Motorists passing the Hilton the week of Aug. 27 may have been surprised to see the lawn of the fancy hotel covered with tents, a makeshift “log cabin” and people roasting marshmallows from their lawn chairs.
The campers were there to raise awareness about an issue that is very real to many of Lane County’s citizens – hunger. For the 8th year, KZEL Program Director Mark Raney sponsored a “summer camp,” to raise money and canned goods for FOOD for Lane County.
During the week, Raney, who has a morning radio show on KZEL, spends the entire time camped-out at the Hilton. Every morning he broadcasts from the site and invites listeners to come down and donate non-perishable food. Except for a few quick trips to his house, Raney spends the entire week – from the start of his Monday morning broadcast to the end of the broadcast the following Friday – at the site.
Last year, people passing the site began donating money if they didn’t have food with them, Raney said. This year, going with the idea that the event could raise money as well as food, Raney began offering his listeners a chance to come camp out with him. For a price of $45 per night to pitch a tent or $96.10 (the station’s frequency is 96.1) to sleep in the “log cabin,” anyone could come join the fun.
This year the event raised just over $1300 and around 1,000 pounds of food, said FOOD for Lane County food solicitor Deb Buchanan. Every dollar pays for the organization to “purchase and move” six pounds of food – enough to feed one adult or two children for a day – she said. Raney said this amount was more than has been raised in the past and was far better than his goal for the year.
Raney said that people enjoy the event because it is a “family thing” that features entertainment for all ages and has something for everyone. During the week, local performers come to entertain the campers and they even spent one night relaxing in a hot tub “under the stars.”
Buchanan said that people donated a lot of healthy food to the drive – something she hopes will continue.
“We really need nutritious food. People that are hungry, their bodies are already starving, so they need good healthy food to feel better,” she said.
Janice and “Trucker Ron” Herbert have been coming to the event since the first year. They said the event has helped them get to know other KZEL listeners and that they’ve made friends with the other campers.
Buchanan said the summer camp is important because FOOD for Lane County does not have many other drives during the summer, so this event is one of the first to really bring a lot of food into the system.
“We have a lot of really good drives, but this is one we’ve really been able to count on in a time when we have no other drives going on,” she said. “This particular drive is fun because there’s
a lot of partnerships going on. A lot of people jump in to sponsor it.”
Buchanan said that because the event goes on 24 hours a day, anyone who works for the organization can go down and talk to people and get on the radio.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to get some free air time and for the public to hear about us. It’s really about empowering people because we have so many different programs there to help lift them out of poverty and give them the skills and resources to better themselves,” she said.