Christian Center fundraiser goes virtual

Don Knight, The Herald Bulletin, Anderson, Ind.
·2 min read

Mar. 5—ANDERSON — The annual one-mile walk to raise money for The Christian Center has been moved to the end of April and will adopt a virtual format.

In years past the walk would start on the campus of Anderson University and end at The Christian Center.

In scheduling for March, executive director Rob Spaulding had hoped the pandemic would be waning by then, he said.

While cases are down, about 16% of county residents have received their first dose of vaccine. So infection control measures, like masking and distancing, remain the recommended defense against another surge in cases.

So the decision was made to go to a virtual format in which participants can walk a mile on their own during the week of April 26 to May 2. An awards cook-out will follow on May 8.

"We're trying to put together that virtual piece and we're trying to do it where people who are raising money can see what they've raised and compare to what everyone else is raising ... a leader-board," Spaulding said.

Details and sign-up forms will be available March 15 at www.thechristiancenter.org and on The Christian Center's Facebook page.

After decades of service and many repairs, the walk-in freezer at The Christian Center broke down last month.

"It just crashed, and the repair people came in and said this can't be fixed anymore," Spaulding said.

For now they are storing their food at various locations. They have raised about 75% of what's needed to purchase a new walk-in freezer.

It will need to be moved to a new location to eliminate the problem of steam from the nearby dishwasher condensing and turning to ice on the outside of the freezer.

Vendors have advised that if you're building new it's not much more expensive to build it bigger, Spaulding said. At a time when they are serving more meals than ever, freezer space has been a recurring issue

"Right now we're serving almost 12,000 meals a month, and as that grows our freezer space is needed," Spaulding said. "So the idea is to go another four feet longer."

Follow Don Knight on Twitter @donwknight, or call 765-622-1212 ext. 204567.