A friendly competition between the morning and afternoon Curves members and staff brought in more food during the month of March than owner Lee Ann Hermann ever imagined. Each year, in March, Curves participates in an international initiative to help stock local food pantries.

“Last year our goal was 1,200 pounds and we brought in 1,800 pounds,” said Hermann. “This year we set a goal of one ton. We planned a competition between the morning and evening groups to make it more fun. Kim Park and myself were the cheerleaders for the a.m. group and Carol Weaver and Margie Feldkamp were the p.m. cheerleaders.”

Curves has a staff of four who coached the 142 members of the club to bring in food and toiletries during the month of March. A total of 4,275 pounds of food was collected with the morning group collecting 2,236.5 pounds and the afternoon group collecting 2011.5 pounds.

“This is an international opportunity for all Curves during March to help out their local communities by stocking food pantries,” said Hermann. “We began collecting food on Monday, March 2. All of our donations will go to the New Richmond Food Pantry. We were told that there is a need for personal care products so the members brought in lots of shampoo, soap, toothpaste and cleaning items in addition to the food.”