Filling the larder

Generous donors bring more to the table

By William T. Clew

Thinks don’t always turn out the way people would like them to.
Sometimes they turn out better.

The Carroll Charitable Foundation had hoped to raise $25,000 and divide the money equally among five area organizations to buy food for those in need.

Instead, the foundation has raised $45,000, which will be divided equally among nine organizations to buy food. It did so through contributions from individuals and corporations and ticket sales to last night’s performance by Elena Dodd, who portrayed Eleanor Roosevelt at the U.S. Presidential Museum at 554 Main St.

The organizations benefiting from the program include: Rachel’s Table, St. John’s Church Food Pantry (Worcester), St. Peter’s Church Food Pantry, Matthew 25 in Worcester, St. Paul Cathedral Food Pantry, St. John’s Episcopal Food Pantry (Sutton), McAuley-Nazareth Home for Boys, St. Joan of Arc Church Food Pantry and Free Meals Soup Kitchen at St. John’s Church (Worcester).

William Highlands, business manager for St. Paul Cathedral, said the money will help the cathedral’s food pantry to meeting the increasing demands on the pantry. He said he believes the money will have similar effects on other food pantries.

“It will help us to buy more food,” he said.

In the last three months, with the national economy in trouble, the number of families who receive food from the pantry has grown by about 33 percent, he said. When he started with the pantry in 2001 it served about 200 families, he said. In 2005, the pantry served about 500 families. This year it serves from 700 to 800 families.

A portion of the money will be used for the annual Thanksgiving Day meals the cathedral provides. He said 513 families receive Thanksgiving meals.

The cathedral food pantry will serve anyone, but usually draws families from the neighborhood. It receives donations from members of the parish and grants from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Hoche-Schofield, a charitable foundation and the Fallon Nurses Association. It also cooperates with and draws from the Worcester County Food Bank.

More than 100 people were expected to attend last night’s performance. The idea for a fund-raiser for food came to Francis Carroll, chairman of the board for the Small Business Service Bureau (SBSB) and the Carroll Charitable Foundation, after a conversation with state Sen. Harriet Chandler, a friend of Ms. Dodd.

Ms. Dodd is a graduate of Wellesley College with a master’s degree from Boston University. Since 1991 she has portrayed the wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, in a one-woman show called “Meet Eleanor Roosevelt.” Mr. Carroll said that on the drive back to Worcester from Boston, he and his staff talked about the idea of putting on a fund-raiser for food for the poor.

Over the period of a couple of months, he, his staff and others worked out the details. The U.S. Presidential Museum, founded by Mr. Carroll, shares quarters with SBSB. Recently, Mr. Carroll added 38 pieces about the President and Mrs. Roosevelt to the museum.

As the idea spread - “under the radar,” Mr. Carroll said - more and more people wanted to help. Contributions soon surpassed the $25,000 goal. So, instead of passing out $5,000 to five organizations, $5,000 will go to each of nine organizations. And if enough money comes in another organization will benefit, Mr. Carroll said. The money is to be used to buy food and not for any other expenses, he said.

Carroll Enterprises underwrote the social affair, he said, so that all the money raised would pay for food for the poor. Among the corporate and individual sponsors were the John Sharry Family, Hanover Insurance Group, UMass Memorial Health Care, Commerce Bank and Trust, Economic Development and Finance Corp and Fallon Community Health Plan in addition to other corporations and individuals.

Peppers Fine Foods Catering, Maxwell Silverman’s Toolhouse Restaurant and O’Connor’s Restaurant, donated the food for last night’s performance and buffet, he said.

“People were generous. They recognized the need,” Mr. Carroll said. “When the cause is right, people respond.”

He said he had a conversation with a friend who talked about losing money in the recent stock market downturn. Then the friend wrote a $500 check for the fund-raiser.

“The poor still have to eat,” he told Mr. Carroll.