The Catskill Chronicle

Story and photos by Carol Montana

SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY (February 6, 2012) – As music rang out across Sullivan County from Bethel to Loch Sheldrake and from Hurleyville to Monticello and Rock Hill, funds poured in for the Great Sullivan County Food Raiser.

Now in its fourth year, the Food Raiser was started by Stacy Cohen and Steve White.

At the time, White was the Program Director of the Federation for the Homeless, a Sullivan County organization that runs a major soup kitchen in Monticello, NY.

It was February 2009, and winter is a particularly bad time for charities. Cohen explains that “after Christmas, everybody kind of forgets about the food pantries.”

Because she’s a musician, Cohen decided to call all the musicians she knew and ask them to perform. “And they called everybody they knew,” she says. And on the coldest day of the year, with cars lined up back to the high school, the first-ever Great Sullivan County Food Raiser event was held at Mr. Willy’s in Monticello.

While Cohen was building her own venues, The Dancing Cat Saloon and The Catskill Distilling Company, she performed at Dutch’s in Rock Hill. So that was another venue added to the mix.

Fast forward to 2012, and the Great Sullivan County Food Raiser now takes place at 5 different venues: The Catskill Distilling Company in Bethel, Mr. Willy’s in Monticello, Dutch’s Tavern in Rock Hill, The Woodsongs Coffee House at the Sullivan County Museum in Hurleyville, and Bum & Kel’s in Loch Sheldrake. (The music continued on Sunday at the Dancing Cat Saloon in Bethel.)

Cohen decided that there would be no charge for the entertainment “but we’ll tell people that it costs $5 to feed someone and if they can, and they want to feed someone … and if they can afford it and want to feed two or four or five that’s okay. It was just phenomenal.”

None of the 40 bands involved in the 2012 event got paid, and the music took many forms from folk to rock to jazz, and everything in between. One of the bands even traveled from New York City to donate their services.

“And Jeff Bank and Crystal Run Healthcare have always given me money. There’s absolutely no overhead. Every single penny goes to the food pantries in Sullivan County,” says Cohen who also explained that the successful event might be expanded to Wayne County and Orange County next year.

Local residents volunteered at the doors of the venues collecting donations and giving out smiles.

Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, at the door of the Catskill Distilling Company, shared the following: “I know how important it is to get this money together for places like the Federation and all the other food pantries. … I love the music, but I also love my community and I know that there are a lot of folks that are in a lot of need.”

At Bum & Kel’s, one of the newest venues, owner Charles Morman (a.k.a.) Bummy explained how he got involved. “A couple of musicians asked me why I’m not in it (the Food Raiser), so I said, ‘Let’s get involved.’ That was pretty much it.”

Bummy said it was “A good crowd for a Saturday night, with some different people than we normally might see.” 

There are food pantries in the following Sullivan County areas, Claryville, Wurtsboro, White Lake, Monticello, Grahamsville, Jeffersonville, Hankins, Livingston Manor, Summitville, Narrowsburg, Bloomingburg, Pond Eddy, Roscoe, South Fallsburg and Yulan. Contact one of your local churches for more information.

If you would like to donate, send a check made out to the Sullivan County Federation for the Homeless, and mail it to: P.O. Box 336, Monticello, NY 12701.

To see more photos or to purchase prints from The Great Sullivan County Fund Raiser 2012, visit The Catskill Chronicle’s photo page on Zenfolio.