‘Food for Tots’ wraps up fundraising drive
Nov 17, 2018
Jill Fearons, Food for Tots organizer, poses with a poster. Photo Courtesy: Jill Fearons
Jill Fearons with the owners of Ella’s Wood Burning Restaurant in Wareham. Far left: Tricia grime from Southcoast Health, seated, far left, Abby from Fun 107, seated, far right, Michael Rock from Fun 107, Jill Fearons, standing, third from right, and Ella’s owners Marc and Jean Cohenno, fourth and fifth standing from right. Photo courtesy: Jill Fearons
On National Philanthropy Day, 31 Southcoast restaurants, including two Wareham restaurants, donated 15 percent of their profits for the day to Southcoast Pediatrics to finish the Food for Tots fundraiser.
While restaurants were busy cooking and residents were busy ordering food for a good cause, Jill Fearons, a Mattapoisett mother who organized the fundraiser, was busy visiting all of the locations. It took her nine hours.
It’s too early to tell whether she reached the fundraiser’s $100,000 goal. Though she estimates the earnings jumped from around $63,000 to $75,000 after Nov. 15, that total will continue to increase, as about half of the restaurants have yet to get Fearons the amount of their final contribution.
“Our goal is to open St. Luke’s, the only Southcoast inpatient program, for 24 hours a day. Right now it is only open from 11 a.m. to midnight,” Fearons said, adding that, “With the fundraising, everything we raise goes directly to the program.”
In Wareham, Ella’s Wood Burning Oven Restaurant, located at 3136 Cranberry Highway, and Kool Kone, located at 374 Marion Road, participated.
Fearons plans to present the final check for the fundraiser to St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford on Dec. 5. She hopes that all of the restaurant owners will be there with her.
