By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph Restaurant Week not only helped benefit several local eateries, it also helped raise money for a local non-profit that helps feed people in the region.
This year's partner non-profit during Restaurant Week was Second Harvest Community Food Bank, which serves 19 counties across northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas.
CEO of Second Harvest Chad Higdon says it was a really exciting opportunity to partner with the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce to help promote the event.
"It really created a lot of buzz and energy, we saw a lot of excitement and had the mayor and city council and county commissioners and a lot of others come out and support the event and draw a lot of interest," Higdon tells reporters. "It was just great for us to be a part of that and bring awareness to what we're doing through the event."
Restaurant goers helped raise $1,700 for the Second Harvest Community Food bank throughout the week-long event.
Higdon says there is no restrictions on what that money will help serve within the food bank.
"Because that really gives us flexibility to support whatever it is, senior box distributions, children's initiatives with school pantries, and campus cupboards, some of those kinds of things," Higdon says. "It really gives us more flexibility when the gifts aren't restricted."
Altec industries matched the amount raised by the community to present a $3,400 check to Second Harvest following the conclusion of Restaurant Week.
Higdon says parallel to Restaurant Week serving local restaurants in a time while customers are down, it's the same at Second Harvest.
Higdon says with charitable donations down, and things such as USDA funds and COVID relief gone, there is a lot of pressure on families served.
"Families are struggling, we have pantries reaching out to us to say hey we're not getting as much food as we've been used to with some of those programs that have gone away, long lines," Higdon explains. "So, just trying to do what we can to build momentum and continue to support the agencies that we're working with this is a critical time for us right now."