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Montcalm Community College more than tripled its impact in this year’s Hunger Games fundraiser, collecting an impressive 14,598 meals for local food pantries — a dramatic increase from last year’s 5,126 meals.

The record-breaking total was announced following the annual Hunger Games event hosted by MCC’s men’s and women’s basketball teams on Jan. 24. The event is part of a conference-wide initiative led by the Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAA), which challenges member schools to dedicate one regular-season basketball game to raising money and food for local pantries. Schools then compete to see who can generate the most meals for their communities.

During this year’s games, $1,500 was raised, with the total climbing to $2,500 after the United Way of Greater Central Michigan — a partner in this year’s event — matched the first $1,000 in donations. Combined with food contributions, the effort resulted in 14,598 meals to support families in need across the community.

Annie Sanders, President & CEO of United Way of Greater Central Michigan, which serves Montcalm, Ionia, Gratiot and Isabella counties, first heard of the Hunger Games event from MCC Foundation Executive Director Lisa Lund at the Montcalm Human Services Collaborative Meeting in January. Right away, Sanders rallied her team, brainstormed how they could be a part of the event and received support from their Board of Directors and Community Investment Committee to match the first $1,000 raised.

“We care so much about food insecurity in our community, as well, so it just felt like the perfect partnership,” Sanders said. “Anything that we can do to support the work that the college is doing, the students are doing, the athletic department is doing, it seemed like a no-brainer. We’re proud to be able to come alongside this awesome event and maximize the impact.”

“They’ve been so easy to work with,” said Hunter Redman, MCC Athletic Director. “I feel like it was just a streamline of us telling them what we wanted and they handled a lot of the background of it. We just did our typical thing, put on the game, collected the donations. Then we handed it off to them and they took care of the rest.”

The grand total of $2,500 was split evenly between five local food pantries and a presentation of the checks was organized on MCC’s Sidney campus on Feb. 3. The food pantries were selected based on regional proximity to the college’s Sidney campus with each receiving a check for $500. Representatives from Have Mercy in Greenville, Hope’s Food Pantry in Stanton, Carson City Food Bank in Carson City, M-46 Tabernacle Family Ministry Food Bank in Lakeview and St. Joseph’s Food Pantry in Belding each accepted checks on behalf of their organizations.

Getting to meet the people behind the impact left an impression on Redman, who is excited to see those in need in the community benefit from their fundraiser.

“It means a lot; this is just a little bit of an opportunity for us to give back,” Redman said. “What we’re doing is a good thing, but I think what they’re doing is the true inspiration of why we do these things. This money will help to make their jobs a lot easier so that their efforts create a bigger impact in their communities.”

Susanne Le Feve, Food Manager at Have Mercy, noted that this money will be a great benefit to their community members, who have an opportunity to have a shopping experience at the food pantry and pick out the items that will be of most use to them.

“We are on a monthly food budget, so this supplies us with one month of food for 200 families, which is huge,” Le Feve said. “We rely on donations only, that’s all we operate with, and we’ve been pretty busy.”

The sentiment was echoed by Gayle Stull — Chairperson at Hope’s Food Pantry — who serves many homeless people in the greater Stanton area.

“A lot of people don’t realize that kids in our community are going hungry,” Stull said. “We serve a large homeless population, and a lot of people don’t realize the amount of homeless and hungry kids there are locally.

“It’ll make a big impact,” she added. “We do get a lot of help from other people, but it’s nice to know that people appreciate what we’re doing and they’re helping us.”

“We talk about the difference we can make through our local food pantries — they serve our community members all year long and this support will go a long way,” Sanders added. “These pantries really know how to stretch that dollar and they can really do a lot with the cash that is donated to them and leverage those donations through West Michigan Food Bank and the partnerships they have through local distributors. When we work together, we can make a bigger impact in our community.”