This year marks the 23rd year that The Marching Virginians will be carrying out the Hokies for the Hungry service project. I’m currently in my fourth year in the MVs, so I’ve been able to take part in the fundraiser all throughout college. I know that Hokies for the Hungry is a huge part of our identity as a band, but I didn’t know much about what the service project actually supported until I visited the Christmas Store to film the Hokies for the Hungry promotional video.
Source: Christmas Store Facebook page
The Montgomery County Christmas Store, located in Christiansburg, VA is an all-volunteer, community-wide, non-profit organization offering clothing, toiletries, food, and gifts to low-income families in Montgomery County during the holiday season. The store opened in 1982, and since then, it’s grown drastically in its impact on the community. In 1982, the Christmas Store supported 267 families. In 2018, it helped more than 1,300 families have a wonderful holiday.
To be eligible to shop at the Christmas Store, you must fit certain requirements, including being a resident of Montgomery County and having a certain income. In addition, you must either have children at home, have adults above 62 years at home, receive disability income, or have emergency circumstances of some kind.
Source: The Montgomery County Christmas Store
When I visited the Christmas Store, I got the grand tour from the store’s lovely PR director, Terri Lynn Howard. Terri walked me and my project partner, Alex Girona, through the entire store, giving us the rundown on how each section worked. I was immediately struck by the variety of options that they offered their eligible shoppers.
Source: Alana Hassett
They had clothes for children, teens, and adults, and a wide variety of sizes and styles. Terri explained that shoppers will come in during the shopping week and pick out the clothing that they wanted for their families. Families also get a variety of toiletries like diapers, laundry detergent, toothbrushes, and razors (which are not covered by food stamps).
In addition, families get to pick out toys for their kids for the holidays. Toys are on a points system, so families are given a certain number of points, and they get to pick out the things for their kids that fall within that limit.
Source: Alana Hassett
Source: Alana Hassett
Lastly, families get a certain amount of food from the food pantry. The amount is determined by the size of the family, but every family gets a box with things like ham, oatmeal, mac and cheese, peanut butter, jelly, and baking mix.
The Hokies for the Hungry canned food drive supports this part of the Montgomery Country Christmas Store, as we are contributing canned and boxed foods that are given to the store in addition to their food budget. The money that we donate is added to the Christmas Store’s overall budget, but the food donations are in addition to that money—which is why our canned food drive is so important.
Source: Alana Hassett
Last year, the MVs carried out our own canned food drive, which raised 2,743 cans—more than we raised from the rest of the stadium (wthe fans brought 2,694 cans for a grand total of 5,437 cans). Sections got super into the competition, pooling money to make a mass purchase of cans, filling entire shopping carts, and exceeding our storage space. Last year, the clarinets won the contest with a total of 887 cans. That’s 16% of all of the cans we collected! Will the nets sweep the floor again this year? We’ll have to see.
Clarinets Darlene and Lena with their trunk full of loot last year; Source: MV Facebook
On the day of Hokies for the Hungry, the MVs form mini pep bands and walk around the tailgates on campus, playing classic tunes and collecting donations. This is something we look forward to every single year. As band member Ashley Deans explains,
“My favorite part about Hokies for the Hungry is interacting with the fans in a way that we don’t normally get to. We get to be outside introducing people Lane Stadium, greeting them as they walk in, and it’s really fun to interact with them in that way.”
This is my personal favorite picture from Hokies for the Hungry last year. This fan is SO excited to be posing with the MVs! Source: MV Facebook
Here’s a photo of my section, the drumline, playing outside Lane last year. We’re probably playing one of our favorite drum cheers—guess which one! Source: Bob White
Understandably, the fans LOVE us! Source: Bob White
The Christmas Store is beyond grateful for all of the support from the MVs. “Hokies for the Hungry [does] such a beautiful job at the football game,” says Terri. “It is wonderful the enthusiasm and the collection that you do.”
I thought that it was so cool to finally get to see the firsthand the impact that the MVs have on the Christmas Store. I wanted to try to bring that to the rest of the MVs and our social media following in our Hokies for the Hungry promo video. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out ! (Cue shameless promotion…)
To learn more about the Christmas Store, check out their website and Facebook page. You might see this awkwardly cute pic of Terri, Alex, and I filming at the store a few weeks ago:
Source: Christmas Store Facebook
To support the MVs and our Hokies for the Hungry fundraiser, bring cans to the Pitt game on Saturday! You can also donate money and even Venmo a donation to our partner for the fundraiser, @NewLifeChristianFellowship with the memo line “H4TH.” Even if you can’t donate, it would be AMAZING if you could share some of our posts on Facebookto help us get the word out!
I think I speak for all of the MVs when I say that I’m SO excited for Hokies for the Hungry on Saturday, and I can’t wait to bring in tons of cans and donations for the Christmas Store! Let’s get ‘One Can From Every Fan’ in Lane Stadium!