SEBASTIAN — Sebastian Walmart Manager Mark Rogers presented a $40,000 check to John Corapi, Director of Development for the Salvation Army of Indian River County, to help fund that non-profit organization’s Mobile Canteen Feeding Program.
The grant was made possible through the Walmart Foundation’s State Giving Program, and the presentation took place, appropriately, in Walmart’s large, colorful produce section.
“This is the most money we have ever received from an individual foundation for this program, and we are truly blessed for Walmart’s support,“ said Corapi. “With this much needed $40,000, we will be able to fund food, supplies and fuel for more than a year. No one should ever have to go hungry.”
“Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are very pleased to be supporting the Salvation Army and are committed to helping those in need in the communities where we serve,” said Rogers. “Through this grant, we are hopeful that even more area residents will receive a helping hand when most in need.”
In the North County area, the food will be distributed through a partnership between the Salvation Army and the North County Hunger Relief Coalition, co-founded by Councilwoman Andrea Coy and Nahir Hoffman, and consisting of several community entities, including St. Sebastian Church, where the food is cooked and packed, Kashi Ashram, The Lord’s Table, Riverside Church, St. Vincent de Paul, Grace’s Landing, GFWC Generals, GFWC Juniors, and the Sebastian Lion’s Club.
Rogers has been with Walmart for 12 years and shares the company’s dedication to community service. Under his management, the Sebastian Walmart has supported numerous area events, the most recent when Walmart employees, Rogers, his wife, Andrea, and daughter Ashley handed out water during the Memorial Day Ceremony at Riverview Park. “I see how much the community supports us, and we need to support them back,” he says simply.
Walmart has long donated out-of-date bread to a local food pantry and helped in other ways, and Rogers says he’s seen the need in the community, especially among the homeless population. “I saw a problem and had the resources to try to make things better for the community. And I have fun with it. I love meeting people in the community.“
Rogers learned about the grant in a Walmart publication and, through his position with Walmart and his relationship with the Salvation Army (he’s on the board), Rogers saw an opportunity. He contacted Corapi and, together, they drafted and submitted the grant application and were thrilled when they learned it had been approved.
Immediately following the check presentation, Rogers, Corapi, Coy and Hoffman hurried next door to St. Sebastian Church, to join other volunteers who had been hard at work since 7 a.m. preparing and packing the weekly meals for delivery to homebound, disabled, homeless, and at-risk area residents.
The church kitchen is crowded and hot – and smells terrific. Volunteers, aprons tied around their waists, work efficiently and fast, with lots of joshing. Cook Sal Neglia not only prepares the meals but also possesses a fine baritone, and often serenades his fellow workers with Italian opera. Cooking alongside Neglia is Joe Reinhaltel and longtime school cook Yvonne Beard, who says with a laugh, “I’m really in charge of the cooking – those guys just think they are.”
Coy is especially proud of the coalition that has come together in so short a time. The Salvation Army canteen program, which had been under way in Vero for several years, was expanded to North County a little over a year ago, when Coy met with Corapi. Soon all the entities had come together and now “every Wednesday we feed 150 to 160 people,” Coy says.
Rogers is proud of his company, which allows him to reach out to the community to make a real difference. “Walmart and its Foundation lead the fight against hunger in the United States with a $2 billion commitment through 2015, and have donated more than 1 billion meals to those in need in the country.”
