‘Endless Feast’ to raise money, awareness of hunger in county

A table long enough to seat 100 and topped with white linens, surrounded by gold Chiavari chairs will sit along the waterfront of Globe Mill Pond Thursday, part of the inaugural Endless Feast event, a grassroots endeavor to bring together efforts to combat and end childhood hunger in Lenawee County. “It almost seems like people don’t want to talk about hunger,” said Beth Kennedy of Evans Street Station. Kennedy is one of several organizers for the event. “There are people out there that cannot afford groceries and have a hard time putting food on the table. It seemed like a really good opportunity to create awareness and get people talking about it.”As of July 30, 75 of 100 available tickets have been sold with proceeds from the $100 ticket going directly to one of three beneficiaries: Community in Schools of the Tecumseh Area (CISTA), Boys and Girls Club of Lenawee County and Families in Transition.The Boys and Girls Club of Lenawee County offers local county youth a place to go during the school year when school is not in session. Monies raised from the Endless Feast event will help fund prepackaged meals for kids without a package lunch. Families in Transition, an Adrian Public School program, focuses on providing assistance to families with school age children who may be homeless or living in less than desirable conditions, like a campground or motel. The Endless Feast will help offset the cost of meals for the children. For CISTA, the Endless Feast will help raise funds for Friday Food Packs, a project that provides a brown bag lunch each Friday to elementary students in need of sustenance for the long weekend. Monies raised would assist CISTA in providing packaged and fresh foods for the students and help expand the program. Attendees will receive $100 worth of food, beverages and entertainment, Kennedy added. Evans Street Station chef Alan Merhar will be preparing the locally sourced food for the event. Several local organizations and businesses are helping with the event. Underwood Nursery is bringing in trees and shrubs to stage the area along the waterfront, Kennedy said. The Freemasons are donating time both before and after the event for setup and takedown, and also during the event as well. Handcrafted beer, wine and cider will be supplied from Tecumseh Brewing Company and J. Trees Cellars. Other participants include Kapnick Orchards, Four Corners Creamery, Goetz Farms, Pawson’s Farms and Shrimp Farm Market. “From a community standpoint, it seemed like a great opportunity to partner with these organizations,” Kennedy added. Kennedy said the former Art Bra Auction committee cooked up the idea. She said food stability for county children arose after sharing stories of instances where children were struggling for food or living in less than desirable locations. The Endless Feast has a fund at the Lenawee Community Foundation with the Sage Foundation being the event’s Inaugural Lead Sponsor.The event starts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. In case of rain, the Endless Feast will be held at Evans Street Station.For tickets or more information, call 424.5555.