All they wanted was a miracle. And they got it.
Organizers, team members and community members across Chatham-Kent have been left mesmerized by the success of the Miracle In May food drive.
In the days prior to the historic one day drive, Dresden’s community co-captain Stuart Kiar told 99.1 he truly believed the event would be a miracle for local food banks.
“My gut is that this really is a miracle,” said Kiar. “I think the food banks are going to be overwhelmed and pleasantly surprised by the things that are collected throughout Chatham-Kent.”
Turns out, Kiar hit the nail on the head.
In fact, organizers are saying the support for the May 16th fundraiser was “ten times more successful than they could have ever hoped”. The seemingly endless piles of donations at every single drop-off and sorting location across Chatham-Kent showcased so much local love and support that it has driven grown adults to tears on Saturday and the days following.
Those donations are so immense that organizers still have no way of giving a total tally of product collected, nearly three days later.
Organizing team members James Rasmussen and Brent Wilken both openly wept while speaking to 99.1 morning man Greg Hetherington about how truly proud they are of being from Chatham-Kent following this weekend’s experience.
“There’s not much that compares to that overwhelming emotion” said Wilken. “It was one of the best days of my life. Right up there… my daughter being born… and this.”
Team members across the board remarked about the true power of our local community.
“People now know for sure this is going to be a mark in history, but we now know what we are here (in Chatham-Kent). We know what we can do when we come together,” adds Wilken.
Rasmussen says the depth of the success was evident from his very first experience with the drop-off locations in Wallaceburg on Saturday.
“I went to Wallaceburg first thing at 12 o’clock and as I pulled into the drop off location, I saw Stu McFadden, who had this look on his face – just overwhelmed and completely shocked with the amount that had already been dropped off. Truck loads within the first ten minutes,” said Rasmussen.
Wallaceburg’s community captain Stu McFadden estimates Wallaceburg’s numbers at 350 volunteers, over $6000 in cash, gift cards and cheques and 20-25,000 non-perishable items donated.
Little did they know it at the time, but the very same situation and emotion was running rampant across C-K.
“Everyone sort of felt shocked and overwhelmed,” James adds. “We knew it was going to be successful, but not like this. That was amazing to pull up right at the start and see Stu and see how emotional he was about it, it was fantastic.”
Rasmussen says it didn’t take long to realize the craze was sweeping across the municipality, including some remarkable sights in Blenheim and Tilbury.
“I walked into the centre in Blenheim and it was bursting at the seams,” says Rasmussen. “J.P. (Huggins) was almost shaking and convulsing he was so excited. And then when I went to Tilbury, it was absolutely unbelievable. And that was happening everywhere. Just that same feeling of overwhelmed shock and excitement.”
Brenda Leclair from the Outreach For Hunger says local food banks share that same reaction. The Executive Director of Outreach, Leclair says she is overwhelmed (we’re hearing that word A LOT!) by the generosity shown across Chatham-Kent, adding that no one in Chatham-Kent will go hungry.
“All the good that was happening, it was almost like it was getting stronger and stronger through the entire day,” Rasmussen says. “Every ten minutes there was a  new highlight, a new story and more photos and more people reacting and interacting online.  It wasn’t until – two things – I went to Thames Campus Arena and I walked in and I almost fell over. It became real. I realized just how much food was being donated. And then I turned the corner around the back of Tek Savvy’s shipping and receiving and you see 60 employees sorting what can only be described as a mountain of food.”
Rasmussen paused several times in his responses, trying to hold back tears and raw emotion.
Both team members say they expect it to take a few days to get a genuine tally on the donations.
Chatham’s Tek Savvy drop off location estimated 40,000 pounds of donations at their one location alone.
If your donation was missed or you’d still like to add to the cause, email May16miracleck@gmail.com