Local Businessman's Donation Keeps On Giving

Manish Patel, owner of Chalybeate Food Mart, makes donation that was re-donated.

Darren Doyle, story:
One local businessman's donation is still making its rounds in the community, thanks to generosity from several individuals.

As reported last week, local Girl Scout Troop #313 hosted a successful Emergency Services meet-and-greet event at the Chalybeate Fire Department, where multiple emergency personnel set up booths, put on displays, and even landed an emergency helicopter for the kids.

Manish Patel, owner of Chalybeate Food Mart, with hopes of supporting local emergency services, made a donation of $1100; however, there were so many different agencies present that day, some of which were unable to accept donations due to the nature of their business, so everyone was unsure as to how the funds could be fairly dispersed. That's when different folks had the same idea: to re-donate those funds back to the Girl Scouts, who put on the event in the first place.

But it didn't stop there. The local Girl Scouts have a drive each year to help benefit another local program, Feeding America's Backpack Program, which sends food items home each weekend with Edmonson County students that need a helping hand.

Scout leader Melissa Johnson said these funds will be used towards their annual drive to benefit the program. 

"This image of a half-full laundry basket of food is the reason that Girl Scout Troop #313 is so passionate about our annual non-perishable food drive," Johnson said. "The first year that the troop donated, Mrs. Lynette Saling with FRC showed the troop this basket and said that the basket held all the "extra" food that the (combined) schools had to supplement the Backpack Program for the remainder of the year.  She told us that our donations helped feed children over the long Christmas break, as well as throughout the rest of the school year.  She told us of how children would often come to the FRC office at the beginning of the week asking for food donations and now, thanks to the food donation, they would be able to accommodate them instead of waiting until the backpacks arrived at the end of the week.  Since then, it has been a priority for our troop to collect these needed items annually.  Thanks to Mr. Patel and his generous donation, as well as the re-donated funds from some of the emergency partners from our recent event, Girl Scout Troop #313 will be able to use those funds to help others in our community." 

​The Edmonson County Backpack program services approximately 120-130 local students each year.