro North (coming in a very close second place in Cash/Checks and in Total Points. Also Notable: Holmden-Buhrer-Rowley/Mentor-Castle/Clark (their second year coming in 3rd in the winners’ circle for Food Items), Irishtown Bend (the smallest block club in geographic size and number of residents) in its fourth year coming in with 1,862 points (an 11.3% increase from last year – a great outpouring from their membership). Congratulations! Great job done by all the block club memberships and Tremont West staff!
Most important of all is the goal: lending a helping hand to neighbors – families and children – in need in Tremont, Duck Island, and Irishtown Bend – and providing help to support the outstanding work of eight Near West side food pantries-ministries – St. Augustine Parish Hunger Center, Pilgrim Congregational Church Food Pantry, St. John Cantius Parish Food Pantry, St. Michael the Archangel Parish Food Pantry, Immanuel Lutheran Church Food Pantry, Westside Catholic Center, and St. Malachi Parish Back Door Ministry, along with the Greater Cleveland Food Bank– who get nutritious food to children and families all year long!
Many thanks to the Block Club Food Drive Coordinators for all their time, efforts, marketing, and encouragement of their memberships:
Auburn – Lincoln Park: Jonathan Petrea and Patti Choby
Central Tremont: Julie Goulis
Duck Island: Philip and Ashley Major
Holmden-Buhrer-Rowley & Mentor-Castle-Clark: Jackson Lang – Terrapin Coffee and Donuts
Irishtown Bend: Marcy VanderTuig
Metro North: MaryAnn Balog and Angela Guy
North of Literary: Elizabeth Gedeon
South of Jefferson: Kate Carden and Tom Tosuksri
Tremont West staff: Dharma Valentin and Scott Rosenstein
And many thanks to all of you for your incredible kindness and generosity to the food pantries and to our Duck Island, Irishtown Bend and Tremont neighbors and families in need! We look forward to your continued support and generosity in 2020!
Best,
Scott Rosenstein & Dharma Valentin
