Camp Out Hunger: Radio hosts rough it to collect food for the hungry.
AUGUSTA - Some Central Maine radio hosts have left the comfort of their home and studio to camp out in the parking lot of Sam's Club in Augusta, For a good cause.
"So this started about six years ago" said Matt James, the Morning Host for 92 Moose
This isn't your average food drive, 92 Moose and B98.5 have taken over the Sam's Club parking lot in Augusta for their annual camp out hunger food drive. Beginning Monday before the sun rose, these hosts left the creature comforts of their homes and studios and brought the show on the road. They'll be camping out until Friday with the goal of filling an 18-wheeler with donated food to support the capital region salvation army.
"At this point, about 180,000 mainers are dealing with food insecurity. 46,000 of those are children, which is just, it's tragic. So if you have kids in school, it's kids that your kids go to school with that are dealing with this." said Cooper Fox, Morning Show Host for B98.5
Over the past 6 years, James says they have raised hundreds-of-thousands of pounds of food and tens-of-thousands of dollars.
"It's hard every year, but every year gets worse. Prices go up, and so it's hard for all of us to feed our families and to think of those who have nothing. It really puts more of an impact on on camp out hunger." said Lizzy Snyder, Morning Show Hosts for 92 Moose
"People come from all walks of life to donate to this event. We have people that are not doing well themselves, but they feel so compelled to give. And that's one of the greatest things about this event." added James
Snyder says it's more than just cans of soup and vegetables they're looking for. "What we need peanut butter and jelly, pasta, pasta sauce, cereal, canned meats. And if you think about making a lunch for yourself, you know, you grab that can of tuna, but what, how do you make it with mayo so you know those little things, if you're like okay, what are they going to eat for lunch and dinner, but those are the main things."
