GETTYSBURG, Pa. — With the season of giving drawing closer, the Gettysburg Middle School filled up with nonprofits from all across Adams County Thursday night.
Chad Alan-Carr is the Director of both Gettysburg Pride and the Gettysburg Community Theater, two non-profits that participated in the 2023 Adams County Community Foundation Giving Spree.
"It's grown and grown and grown and grown," Alan-Carr said.
So has the generosity across the county.
"This is the one huge fundraiser that's a community-wide event, a countywide event," Carr said.
For 13 years, the effort has supported nonprofits from Gettysburg to New Oxford and everywhere in between.
"This is the biggest donation night of our entire year," said Gettysburg Community Soup Kitchen Director of Development Josh Langley. "It puts meals in front of hungry people probably more than half the year with the money we raise here."
For life-saving efforts, like Collaborating for Youth, the fundraiser is a lifeline.
"They rely on contributions from the community, we can't always rely on grant funding," Collaborating for Youth Director Andrea Dolges said. "Any contribution small or large helps us to fulfill the mission of Collaborating for Youth which is positive youth development in Adams County."
After a record-breaking 2022, the organization took on more than 100 nonprofits for 2023. Community Foundation President Ralph Serpe says the organizations are essential for many things.
"Many of them rely on the giving spree as their one opportunity all year long to raise the money they need," Serpe said. "To feed people, house people, protect the environment, protect our history."
It also helps connect people across Adams County.
"We wanted to provide an opportunity for people to come in and learn about the different organizations that are doing great work in the community, and ways they can get involved," Serpe said. "Not just by giving money, but by volunteering and finding out who they are and what they do."
Nonprofit members say as the event continues to grow, so do their bonds with the people around them.
"We're all very worthy, our not-for-profit organizations, but it's really about coming together in supporting each other, which also helps make Adams County great," Alan-Carr.
"When you're doing great non-profit work, you can feel like you're alone in it, and coming out and being with a bunch of other nonprofits and seeing that everybody's kind of in this community and we're all working for the same kind of betterment of it, it's just as encouraging," Maia Niedererr with Collaborating for Youth said.