Parade Impact: $44,000 to Fight Hunger
The Fourth of July may have been several weeks ago, but the causes the Rotary Club of Park Cities sought to support with its annual Independence Day parade are important all year long.
“It’s intended to be a family-building event that’s centered around patriotism,” club member Philip Bankhead said. The parade and festivities also provided an opportunity to draw $44,000 in support for a cause the Rotarians have been focused on for several years now: alleviating hunger.
While participants don’t pay entry fees to be in the parade, they were encouraged to join the Rotary Club in giving to the North Texas Food Bank, Bankhead said.
Parade participants added $2,000 in donations to gifts of $10,000 from the Hal and Diane Brierley Foundation and $5,000 each from U.S. Trust and the Rotary Club of Park Cities Foundation.
Timing was beneficial, because the Dean Foods and David M. Crowley foundations united in a commitment to match summer-raised gifts to NTFB, Bankhead said. “So our impact was $44,000.”
In 2016, the Rotary Club raised a couple hundred thousand dollars to purchase a mobile food truck for NTFB, he said. “This year our focus was to raise money to fill the truck as it takes fresh produce and fruit to our underserved neighbors.”
