Give, and you shall receive
<p>Mark Robitaille, with Silverwood Theme Park, center, presented four area food banks with donations Wednesday totaling nearly $31,000. The funds were generated through ticket sales during select weekends in September. Photographed from left, Carolyn Shewfelt, Community Action Partnership food bank, Sherry Wallis, Post Falls food bank, Mark Robitaille, Alice Wallace, Bonner Community food bank, and Melissa Cloninger, 2nd Harvest food bank.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Food banks will give to thousands of folks in the next two months.
For Thanksgiving, and for Christmas, more people will need help putting meals on the table, and food banks will be glad to give.
Wednesday, though, they received.
Silverwood Theme Park donated $30,980 to four food banks - Post Falls, Bonner Community, Community Action Partnership and Second Harvest. Each received $7,745.
It was hugs all around for Silverwood spokesman Mark Robitaille as he presented the checks.
"This is an amazing gift from Silverwood," said Sherry Wallis of the Post Falls Food Bank.
Each dollar, she said, can be doubled, even tripled, with the food bank's buying power at a critical time.
"There is greater need and donations are down," she said. "If you're thinking about donating, now is the time to do it."
Silverwood raised the funds through what it called "Community Appreciation Weekends," the last Saturdays and Sundays in September.
As an incentive for donating to the cause, guests saved $18 off when they purchased their admission online, and Silverwood donated $4 per ticket to the food banks.
The theme park has held canned food drives in the past, but this year decided cash contributions might most benefit food banks.
"Silverwood is always happy to help out our community," Robitaille said.
Carolyn Shewfelt, CAP Food Bank manager, said the donation comes at a great time, with the holidays just ahead and demand rising.
Donations of food, through last month of this year, are down 49,000 pounds, while the number of families applying for assistance is up nearly 600.
"We're serving a lot more people with a whole lot less resources," Shewfelt said.