Hottytoddy.com Presents Holiday Marketplace Gift To Oxford LovePacks

The Hottytoddy.com Holiday Marketplace presented a gift of $500 to Oxford LovePacks on Feb. 2, 2017, at Oxford Middle School.

The Holiday Marketplace Preview Soiree was held Dec. 2, 2016, at The Jefferson Oxford and benefitted LovePacks. From 6 – 8 p.m., guests arrived at The Jefferson for an evening filled with shopping the 65 exhibitors, hors d’oeuvres and drinks by My Michelle’s.
“One of my main goals in creating the Holiday Marketplace was for us to not only benefit the UM Meek School of Journalism and New Media but also give back to a local organization that serves our own community here in Oxford,” said Meggie Carter, director of the Holiday Marketplace and marketing representative of HottyToddy.com. “LovePacks was perfect in that they play such a vital role in striving to make our community a better, stronger place. I am honored and very grateful to have served LovePack’s mission in a small way, and I am looking forward to working with them in the future.”
LovePacks has been serving the Oxford and Lafayette county school district since 2010 by providing supplemental food for school-aged children in need on weekends and holidays.

According to the website, “A teacher at a local school noticed that a child’s backpack was dripping as he walked down the hall. When she opened it up, she found several unfinished milk cartons. The child had taken the unwanted milk from his classmates’ trays because he didn’t get any at home.”

After hearing this circumstance, Oxford school parent, Mary Leary, and school nurse, Helen Phillips, were inspired to make a change and began coordinating with the school counselor at Bramlett Elementary School, Linda Vaughn, in 2010. They started putting together LovePacks in their kitchens, sending out around 10 LovePacks a week. On the day that HottyToddy.com visited, Feb. 2, they were preparing 174 LovePacks to distribute to the 11 schools in the district.
“After the initial realization of just how many hungry children we have in the Oxford community, we wondered what we could do to make a difference. Finally, we stopped wondering, gathered volunteers and started acting. As of fall 2014, with the help of the school counselors at Bramlett, Oxford Elementary and Della, we have distributed over 15,000 Lovepacks to all 11 schools in Lafayette County.”

The group’s system of distributing LovePacks is very simple. The teachers and counselors work together to determine who receives a LovePack, then they are quietly put in students’ backpacks on Friday, before they leave for home.
LovePacks has grown its team and has expanded into Oxford Middle School, where they use Kristen Busby’s classroom as a home base for all of their donated items. Camie Bianco, vice president of LovePacks, described that they also now have help from “superiors,” students in the OMS Life Skills class who help organize and put the LovePacks together.


 
LovePacks consist of easy-to-prepare, non-perishable food items that include:

• Pop Top Soup
• Pop-Top Ravioli
• Peanut Butter Crackers
• Cheese Crackers
• Saltine Crackers
• 16 oz. Jar of Peanut Butter
• Pudding
• Granola

Here is how you can help:
– Shop for listed items and leave at one of the Elementary school offices, marked LOVEPACKS.
– Give a monetary donation, mail to PO Box 721 Oxford, MS 38655 or contact LovePacks at
lovepacks@gmail.com.
– Encourage your church, favorite club or organization to make a donation.

For updates on how you can help with Oxford LovePacks, visit them on Facebook here.

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Meggie Carter is the Marketing Representative for New Media Lab. She can be reached at meggie.carter@hottytoddy.com
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