The organization, located on Cleveland State Community College’s campus, is active at Lee University.
On April 28, the students decided to focus their mission work in the Cleveland community by holding Starving Artist Festival to benefit The Caring Place. The Starving Artist Festival raised $1,300 that will allow The Caring Place to purchase food for their clients.
The Starving Artist Festival transformed the Baptist Collegiate Ministry’s office into an art gallery. The show featured more than 100 pieces of art that included drawings, paintings, photographs, jewelry, folk art, and sculptures.
More than 20 local artists donated their work to be sold in the silent auction, many of which were Cleveland State and Lee University Students.
The festivities also featured free food, art activities, and live music. It was a great time for everyone who participated.
The $1,300 was donated to The Caring Place to help assist them in stretching the food budget. While there are several organizations and local churches that hold food drives for The Caring Place, the need in the community is too great to keep up with the demand.
Each week The Caring Place goes to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank to purchase food to distribute to their families in the Cleveland community.
When food is donated to the CAFB other member agencies that distribute food must purchase the food from them. While the price of the food varies at the CAFB, The Caring Place tries to stay around 18 cents a pound.
This means that the $1,300 the Starving Artist Festival raised will help The Caring Place purchase about 7,222 pounds of food, and at 20 pounds per family this will help feed about 361 families.
The Caring Place is a nonprofit organization based in Cleveland which focuses on meeting the basic needs of the local poor and disadvantaged.
In 2011 alone, The Caring Place assisted 3,349 different households, provided 172 tons of food and helped 188 homeless households at the hands of more than 130 of its active volunteers.
If you would like to hold a food drive or fundraiser or would like information about volunteering at The Caring Place, please contact Chelsea Long at 423-472-4414 or Chelsea@thecaringplaceonline.org
