UW Bucks staff with boxing legend Bernard Hopkins (center).
By Tom Sofield, LevittownNow.com
About 500 people from around Bucks County came out to Ann’s Choice Retirement Community in Warminster on Friday to help package 100,000 meals for the county’s 60,000 residents who don’t know here there next meal is coming from.
Boxing champ Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins arrived to the Bucks Knocks Out Hunger event at around noon. The boxer helped volunteers package meals and posed for pictures.
United Way of Bucks County CEO Jamie Haddon announced to the crowd of gathered volunteers just before noon that the fundraising efforts had matched the goal of $36,000. The Fairless Hills-based nonprofit has been promoting the event and collecting funds for more than a month.
Aside from paying for the meals, a portion of the money will benefit Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, which works with Bucks County farmers and get local produce to county’s roughly 20 food pantries, Haddon said.
The atmosphere in the ballroom at the retirement community was electric as hordes of locals worked to make the meal packages for the needy. Popular music and lively conversation filled the room.
“The energy level in here could raise the roof,” volunteer Jennifer Dredge, a Falls Township resident, said.
Volunteers of all ages worked through the morning and finished packaging the 100,000th meal by 2 p.m.
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About the Contributor: Tom Sofield is a multimedia journalist and editor of LevittownNow.com, a hyperlocal news and information hub. He has covered news in Bucks and Montgomery County communities for both newspaper and online audiences for the past three years.