Letter from Marianne Rae

Lions Letter of Thanks

This holiday season, many families, senior citizens and children in our region experienced “food insufficiency.” As the severity of the hunger crisis deepened throughout the year, local service organizations increasingly collaborated to assist our neighbors in need.

In 2025, the cost and utilization of the Cooperstown Lion’s Club SNAP Match Program rose by more than 500 percent! Meeting the fiscal needs, time demands and expertise necessary to address the hunger crisis required a community wide collaborative effort. Without all of your kindness and support, our Lions Club SNAP Match Program would have struggled to survive. To all of you—especially Otsego 2000, who has been our steadfast partner offering endless support, ideas, and promotion—we offer you a heartfelt “thank you.”

Additionally, as the number of people adversely effected by the hunger crisis grew, the generosity, energy, and kindness extended to our SNAP Match Program was felt from many service organizations, foundations, clubs, businesses and individuals in our community…truly a shared commitment!

We offer a specific thank you to: the Rotary Club of Cooperstown; the Raymond Han and Paul Kellogg Foundation; the Community Foundation of Otsego County; Hulse Hill Farm; Willy’s Good Chicken Dinner; S. Tier French; the Mohawk Valley Gives Donor Campaign; Alex Webster Family Memorial Funds; the Cooperstown Farmers’ Market vendors; New York State and Bermuda Lions Foundation; Gaia’s Breath Farm and The Art Farm; Schlather & Birch Law Firm; and the Otsego County Bar Association.

In our list of generous donors above, please forgive any unintended omissions. We hope all of our neighbors enjoyed happy holidays. Your kindness, generosity and sense of community is inspirational!

Marianne Rae
Chairperson, Lions Club SNAP Match Program, on behalf of the Cooperstown Lions Club