‘Giving Tuesday’ nets 460+ items for food banks

Food donations for Giving Tuesday pile up at the Nazareth Motherhouse Dec. 3.

Concordia donors brought in a total of 464 items for a community food drive as part of the nationwide Giving Tuesday.

The effort was organized by the Sisters of St. Joseph and the donations will go to the Cloud County Food Bank and Helping Hands, an emergency food pantry within Manna House of Prayer.

In addition to the food items, $300 in cash was donated directly to Helping Hands, and another $50 was donated directly to the Food Bank.

Giving Tuesday began in 2012 as a national day of giving to kick off the annual holiday season. As retailers launch their holiday sales season with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, New York’s 92^nd Street Y wanted a way for donors to come together with nonprofit organizations in need of support. Charities were asked to become partners by creating a special Giving Tuesday project and then spreading the word among their supporters.

In its first year, Giving Tuesday had more than 2,500 recognized partners from all 50 states.