Healthy growth for volunteer effort

Golden Harvest Food Bank Director Mike Firmin says charities are like children: If its growing, you know its healthy, he says.

By that measure alone, Its Spooky to be Hungry is one robust kid.

At just age 9, Spooky has become Golden Harvests most successful annual food drive. This years drive netted nearly 30 tons of food and almost $30,000 - up from 23 tons and $24,000 in 2002. Coordinator Evelyn Browne is impressed with another number, too: 1,600.

Thats the number of volunteers who this year helped collect all that food and money. Spooky operates entirely with volunteers, and when it started nine years ago there were just three organizers in three Columbia County neighborhoods. The drive now spreads across two states and half a dozen counties.

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Despite its growth, Spooky has remained true to its mission of making a difference not only in the lives of those whom it helps to feed, but in the volunteers who collect the donations. I want every volunteer to feel that this is your food, your effort, Browne told supporters at Spookys weigh-in.

Spooky continues to grow at a healthy rate as it heads into its 10th year. Thanks to its volunteers, better-fed kids will be healthier, too.