After raising more than 375 pounds of food for the food pantry last year, it’s time again for the WKVI Five Star Food Drive and this year features a new addition to the event as WKVI General Manager Jerry Curtis will be broadcasting live and accepting donations at Sander’s Foods in Winamac. This is fourth consecutive year for the food drive event, and Curtis said he has been involved in three of them, doing live remote broadcasts from the store.
Curtis said the food drive event is something WKVI is proud to do to help their community.
“Number one, there’s a need in the community; it’s a need that we can fill,” Curtis said. “By being able to do the live remote broadcasts, that’s just something unique that local radio can do that maybe other organizations are not able to with the same kind of flare and excitement and motivation for people to come in and make donations.”
Curtis said this year’s addition of Sander’s Foods in Winamac to the effort will go a long way in helping the local food pantry meet their needs. This is the first year Sander’s Foods has been a part of the WKVI Food Drive event, and as the local radio station for Pulaski County as well, WKVI will also be broadcasting from their location.
“WKVI, of course, is based in Starke County but we are also the local radio station for Pulaski County, and we’ve had calls from Pulaski County saying, ‘Can’t you come and do some similar event for us with our organization?’ So this year we’re going to do a team, we’re going to have broadcasting live from Five Star in Knox and at the same time, we’ll have live broadcasting the same day at the same time from Sander’s Foods in Winamac,” Curtis said.
Curtis said WKVI has always been involved in community events to help local organizations. Hosting events such as the Starke County Youth Club Radiothon and other fundraisers or radiothons for different organizations has long been a part of WKVI’s history.
“This is the kind of thing that is in our history, part of our corporate DNA, if you will. This is just the kind of thing that WKVI has done throughout its history,” Curtis explained.
Once the event is underway, Curtis said he anticipates making Sander’s Foods a part of the annual food drive.
WKVI’s Tom Berg and Lenny Dessauer will be in Starke County at Five Star, while Curtis will be at Sander’s Foods in Winamac. The broadcast starts at 9 a.m. CT on Nov. 23 and ends at noon.
