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Community Corner

Emergency Food Network Director Hopes Community Will Win Her $5,000

Helen McGovern is honored as Safeco Community Hero. It could bring in another donation for her organization if the public votes for her in an online contest.

To the people she serves as executive director of the Emergency Food Network, Helen McGovern already is a hero.

Now she has the award to prove it.

McGovern has been named one of the recipients of the Safeco Insurance Community Hero Award for her work with EFN, which distributes more than 1 million pounds of food every month to 67 food banks, meal sites and shelters.

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The award comes with a $5,000 donation from Safeco on behalf of McGovern and McKenrdy Insurance of Tacoma. Company president Kim McKendry nominated McGovern for the award.

“It was a wonderful surprise to be nominated, and an even greater surprise to win the Community Hero Award,” McGovern said. “The need in the fight against hunger is getting greater and greater and the money is desperately needed.”

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By winning a Community Hero Award, McGovern is eligible to win another $5,000 for EFN—but she needs the community to help.

(People can vote once a day in the “Favorite Safeco Community Hero” online event through Aug. 29.)

She is up against 13 other nominees who are doing good in their communities across the country.

“It’s an exercise in social media for me,” McGovern said. “All of a sudden I see why you should be on Facebook—to get people to vote for you.

“I see it popping up (on people’s walls), so it’s wonderful that a lot of people have voted, but I want them to vote every day.”

McGovern said that the voting process is simple: “You go online, you vote, you put it on your calendar and then you vote again every day.

“It’s like personally writing us a check for $5,000,” she said, adding with a laugh, “or you could just write us a check for $5,000. But just a click could be writing us a check. How huge is that?”

McGovern said that since EFN is able to purchase $12 worth of food for every dollar donated, they could use the $5,000 to buy $60,000 worth of food. The focus now is shelf-staple milk for schools’ backpack programs, which sends food home for needy families to eat over the weekend.

“Once kids are back on school meals, there may not be enough to eat over the weekend,” she said.

EFN’s goal is to purchase 500 cases, which McGovern said costs approximately $4,635. If she wins the online contest, that means 1,000 cases. The milk must be purchased by Sept. 1 to lock in the price, “so the timing is perfect.”

Each year Safeco celebrates local heroes who make a positive difference through its Agent Giving Program that is designed to focus on three areas: education, health and safety, and civic engagement.

“Safeco applauds community heroes, like Helen, who share their gifts for giving and action,” said Brenda Mann Harrison, manager of the giving program, in a news release. “We also thank McKendry Insurance for nominating Helen and its commitment to community involvement.”

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