A man spent 12 days on top of a parked trailer in Oregon recently as a way to collect food to feed the hungry.
Tom Criss of the Myrtle Creek Grocery Outlet in Douglas County, Oregon conducts a yearly challenge – standing on top of a parked trailer for as long as it takes the community to fill it with food. This year, filling the trailer with meals took 12 days, three years longer than last year’s fundraiser. A total of $40,000 was raised as part of the event and the food is already being delivered to food pantries and summer meal programs throughout the area.
In the face of rising gas and grocery prices, Tom and Angie Criss were concerned about filling the trailer and reaching their monetary goal of $50,000, but say the community really came together. The couple expects to raise the final $10,000 of their goal by the end of the month.
“It just confirms how well our community works together,” Tom Criss said to News-Review.
“Food insecurity and hunger doesn’t go away just because we filled a truck,” Angie Criss said.
“We’re just going to keep feeding that need until the end of the fundraiser.”
The couple also plans to auction off swag donated from various companies as part of the fundraising. For now, Tom Criss is working on recovering from his twelve days exposed to direct sunlight and pouring rain. The first thing he did when he got home? Head straight to the freezer for some ice cream.
“He hadn’t even hit the shower, he hit the ice cream first,” Angie Criss said.