Foundation Awards $5,000 to Food Program
COOPERSTOWN—The Lucky Duck Foundation has made a $5,000.00 donation to a program that provides nutritious and medically-tailored food to Bassett Healthcare Network cancer patients at no cost to them.
The program is a collaborative effort between Bassett Cancer Institute and the Cooperstown Food Pantry. It provides food to dozens of cancer patients and their families across Bassett Healthcare Network’s eight county service area. Items are delivered to patients directly at their homes or during their medical appointments. Dietitians and nutritionists are consulted to ensure the food provided fits each patient’s medical needs.
“The local community’s response to this program has been incredibly inspiring. We are so grateful to the Lucky Duck Foundation for their support,” said Mark Kirkby, program coordinator at Bassett Cancer Institute. “Our cancer patients face treatments, therapies, and other challenges with so much strength and resolve. We are honored that through this partnership with the Cooperstown Food Pantry we are able to take away the financial pressures and logistical challenges that can come with planning out meals and purchasing groceries.”
The Lucky Duck Foundation is a charitable group that has awarded tens of thousands of dollars raised through an annual golf tournament to local causes and organizations.
“We are truly ‘lucky ducks’ to live here in Cooperstown, which is such a special community full of warm and wonderful people, so we were inspired to give back,” said Mike Sullivan, who is the co-founder of the Lucky Duck Foundation with his wife, Kate Sullivan. “We are thrilled to be able to support local cancer patients through this donation and we wish them all the best in their treatment and recovery.”
“The Lucky Ducks are wonderful supporters of the food pantry. Prior to this donation, they were already backers of our backpack program, which sends children in need home from school with nutritious food for themselves and their family members, discretely delivered in a backpack to prevent any stigma,” said Will Kleffner, director of the Cooperstown Food Pantry. “We are so appreciative of community partners like the Lucky Ducks, who make our mission to feed our neighbors possible.”
This latest donation to the Bassett Cancer Institute and Cooperstown Food Pantry partnership was largely inspired by a similar donation made last month by the Rotary Club of Cooperstown, officials said.
