Food for Tots donates $83K to Southcoast Health pediatric services

FOOD FOR TOTS and members of WFHN 107.1 FM and WBSM 1420 AM present an $83,000 check to Keith A. Hovan, CEO of Southcoast Health, and Dr. Brian Sard, chair of pediatrics, to benefit Southcoast Health pediatrics. From Left: Sue Potter, Tricia Grime, Sard, Hovan, Jilline Fearons, Michael Rock, Anthony Arsenault, Abby Martin- Renoir, Kasey Silvia, Phil Paleologos, Sue Pimental, Mark Stachowski, Donna Sexton and Carrie Law. / COURTESY SOUTHCOAST HEALTH

NEW BEDFORD – On Dec. 5, Food for Tots and media teams from radio stations WFHN 107.1 FM, or Fun 107, and WBSM 1420 AM presented a check for $83,000 to Southcoast Health CEO Keith A. Hovan and Dr. Brian Sard, chair of pediatrics, culminating the Food for Tots 2018 fundraising drive to support Southcoast Health pediatrics.

Food for Tots is a monthly fundraising drive running from April to November that invites the community to dine out at area restaurants on the third Thursday of each month. Participating restaurants donated 15 percent of their total revenue of the day to benefit pediatric services at Southcoast Health, provided in collaboration with Boston Children’s Physicians. More than 31 regional restaurants and six corporate sponsors participated from the towns and cities of Dartmouth; Fairhaven; Fall River; New Bedford; the Tri-Town area, including Foxborough, Mass., Norton, and Mansfield; Wareham, Mass.; Westport; and Tiverton.

“I am overwhelmed by the success of our Food for Tots campaign and proud to live in our community,” said Jilline Fearons, chair of Food for Tots, during the check presentation. “The restaurants opened up their doors and their hearts to the children in our community and I will forever be grateful to them. When we began this campaign, we never dreamed that it would grow to what we have today.”

Townsquare Media, which donated airtime on FUN107 FM and WBSM 1420 AM to promote the drive and participating restaurants, was instrumental in not only promoting but recruiting the community restaurants.

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Michael Rock of Fun107 said, “We would walk into the restaurants and tell them about the program for Southcoast pediatrics in collaboration with Boston Children’s Physicians and before the first sentence was out, they said, ‘Yes.’ ”

“Something really special happens when the community and health care work together. Through these efforts, we have created more awareness for our pediatrics program at St. Luke’s [Hospital] while creating invaluable community partnerships,” Hovan said. “These funds aid us in our mission to deliver the best quality care possible. For that, we are immeasurably grateful.”

Jack Dresser, senior vice president of philanthropy and volunteer services at Southcoast Health, said, “We are so grateful to Jill, the teams at Fun 107 and WBSM, the participating Food for Tots restaurants and the matching corporate sponsors in our communities for their generous contribution and efforts to benefit Southcoast Health’s pediatrics.”

Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com.

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