A uniquely Blount County charity is celebrating 65 years of neighbor helping neighbor, kicking off its 2017 campaign today to assure that residents in need will have a merry Christmas.
Donations can be made online or via the mail beginning this morning or dropped off at The Daily Times during regular business hours starting Monday.
The Empty Pantry Fund was started 65 years ago as a joint project of The Daily Times and the Blount County Jaycees, then known as the Maryville/Alcoa Jaycees.
At a November 1952 meeting of the Jaycees Board of Directors, President T. Ned Lee, who later served as Maryville mayor, addressed the board with his desire to provide food to help needy families during the extended Christmas season. Jaycee member Dean Stone, then-editor of The Daily Times, contacted Times publisher/owner Clyde B. Emert, who agreed for The Times to accept donations and responsibility for the Empty Pantry Fund.
And the tradition of making the Christmas season brighter for Blount residents in need was born.
That first year, volunteers delivered 120 “baskets” of food to Blount families at Christmas.
As the population has grown, so has the need — this year, food will be delivered to more than 1,300 families who signed up during the annual Christmas Clearinghouse in the fall.
Volunteers
The 501©(3) nonprofit organization has no paid staff and no overhead costs. Every penny raised is used to get food to families in need at Christmas, and unlike most charities, the foods are packed and delivered to recipients’ homes by volunteers.
The board of directors consists of volunteers, most of whom have been involved with the organization for decades: Lon Fox, president; Blount County Mayor Ed Mitchell, vice president; and Tony Clark, treasurer. Other board members are Daily Times Publisher Carl Esposito, representing The Daily Times; Vernon Petree, representing the Blount County Jaycees; and Jamey Hearon, representing the Junior Service League of Maryville’s Toys for Blount County. Paul Bales, who served as chairman of the Empty Pantry Fund from 1954 until his retirement in 2011, is also a board member. Keenan Sudderth is webmaster/technology director.
Along with the foods, toys provided through the Junior Service League of Maryville’s Toys for Blount County project are delivered. Although Empty Pantry Fund and Toys for Blount County are different programs administered by different organizations, they work together to make sure their less-fortunate neighbors will have a merry Christmas.
The kickoff amount for 2017 is $22,468.97, but much more will be needed to assure success of the project.Donations of funds and time come from local businesses, civic groups, churches, and from individuals of all ages, in all walks of life, including from some who once received food baskets themselves.
Why get involved?
Fox started helping with the Empty Pantry Fund when he was a young boy with his dad, a Jaycee, and his mother, a Jaycette, and continued throughout middle school and high school. He said, “I joined the Jaycees when I was 18 years of age and continued to work with the Empty Pantry Fund, and even serving as the Jaycee chairperson of Empty Pantry Fund when I was in my early 20s.
“From the beginning, I have known Paul Bales, the only chairman of Empty Pantry Fund we will have, and Paul has always been a positive role model and mentor throughout my life.”
The Empty Pantry Fund is special to Fox in another way, as well. “I met my wife, Sally Fox, working at the Empty Pantry Fund,” Fox said. “She has served as the packing/distribution chairperson for many years, probably over 25 years.”
Fox has seen the impact Empty Pantry Fund has on the community, and that’s why he continues to volunteer.
“I’ve seen the smiles and I have seen the tears,” he said. “For some people, it means everything to them during Christmas. It means they will have some hot meals. It means they will have a few extra dollars to buy their kids or grandkids something for Christmas. In some cases, it means survival because without it, they would have nothing. It means someone comes to their home who cares, shares the Christmas spirit with them and just makes contact with someone who has no one during Christmas.”
Mitchell became involved with the Empty Pantry Fund thanks to Paul Bales.
“I will never forget the energy and passion Paul had for helping so many families, especially the children,” Mitchell said. “It was contagious, and I still have enthusiasm that I caught from Paul. Watching Paul as we delivered baskets and seeing how much he truly loved those families we helped was and still is an inspiration to me. What the Empty Pantry provides for so many people that would have nothing is truly a blessing to our community.”
Mitchell, too, continues to volunteer because of the difference the project makes in so many lives – including his own.
“Thank you, Paul Bales, for allowing me to be a part of something that makes me feel so good in my heart and soul,” he said.
