Jimmy Smith is always looking for a way to lend a helping hand. And Carele Mayer just so happened to ask for a boost at the perfect time.
Mayer had requested Pastor Bob Marrone of the Union Congregational Church in Peterborough mention that peanut butter was on sale during the Sunday church service on Sept. 13. For four years, Mayer has helped UCC raise money to purchase peanut butter for End 68 Hours of Hunger, ConVal, because when End 68 began in 2016 the group called upon local churches to help with donations of a specific food item.
“There’s a need, I have the time, so I do it,” she said. “I do what little I can to help out because it’s an incredibly wonderful program. It helps so many.”
Mayer buys it by the case from the Harvester Market in Greenfield and is always told when it’s on sale. So the ask for donations is kind of a standing request for the congregation.
“When people had an extra $20 or even $5, I’d take it,” Mayer said. “I just let the church know and they keep giving me money.”
But for Smith it was his first time hearing of it. And he wanted to use his network to help.
Under normal times, End 68 Hours of Hunger provides students with a supply of food to last following school lunch on Friday and when they return on Monday morning and can receive breakfast. It gives out a jar of peanut butter every two weeks, according to program coordinator Linda Caracappa and this fall there were 235 students signed up for the program. Caracappa expects that number to rise since the school district is remote and bags will be delivered to families. While not every bag, which is the equivalent of $10 to $11 each, gets a jar bi-weekly if there is more than one student per household that receives a bag, but it’s still a lot of peanut butter each month.
Smith called Mayer to get more information. She told him how many kids are in the program and roughly how many jars of peanut butter that equates to. Then he said “let me see what I can do.” He called upon his network of givers, those who helped him raise more than $270,000 over the course of 15 years for Diabetes Youth Services in Toledo, Ohio.
Smith grew up in Peterborough, but left the area in 1967 for college in Ohio, where he met his wife Connie and made his home for decades before moving to Sun City Center, Florida in retirement.
“But Peterborough is still my home,” Smith said. “And I learned how to give in Peterborough and I’ve always tried to give back,” citing his mentor Jim Grant’s passion for helping others.
He set a goal of $2,000, then after just 12 days the amount had reached $2,400. But just because Smith had reached his initial mark, he wasn’t about to stop. As of Friday, Smith had generated $5,130 through 102 donations and the most interesting part about it is that less than 10 actually came from New Hampshire.
“The biggest thing that I think speaks volumes is we got donations from 13 other states outside of New Hampshire,” Smith said.
Smith didn’t ask for specific amounts, but just said “give it from the heart.” Donations ranged from $5 to $500 and the feedback he got was incredible.
“People said thank you for including me,” Smith said.
And what hit home for Smith was that if End 68 Hours were around when he was growing up “I probably would have qualified,” he said. Through discussions with Mayer and Caracappa, Smith learned how the End 68 Hours system works and realized that even though it’s a relatively small organization, it makes a big impact.
“They’re going to be covered for peanut butter,” Smith said. “And then some because when it’s all said and done, all that money is going to End 68 Hours of Hunger.”
A portion of the fundraising has been earmarked specifically for peanut butter, but as the amount continued to grow, Caracappa asked Smith if they could use some of it for other needs because $5,000 worth of peanut butter is a lot. It would likely be sitting around for a long time, while other items would be needed.
“It gives us a little more flexibility,” Caracappa said. “It will give us the opportunity to buy something we wanted or needed.” Adding she wondered what more than $5,000 worth of peanut butter would actually look like stacked up. Mayer thought of the same thing.
“When we started getting a lot of money, I said that’s a lot of peanut butter,” Mayer said.
Caracappa said that the 235 bags is more than the start of last school year, adding that the number has increased each year since they started with 40 at the first distribution. They get quite a bit in terms of monetary donations, but something like this reminds Caracappa how important the work End 68 Hours is – even to people who don’t even live in the state.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s their neighbor or not,” she said.
Smith never thought his charitable ask would reach over $5,000, but he’s glad it did because he knows that in the coming months the need could be really severe.
“I can’t see a kid go hungry. That really hit me,” Smith said. “We all have to help out each other.”