Hancock’s Bakery ran away with the final tally in Hopelink’s March Can Madness food drive. The small-yet-plucky business amassed 3,760 pounds during the four-week competition.
The real winners, of course, are the people who rely on Hopelink—the contest netted 7,791 pounds of donated food items.
“Hopelink could not be more pleased with the first-ever March Can Madness,” said Denise Stephens, Hopelink’s public relations specialist. “It generated nearly four tons of food for Hopelink’s food bank, got a lot of different people excited and involved and was so much fun! Ben Wobker at Redmond Physical Therapy is a champ for coming up with the idea and recruiting the businesses. We are looking forward to making it an annual event, and maybe expanding it to include more businesses and other groups.”
To celebrate, Hopelink will be hosting a get-together from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 31 in the Rainier Room of Hopelink’s Family Resource Center. There will be some refreshments on hand and the March Can Madness trophy will be awarded. (If you’re interested in attending, Hopelink asks that you get in touch with Kristina Kenck.) Redmond Reporter staff writer Mary Decker will also be on hand, so you can expect to see a wrap of the event online and in our print edition.
In the meantime, here are some more stat totals, courtesy of Denise Stephens:
Second place: McDonald’s Book Exchange. Their 4-week total: 806 pounds.
Largest single week totals:
- 1st week: Evergreen Primary Care Clinic at Redmond, 705 pounds
- 2nd week: Hancock’s, 753 pounds
- 3rd week: Hancock’s, 924 pounds
- 4th week: Hancock’s, 1,578 pounds
Smallest businesses participating: Charter Bank, Dr. Ghislaine Robert Sports Medicine, Eastside Basketball Club, and Foot Solutions—each have 3 employees
Largest businesses participating: Evergreen Primary Care Clinic at Redmond – 58 employees; VCA Redwood Animal Hospital—24 employees
Most valuable “player”: Ben Wobker, of Redmond Physical Therapy, for coming up with the idea and visiting untold dozens of Redmond businesses to recruit tournament participants.
Map of Hopelink’s location (for Wednesday’s celebration)
