By Verna Slate, Williamson County Bureau
HERRIN, Ill. — Fifteen years in, Herrin House of Hope's biggest night of the year just had its biggest night yet. The nonprofit announced Thursday that its 15th annual Hope Fest raised $168,572 — a record for the event, which supports the group's fight against food insecurity in the area.
That kind of number doesn't happen by accident in a county where plenty of families are one bad week from needing the pantry themselves. It happens because people who don't have much still show up for people who have less, year after year, at a festival built for exactly that purpose.
The House of Hope has spent a decade and a half building Hope Fest into the county's marquee charitable event, and Thursday's tally suggests the need — and the will to meet it — is only growing. No word yet from the nonprofit on how the money will be deployed, but the mission has never wavered: keep food on tables in Herrin and the towns around it.
In a county that has buried mines and shuttered storefronts, a food pantry's fundraiser breaking its own record is the kind of quiet good news worth printing.
— Compiled from reporting by the Southern Illinoisan.
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