Dome drive sets goal at 500,000 meals
FARGO – Metro-area student leaders hope this year’s fifth annual Fill the Dome drive can collect enough food and money to provide a half-million meals for people in need in North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.
Past campaigns focused on collecting set tons of food and dollar amounts, Fill the Dome spokeswoman Torie Sandene said, but making meals the goal personalizes it.
“We all know what a meal is,” the Fargo Shanley High School senior said. “We want to be able to relate what we’re giving to the people we’re giving to.”
Since 2007, the initiative has raised more than 300 tons of food and $225,000 for the Great Plains Food Bank. Last year’s event collected 97 tons of food and $75,000 for the food bank.
The group aims to fill the main event floor of the Fargodome with food Nov. 21-22.
Gate City Bank and Hornbacher’s stores are the event’s premiere sponsors. Other sponsors include Scheels and several Fargo-Moorhead area radio stations, though other sponsorships are being sought, Sandene said.
In addition to the food drive at area schools and grocery stores, events are being added to boost participation.
An all-city dance, dubbed “Fill the Dome-coming,” is scheduled from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Fargodome for all area students in grades 9-12. The entry fee for the dance is $10 or 10 nonperishable food items.
The student leaders are also working with Scheels on a Fill the Dome 5K race in late October, with proceeds going to Fill The Dome.
“It’s really a way for the youth to say we can make a difference,” Sandene said. “We can and will make a difference in the state.”
The food and funds bolster food banks, soup kitchens and emergency shelters in Cass and Clay counties and food programs throughout North Dakota.
Every dollar collected can provide four meals, and every 1.38 pounds of food is equivalent to a meal, said Marcia Paulson, director of marketing and development for the Great Plains Food Bank.
Paulson said programs receiving the aid consider Fill The Dome a lifeline.
“Many say the food that’s allocated to them will last well into the spring,” Paulson said. “It comes at a crucial time and lasts a significant amount of time. It’s a huge support. It’s incredible, both for us and the other feeding programs in our community and statewide.”
Monetary donations are being taken online through the group’s web site, www.fillthedome.org, Sandene said.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Helmut Schmidt at (701) 241-5583