PORTSMOUTH — Fill the Hall, a summer food fundraiser run by Gather, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending hunger, will celebrate its 10th anniversary on Saturday, June 22, at Music Hall.
“We are calling on the Seacoast community to join us in making this the most successful food distribution in our history!” said Gather Executive Director Ann Hayes.
Donations can be brought to the Music Hall, located at 28 Chestnut Street, on June 22nd from 9am to 2pm. Additionally, over 30 area restaurants are participating in a contest to raise the most donations. Look for the “We Helped Fill the Hall” stickers in the windows of your favorite local restaurants, and place your donation in their bins.
The Fill The Hall organizing committee is gearing up for the 10th annual event, which will be accepting donations on Saturday, June 22, 2024, at The Music Hall.
At the top of the wish list are items such as snacks, peanut butter, juice boxes, canned tuna, rice, cereal, oatmeal, pancake mix, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, soup, personal care products, diapers, wipes, etc. Gather is accepting donations to purchase fresh vegetables, milk, fruit and other perishables at gatherh.org/fill-the-hall2024.
The History of Portsmouth’s Fill-the-Hole
Gather’s largest food drive was inspired by work that began 30 years ago when community activist Dennis Wheeler and former Gather board member Scott McKee began volunteering with a national organization called Share Our Strength to raise funds and awareness for child hunger relief. Ten years ago, while discussing their work, a friend mentioned a Vermont town where a local theater had filled up with food donations. That prompted Wheeler and McKee to approach Gather and Monte Bohanan, who was the Marketing Director for Music Hall at the time. They were immediately sold. The first Fill the Hall was a huge success and has grown every year since. This year’s major sponsor is Green & Company Real Estate.
Music Hall Executive Director Tina Sawtell encourages everyone who is able to get involved. “This collaboration is a great example of how we can improve the lives of families in need by making it easy for neighbors to work together.” Filling the Hall benefits Gather’s Meals 4 Kids program, which runs during school holidays when children don’t qualify for free school meals. Gather’s goal is to fill those gaps and ensure children have nutritious meals all summer long. This year, Seacoast Outright will join Gather and Music Hall in their collaboration to support Pride celebrations and events. The Pride March will begin at 1pm on Pleasant Street.
Wheeler said, “With volunteers and donors returning year after year, ‘Fill the Hall’ has a fun, vibrant community feel. It’s a special day we look forward to each year because it fills our hearts when the hall is full. We enjoy seeing the city looking its best. We all come together in our beautiful Music Hall to help the folks at Gather continue their noble and important work of providing a free mobile market to the coastal neighborhoods that need it most. There’s lots of new creative energy from both the Music Hall and Gather staff that will inspire the celebrations at Fill the Hall No. 10.”
McKee said he was proud of Portsmouth residents’ track record of supporting the event, saying, “For 10 consecutive years, The Music Hall has teamed up with Gather to call on the good people of the Greater Sea Coast to fill every seat in the Hall with nutritious food and donations for those suffering from food insecurity. Every year, we are amazed by the overwhelming positive response. In these strife-filled times, we need only look to our community to be reminded that kindness, compassion and love are human traits for the majority of people. This is Fill the Hall’s true 10th anniversary gift.”
“No child should be sad about their summer vacation because they don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” said Monte Bohannan, current Director of Public Relations and Community Engagement for the City of Portsmouth. “My children grew up volunteering with Fill the Hall and learned through this simple act the impact they can make. We get involved, donate when we can, build community through service and pass these values on to the next generation. It’s been amazing to see Fill the Hall continue to grow and thrive beyond our expectations. When we took the stage that first year, Denise, Scott and I agreed that we would call it a win if we filled the 150 seats in the Center Orchestra. Our community rose to the occasion and filled all 900 seats and the stage that year and every year since.
This article originally appeared in the Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth’s Gathers Fill the Whole Food Drive wants your help
