AMESBURY — As the year starts make its way to the finish line, Our Neighbors’ Table is urging supporters to get in the giving spirit for the holidays and help them reach their fundraising goal of $6 million by Dec. 31 to avoid having to make some “tough choices.”
“This year we were particularly facing a lot of pressure, as Dec. 31 marks a really critical deadline for us and for our capital campaign,” ONT Executive Director Lyndsey Haight said.
The nonprofit is in the midst of a $7.8 million capital campaign to fully fund the Seacoast Regional Food Hub, located at 114 Bridge Road in Salisbury, so it can operate the facility debt free.
ONT first opened the 24,000-square-foot food market and storage facility roughly four months ago. It includes 7,000-square-feet of dry storage, as well as 3,000-square-feet of cold storage. While the hub is still a work in progress, over a million pounds of food have passed through the building so far, with most of it coming from the Greater Boston Food Bank.
Haight said they need $6 million to be in good shape by year’s end.
“It’s really critical that by Dec. 31 we hit that mark so that we don’t have to make tough choices between supporting the coalition and supporting ONT’s core programming, where we’re serving food insecure households directly,” Haight said.
She said the current hope is to have the final phase of the food hub completed by the first quarter of 2025.
“But again we’re not going to be able to cut the ribbon in January if we don’t hit the $6 million mark,” Haight said.
The good news is that the campaign is already very close to its goal, currently sitting at $5.62 million.
“That is thanks in huge part to Greg Jardis’ pledge this week, and a couple of other really generous gifts and pledges that have come in since Dec. 1,” Haight said.
Jardis, who provided the nonprofit with the aptly named Jardis Taylor Center in Amesbury in 2015 after selling them the $500,000 space for $1, recently pledged $235,000 to the food hub’s capital campaign.
“Feeding people feeds my heart,” Jardis said.
The recent donation brings Jardis’ lifetime contributions to excess of $1 million.
Asked how folks can best contribute, Haight said potential donors should visit fillemup.org, where they are hoping to get 50 people from the 17 communities they serve to pledge $50 a month over the next three years.
“That would add up to $1.5 million,” Haight said.
ONT was promoting that holiday giving spirit earlier in the week when it hosted its annual Holiday Community Meal on Wednesday at Main Street Congregational Church in Amesbury. The holiday meal is considered a festive version of their community meal held every week at the same day and time. The nonprofit served a total of 315 meals both dine-in and takeout, while kids received gifts from Santa.
“I am so grateful for the sponsors, Santa, all of the elves who are cooking all day, and all of the families who sponsored and provided stockings,” Haight said.
With ONT closed during the Christmas week, its only communal meal left before the holiday takes place Dec. 18. That day, volunteers will be giving out frozen lasagnas so people can heat them up when they like and have a hot meal at home, according to Haight.
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.