FILL THE HALL Food Drive to Return to The Music Hall for Third Year

The Music Hall, dubbed "the beating cultural heart of the New Hampshire Seacoast," (The Boston Globe) is showing its heart on Saturday, June 24, when it opens its doors and asks the community to help fill every seat in the Historic Theater with bags of food for Gather's (formerly The Seacoast Family Food Pantry) Summer Meals 4 Kids program during the third annual Fill The Hall Food Drive.

Many area kids rely on school meals for nutritious breakfasts and lunches and struggle to get enough to eat during the summer break. Summer Meals 4 Kids was started to help combat this problem. Gather has taken on the role of filling the childrens' nutrition gap, but needs help accomplishing this goal in the warmer months, because people don't typically think about donating food at this time.

"Last year we raised seven tons of food to help Gather provide healthy meals for children in need. This year, we are asking the community to help us collect ten tons," said Monte Bohanan, the director of marketing at The Music Hall. "As Gather receives more and more requests, we are humbled to be able to help this amazing organization take care of our community. Here in Portsmouth, there are children and families who go without food in the summer, and we are committed to help alleviate this problem."

Deb Anthony, executive director of Gather, explained, "This year the requests for our Summer Meals 4 Kids program have increased by 100%. Our mission is to collect food to ensure these children are fed during the 11 weeks of summer vacation. This year we will be adding Kittery to our distribution, so our need for community support is even greater than in previous years."

All Fill The Hall donations will go to the Summer Meals 4 Kids program. Anthony said last year's participants donated food that was ideal for kids. "Fill The Hall is a perfect opportunity to increase staples such as peanut butter and jelly, canned tuna and chicken, and the much-loved pinto beans," she said.

"This is a community collaboration between two terrific partners," added Anthony. "The Music Hall's strong local presence and rich history make it a perfect match for this endeavor. Most importantly, we hope community members will enjoy seeing the visual impact of their donations as each of the theater's seats fill with food."

The doors of the Historic Theater will be open from 9am to 5pm on June 24 for the event. Coordinators are looking for community organizations, businesses, and residents to do food drives within their groups, workplaces, and neighborhoods to help fill all 900 seats. For more information, visit TheMusicHall.org.

All types of nonperishable foods are welcomed. Needed items include 100 percent juice boxes, peanut butter, tuna and other canned protein, granola bars, low sugar jelly, nuts (small packs), chickpeas, black beans, and low sugar cereals. Small containers of olive oil, ketchup, mayo, and mustard are also on the Summer Meals 4 Kids wish list. Household items such as toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, and baby food are needed as well.

Donors who don't want to park can drop bags off with volunteers who will be outside The Music Hall entrance at 28 Chestnut Street or donate online at bit.ly/FTH17Donate. Those who do come in will be encouraged to take a selfie on the historic stage and share their good work with their social networks.

Gather serves those in the Seacoast community experiencing hunger. We provide nutritious food through our innovative distribution programs; Meals 4 Kids, Meals 4 Seniors, Farm Shares 4 Families and the Pantry Market. Gather offers nutrition education and recipes for healthy living. In addition, we collaborate with community partners to address the root causes of hunger. For more information, visit our website at www.gathernh.org.

The Music Hall is a community-supported nonprofit performing arts center featuring entertainment from around the corner to around the world. It was recently named Editors' Choice "Best All-Around Entertainment" by Yankee Magazine. With two theaters in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire - one, the 1878 Victorian-era Historic Theater, the other the modern and intimate Music Hall Loft - it is an active and vital arts center, dedicated to the cultural life of the Seacoast community. For more, visit TheMusicHall.org, or follow on Facebook: /MusicHall, Twitter: @MusicHall, and Instagram: MusicHallNH.

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