MONTGOMERY – Phil Dropkin recently took to the roads to fight hunger. The Goshen attorney completed a metric century (65 mile) bike ride on September 26 to raise funds for Dinners4KidsOC.
Dinners4KidsOC, a component fund of the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan(CFOS), tackles children’s hunger in Orange County by providing hot, nutritious meals for food-insecure children. The bike ride raised a total of $23,875. $11,875 in donations were doubled thanks to a generous matching gift from an anonymous donor.
“I am grateful that I can contribute to Dinners4KidsOC’s mission of lessening hunger for innocent children who in the spring of their lives are facing the pain and adverse physical, mental, social, and educational burdens of hunger,” said Dropkin. “I am also humbled by the wonderful and generous outpouring of support from friends, family, colleagues, and my associates working on this project who are giving so much of their time, money, and effort to jointly and creatively address this tragic but largely solvable issue.”
Dinners4KidsOC has been feeding children through the pandemic through a collaborative effort with local businesses and organizations.
“This wouldn’t be possible without the Empire Diner which prepares the hot, nutritious dinners, the Monroe Temple which provides organizational support and encouragement, the volunteers who deliver the dinners, and the corporate and nonprofit supporters,” added Dropkin.
Dropkin even had support along his ride. Local residents Norm Stein, John Carey, and John Michael Carey each rode with him part or most of the way.
With the money raised from the bike ride, more than 20 children can have healthy dinners for more than a year, rather than going hungry each night. That’s another 6,000 dinners on top of the 3,000 already served since Dinner4KidsOC initiated its efforts in May.
Donations to Dinners4KidsOC are still be accepted at www.cfosny.org/our-funds/field-of-interest/dinner4kidsocfund/. Checks made payable to “CFOS – Dinners 4 Kids,” can also be mailed to The Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan at 30 Scott’s Corners Drive, Montgomery, NY 12549.
