Feeding People Through Music - Food Drives
Widespread Panic concert food drives first began with the fan-based organization Panic Fans for Food. This fan organization hosted food drives at WP shows throughout the country from 1999-2007, with the goal of , "feeding people through music." The effort generated $70,000 and 13 tons of food in 28 cities and was handed off to the band in early 2008.Since then, the band has been hosting food drives at select shows on their tours, engaging a demographic that is typically more difficult for charities and food drives to reach.
Food Bank Volunteers will be on hand at the following shows taking your canned good donations:
Winter 2012
Jan 24th-25th - Washington, DC - Collected $1,038.66 and 149 pounds of food!
Jan 27th - 29th - Atlanta GA - Collected $3,473.46 and 205 pounds of food!
Feb 10th-12th - Denver, CO - Collected $1,550!
Feb 17th-19th - Aspen, CO
Purchase $1 raffle tickets at the DC, Atlanta, & Denver shows for your chance to win an autographed Wood Tour Event Poster! All proceeds will go to benefit the food banks.
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For 2011 we raised $31,600 and 4,400 pounds of food! Thank you, Goodpeople!
New Year's Eve
Dec. 31st - Charlotte, NC - <i>Raised $2,500 and 652 pounds of food for the local Charlotte community! Happy New Year indeed!</i>
Fall 2011
Total Results for all cities: $13,000 and 2,200 pounds of food for the local communities!!
Summer 2011
Total Results for all citis: $5,000 and 250 pounds of food raised!
Spring Tour 2011
Total Results for all cities: $11,100 and 1,278 pounds of food raised!
Fall Tour 2010
Total Results for all cities: $8,048.91 and 1,049 pounds of food raised!
Message from Josh Stack:
Feeding People Through Music: How you can help 1 in 8 of your neighbors.
This year marks the unveiling of a landmark study measuring and documenting the number of Americans seeking emergency food assistance in a single year. Staggeringly, 1 in 8 of your fellow Americans will seek this help, at least once this year. Hunger in America 2010 also elaborates on who seeks this assistance.
37 Million Americans, many of whom are employed.
14 million children.
Parents of these 14 million children often times are making tough choices between food and other necessities like housing costs and health care. The people seeking this help are not just the indigent and downtrodden, but more often than not, are just like you and me – people who have suffered some form of hardship, forcing them into very difficult decisions.
This spring, as you make your way around the Southeast on tour, remember that Feeding America food banks nationwide are relying on all of us to help close the ever widening hunger gap. You may not know that your friend, or your neighbor, or your fellow concert-goer has struggled to cope with the most recent economic downturn. The good news, however, is that hunger indeed does have a cure. It is you, and me, and all the rest of us who might just pick up a few cans of food on our way to the show or give $5 out of our show money so that 15 people can eat.
Thank you for supporting this cause since 1999. And, on behalf of all of the 205 food banks in the Feeding America Network, thank you in advance for continuing to demonstrate why Panic fans are some of the most compassionate fans in the country, willing and able to make a difference in the lives of thousands of our fellow Americans. Keep up the good work.
From a fellow fan,
Josh Stack
MANNA FoodBank
Asheville, NC
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For more background on <a href="http://www.jambands.com/features/2008/10/17/feeding-people-through-music-widespread-panic-fans-leave-their-mark" target="_blank">Feeding People Through Music</a> check out this great article by Panic Fans For Food Founder, Josh Stack.
