Music Hall Partnership Helps Fill the Hall

A conversation about hunger relief efforts led to a partnership with The Music Hall that has helped raise food for Gather for almost a decade. Former Gather board member Scott McKee was at a cookout at Denise Wheeler’s home when the topic came up and another guest mentioned a food drive in his Vermont town that filled every seat in the town’s historic theater with food for local pantries.
 
“Denise immediately turned to me and said, ‘We have to approach The Music Hall and see if they will partner with Gather for a similar event,’” Scott says.
 
Denise then contacted Monte Bohanon, the marketing director at The Music Hall, who said yes to the idea without hesitation, and Fill the Hall was launched.
 
On a Saturday in June 2015, after months of planning, “a small organizing committee crossed their collective fingers and opened the doors of The Music Hall at 9 a.m. with no way of knowing whether anyone would show up with bags of food for the inaugural Fill the Hall,” Scott says.
 
By 1 p.m., all the seats were filled and the stage was covered with food.
 
“The partnership between Gather and The Music Hall has become a model for how two local non-profits with very different missions can work together to bring an entire community together, and effect positive change for those who struggle,” Scott says.
 
This year’s fundraiser, which benefits Gather’s Meals 4 Kids program, collected more than 10,000 pounds of food and more than $28,000 in cash donations.
 
During COVID, the event was held outside and raised record amounts of food. Next year marks the 10th anniversary of the popular fundraiser that, as Scott says, “is a community day of love that keeps getting better.”