Lovepacks Thanks Oxford for Another Restaurant Week Success

Ms. Busby and The Superior class at Oxford Middle School who manages and organizes Oxford Lovepacks’ Pantry. Not pictured: Ms. Boyd

A little group with a big heart has a message of gratitude for those who help make Oxford Restaurant Week a success.

Dear Oxford Community,

Lovepacks’ College Corps volunteer Page Meredith with student volunteers Luke Leary and Hunter Roth.

This year marked the second annual Oxford Restaurant Week, a seven day event to celebrate homegrown eateries and charities. The week encompasses all things local – dining local, supporting local charities, and engaging in the local community. Oxford residents and visitors who dined at participating restaurants cast their votes for one of five hunger non-profits to be the beneficiary of a $5,000 donation. Lovepacks is deeply grateful to be the two-year recipient of the $5,000 contribution. The Lovepacks Board would like to formally thank Sysco, Nella, Visit Oxford, and the community of Oxford for going local!

Lovepacks is a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting hunger through the provision of weekend meals to children in the Oxford and Lafayette County school districts. School counselors identify students in need of weekend meals, and Lovepacks are discreetly slipped into the children’s book bags on Friday afternoon. 100 percent of the $5,000 Restaurant Week donation will be used to provide food to children in the Oxford and Lafayette school systems. Hunger is a critical problem in our community and across the globe, and we are blessed to live in a town with such terrific non-profits, restaurants, sponsors and individuals who care for the world in which we live.

Since our start in 2010, Lovepacks has provided over 19,000 packs to children in 11 Oxford and Lafayette schools. During the 2014-15 school year to date (28 weeks), Lovepacks has issued over 4,000 packs. We cannot celebrate our successes without giving credit to our ongoing core of Lovepacks supporters. This includes Mr. Clay at Oxford Middle School for giving us the pantry space; Ms. Busby, Ms. Boyd and The Superiors for managing and organizing our pantry; Our Lovepacks moms Melinda Alford, Katherine Beard, Leah Christman, Tara Denevan, Tara Luber, Lane McLure, Lisa Roth and Jen Yancy who deliver our packs; Baptist Memorial Hospital for fresh fruit each week; Larson’s Cash Saver for pounds of food at bulk cost; and our College Corps volunteer, Page Meredith, for directing all digital media, coordinating food drives, driving donations, and serving over 400 service hours with Lovepacks. We are humbled by the tremendous support and effort demonstrated by individuals and organizations in our community.

Thank you again to all who participated! Hunger stops here!

Sincerely, The Lovepacks Board