Couple Shares Time, Company Resources with Foundation
Fred Moore can still remember being a boy in a family of 11 children and receiving charitable baskets of food at the holidays.
Now he and wife Colby volunteer every week at the Foundation, which supports families just like the one he grew up in, and many others.
They don’t stop at volunteering. As owners of Magnum Hospitality, which operates Red Mesa Grill in Traverse City and Boyne City and Pearl’s in Elk Rapids, they sponsor a program called “Help Everyone Eat.” Five percent of gross sales on the first Thursday of each month and all Thursdays in December from the Traverse City Red Mesa are donated to the Foundation. Similar efforts in the other restaurants benefit food pantries in those communities. The Foundation received $9,100 from this unique fundraiser in 2008.
“Being in the restaurant business, it’s a natural fit,” said Fred, adding that hunger is more widespread than many know. “I don’t think people are aware that you can be working and still be hungry.”
Colby assists with bookkeeping and works in the clothing department and Fred helps staff the warehouse, driving a van to pick up furniture from donors.
“It really opens your eyes to a lot of different people and situations,” says Colby. “When you talk to somebody one on one as you are hanging up clothes, you can directly help a person and I love it.
One of their chefs also spends time volunteering at the foundation when he can get away from the restaurant.
“When I was a child, more than one of my Thanksgivings and Christmases were made of baskets like these,” said Fred, standing in the food warehouse and gesturing at the cases of canned and dry goods. “You just want to give back. It’s a tremendous group of people.”
