Ocean Atlantic virtual fundraiser nets $36K for food bank 

Ocean Atlantic Sotheby’s International Realty presented the Food Bank of Delaware with a $36,752 donation Dec. 7.

The funds were proceeds from the realty company’s inaugural virtual holiday food drive. Generous Realtors and team members donated $9,188 to Ocean Atlantic’s virtual food drive; in turn, Ocean Atlantic Sotheby’s matched every dollar raised. To round out the drive, the Ocean Atlantic Companies matched that total.

“We’ve hosted food drives in the past, especially during the holidays, but this is the first year we were able to contribute using the virtual food drive online tools,” said Kathleen Schell of Ocean Atlantic Sotheby’s. “The Food Bank of Delaware does amazing work for so many across the state, and this year we knew it was more important than ever to try and help support them. We set up the double matching funds plan, and our team just all jumped on board to try and raise as much as we could by working together.”

The food bank launched its virtual food drive in October in response to the pandemic. The project has freed up food bank trucks and drivers in an effort to conduct more food distributions directly to the community.

Since the pandemic started in March, the food bank has distributed more than 13 million pounds of food to Delawareans in need.

“We are so thankful to Ocean Atlantic Companies for their incredible generosity,” said Larry Haas, Food Bank of Delaware chief development officer. “This was our first year hosting a virtual food drive, and the outpouring of support from our community has been incredible. Ocean Atlantic is our largest virtual food drive to date. We are so excited that the community has rallied around the virtual food drive to make sure we can get much-needed meals to families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Thanks to Ocean Atlantic Companies’ generosity, the food bank will be able to provide 110,256 meals to Delawareans in need.