Well, Dan and Kathy Bass flute,
we're looking for a way to honor
their longtime friend and former
KTVB family member, Larry Gebert.
They're partnering with the Idaho Food Bank
and encouraging others to get involved.
So we have Kathy with us.
We have Megan with us from the Food Bank
to tell us about their spring challenge.
First and foremost,
thank you for joining us. I
like we we've got all the dark theme
color here going on. So first of all,
you guys got my e-mail about what
we needed to address like today.
I think that's great,
but this is a really cool let's
start with you, Megan, about this.
This spring initiative,
this spring challenge and and what
it means for the auto food bank.
Yeah absolutely.
So we're so thankful for Kathy and Dan
and their generosity and willingness,
willingness to partner with us.
So really there's no bad way
to give to the Idaho Food Bank.
We're really thankful for
any donations of funds,
food or time and that just
kind of makes what Kathy and
Dan are doing so special
and this matching opportunity take us
through this matching opportunity.
What it means if someone says OK,
they're watching, I want to be able to.
To donate. What is this matching
opportunity gonna be like?
Well, basically what happened is.
Larry passed away last spring and
one of his benefits was the Idaho
Food Bank and we tried to give in
the past we've given and it matched,
which was a corporate match. Well,
we tried and there was no funds to match,
so we didn't give in.
We called back a couple months later,
tried to give again with matching.
There was no match.
And so in November we said we
need to do something.
So we decided to become the match
and it's usually a corporation.
No, but Dan and I, we just.
Felt like if we could put some
money out there and people call
in and they want to give $100,
if there's matching money then we
can double it dollar for dollar.
So
that is amazing.
And it's not a corporation,
it's you too. We're doing that.
And and that match,
we're going to call Larry,
Matt Larry's match and
that's going to honor him.
And so we're putting it out there.
So we put $10,000 out in November and
within two weeks people heard about it,
they matched they.
It just grew and grew and it became 93,000.
Ohh, my word. And
it's over 300,000 meals. Yeah.
And when you think of Larry,
I don't know if you've seen this,
but if you look up at the ceiling there,
you see, you see Larry's
jacket and his, you know,
and I feel like they added the pants.
I remember seeing the jacket one day
I came in here and I saw the pants.
When you think about, you know,
you see that and you think about
Larry and his community involvement,
how special is that for you as
as a dear friend of his? Well,
you know, I don't know if everybody
understood how much he gave all the time.
Umm, and how do we keep that going forward?
Yeah. And so the next thing is to try
again because all the money's gone,
all that was used for food.
So how do we keep going?
So we're trying again to do another match.
We're putting out 25,000 and we've had,
we took the month of February,
Dan and I, and we've had several events,
potlucks, just whatever.
Things. Yeah.
The word out. Yeah.
And we're hopeful that now we'll have
50,000 and then we can double that.
Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing.
We they're gonna show the pants
of of people that don't know
what we're talking about here.
Those pants and that jacket in
just the pants there for for Larry
Gabbert which is just amazing.
Now Megan where can people
they they've seen this.
They're inspired obviously for
for Larry where can people go
for For more information and
to start donating and helping.
Yeah certainly.
So if they visit our website you
can find it on the Idaho Food Bank.
Dot org the spring challenge and
you can find all about how to share
as generously as Dan and Kathy did
with this wonderful match program.
And then also if you'd like to register to
spend your time with us at the Food bank.
Joey, I know you felt backpacks and that
is one of the most exciting
things ever and it's amazing.
I would say this from my experience
with the Food Bank and you know this
obviously making you know this how
much you can do with even $1.00 at
the Food Bank and I think that's
important for people to think oh.
Well, I I've got to be able to give a
lot for really to make a difference.
No, we're talking.
I mean, just a little bit of
money goes a long way.
Yeah, $1.00 can provide enough
food for up to four meals,
which really goes a long way.
We know that about 9% of Idahoans
experience food insecurity,
and it's even higher in our children.
So about 10.5% of Idaho children
experience food insecurity.
And I think, you know,
all of us here today,
and I'm sure all of you out
here watching can agree that
that's probably just too many.
We want all of our,
all of our Idahoans to be thriving and.
Have enough to eat?
Well, you both are amazing.
Thank you for what you and Dan are doing.
Thank you for what you do every
day with the Idaho Food Bank.
We just are so appreciative of it.
So coming up after the break,
we have a special announcement about
a new giveaway and Paw patrol.
Those dogs might just be involved.
We'll be back after the break.