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Let's Be a Generous "Community In Theatre" This Food Drive

The Columbus Dispatch on March 31 reported that Ohio food pantries faced a hunger spike in 2009. The study cited in the article charts a near 20 percent increase in the number of Ohioans who sought emergency food assistance compared to 2006 counts.

What can our "community in theatre" do to help? The problem is complicated, but the first step to a solution is simple. We will rally and conduct a food drive. So please add a little more to your cart during your next grocery store trip, and help us when you attend performances of our next production, A Thousand Clowns, April 16 – May 2.

The economic downturn that has affected many aspects of our daily lives, of course, has hit hard in our home kitchens. The high unemployment rate in the state has left people without incomes, and the resulting lost wages make it difficult for them to afford food, among life's other basic needs.

Curtain Players and Westerville Area Resource Ministry (http://www.warmwesterville.org/) forged a partnership last fall. Inspired by the messages shared in our production of A Little House Christmas, we asked our audiences to bring five non-perishable food items, household cleaning products, or personal hygiene items with them to our Harlem Road playhouse.

And those audiences responded! Without much prodding or the offer of an incentive, we collected more than 400 pounds of food and more than $200 cash that I personally delivered to our new friends at WARM's Westerville headquarters. The effort was such a success, we had to do it again.

The year-end holiday season is an obvious time for reaching out to others, to do as WARM says, give "a hand up, not a hand out" to those in need. That Dispatch article is only the latest documentation that hunger is a year-round issue. And at Curtain Players, we literally have the stage to help WARM and its clients. From our position in the Central Ohio community, we can share WARM's message and we can make contact with our Curtain Players family with a plea and an easy way to do something that helps.

At the playhouse, we tell many stories, many of them entertaining and escapist. Those stories are over when the house lights come up, but for many of our friends and neighbors, they live stories that are very real and very difficult. We can take action to effect a positive turn in their tales.

Please remember to bring your donations to the Harlem Road playhouse when you come to see A Thousand Clowns. Our generous "community in theatre" can and does make a difference.