Santini officials present check to Harry Chapin
Officials from Santini Marina Plaza and Fish Tale Marina presented a check to Harry Chapin Food Bank at a volunteer appreciation cookout at the marina’s ship store Thursday evening. The food bank was the recipient of receiving proceeds from the Sept. 17 Poker Run/Key West Street Market.
Fish Tale Owners Al and Kathy Durrett as well as Bonnie Roberts of Bonnie Roberts Events presented a check to Harry Chapin’s Marla Hodson and Lore Spangler in the amount of $2,460.76. The proceeds were raised by the raffle, t-shirts, the silent auction among other things.
Al Durrett thanked the volunteers who helped organize and work the recent Poker Run/ Key West-Style Street Market. He especially sent kudos to Bonnie for ignoring his advice to relax and refocus during the slowest month of the year and put on a great fund-raiser.
“She put on an event with Harry Chapin, the benefactor of the event, and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, during a month where there is not much going on and did a great job,” he said. “It’s a good feeling to have something good going on during the offseason.”
Durrett said he enjoyed getting on a motorcycle with his wife and physically taking part in the Poker Run.
“I enjoyed watching everybody having fun doing the Run, and I couldn’t believe how well organized the Police Department and Capt. Morgan was at doing this event,” he said. “It’s neat that the rest of the public gets to know what we are doing in the way of volunteering. That’s really important.”
After the check presentation, Hodson shared a few words of thanks.
“This is the reason why the Harry Chapin Food Bank is so successful because of people like you and the riders that showed up on Saturday. With our networking and food resourcing, we are able to provide $6 worth of food for every $1 that is donated to us,” she said. “That just goes to show what little community effort can do to help in Southwest Florida. We distributed 12.7 million pounds of food last year, over one million a month to provide food to over 30,000 people per month who need help in the five counties.”
Roberts applauded the full volunteer effort and Harry Chapin for the event.
“We appreciate what you guys are doing. This is what the volunteers did,” she said.