Standing before a wall of bread at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank Tuesday morning, the founder and chairman of FarmersOnly.Com and CurvesConnect.com, Jerry Miller, formally presented a check for $8,000 to Food Bank reps.
FarmersOnly.com and CurvesConnect.com were official sponsors of the Cleveland Browns perfect season (0-16) parade earlier this month. Miller enthusiastically supported the parade and was pleased to donate, he said.
Because every dollar donated to the food bank provides four meals to hungry families in Northeast Ohio, said Joanne Clemens, the Food Bank's senior manager of corporate relations, the "giant check" presented Tuesday said "32,000 meals," not "$8,000."
"To put it in perspective, we raised enough food and funds last year to provide 55 million meals," Clemens said, "and that's not enough."
Communications coordinator Carolyn Newberry said that the meals gap in the food bank's service area is 58 million meals, and they're working to reach that goal.
The funding from the locally headquartered dating websites will help. It'll be added to the $9,000 donated by parade organizer Chris McNeil, the balance from the parade's GoFundMe drive after expenses. Additional money may be forthcoming. The Browns organization, which Clemens was quick to note gives to the Food Bank throughout the year, did not provide matching funds for the parade donation, as they did last year.
In an interview after the check presentation, Jerry Miller said that, as an advertiser, he think the parade accomplished two things very well: sending a message of frustration to the Browns' front office and raising awareness about the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.
Miller was also, of course, more than happy to promote his own products, especially CurvesConnect.com, a newer site for people "with a few extra curves."
"There's not a whole lot of farmers who live in Cleveland, so [our sponsorship] isn't great publicity for FarmersOnly," Miller said, "but half of Cleveland should be on CurvesConnect.com."
*The wall of bread was a piece commissioned for the GCFB building's opening in 2005. It is titled "Grain by Grain," by artist Andy Yoder, and was made with real bread and resin.