Inside the
Fall Issue:

Home Page

All Because
of Harry...

Harry Chapin
Run Against Hunger

Be Not Afraid

An Extraordinary
Friendship

Larry Austin Helps Keep
Harry’s Long Island
Dreams Alive

Fighting AIDS
in Ethiopia:
One Person
Making a Difference

Bonnie Raitt
Honored With
Chapin Humanitarian
Award

Readers Help
Those Affected by
Hurricane Katrina

Chapin Family
& Friends Plan
Concert in NYC
To Benefit WHY’s
30th Anniversary

Goat Tales

Doing Something

Letter to the Editor

WHY Hosts Free
Anti-Hunger Forum
October 18th

Country Store
Owner Celebrates
“Harry Chapin Weekend”

Circle! Calendar

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor;

Four years ago I walked into a place called “The Mission!”

They were handing out food and clothing to people who lived in my neighborhood. I was curious to find out more about the place when I noticed a sign that read “Thanksgiving Day Dinner, All Are Welcomed!”

I asked if they had a kitchen facility to prepare this meal and they said no. I asked how many people they were expecting and they said 150 to 200. I asked how they intended to serve that many people without a facility, and they said they didn't know but they will make it happen. This was the birth of Restaurants Against Hunger (R.A.H.).

Being in the restaurant business, I knew I could persuade my friends to help put this meal on. Five area restaurants contributed to this feast that Thanksgiving Day, and followed up with a Christmas Dinner the following month. We were on a roll.

We helped them establish their kitchen facilities, and held our first fundraiser the following November with Harry Chapin as our mentor. His words, “...because hungry people have no power!” are our rallying cry.

Skinny McGee and his Mayhem Makers shared their music at the fundraising event		Tony N. Trotti, Jr., who painted while the band played, donated his work as a raffle prize to help raise additional funds for the cause.

We held a wine dinner with live music, a silent auction, and raised $9,000 to aid the kitchen facilities and buy turkeys for Thanksgiving. We have held this event every year on the third Thursday in November (this year it is November 17th) with a total of over $27,000 raised at these events.

Not bad for a dinner of 60 people. Area restaurants select a course for the meal and are responsible for that course from its preparation to its service. It is a wonderful night, and Harry Chapin is our motivation.

The Mission is a faith-based organization but the work they do is incredible. It just takes people to use their influence to make things happen and that is what we have done. Restaurants Against Hunger is a very unorganized group of professionals who do very organized, and much needed work in our community of Winter Haven, Florida.

Thanks for the influence Harry!

Grant Piché
picgra@aol.com

Donna and Grant Piché (both standing) join fellow organizers and supporters of "Restaurants Against Hunger" program.

Watch for the Next Issue of Circle! on December 7