Seacoast Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Collects More Than $1,000 In Food Donations and Matches with Monetary Donation to Local Food Pantries

(SOMERSWORTH, NH) – A collaboration between Seacoast Orthopedics & Sports Medicine (SOSMed), Eastern Marketing Services (EMS) and Community Action Partnership of Strafford County (CAP) yielded a food donation worth more than $1,000 and a matching cash donation to the Dover and Farmington food pantries of Community Action Partnership of Strafford County.

The majority of the food donations came in from student athletes who received a free sports physical at one of the two clinics recently held at SOSMed. In exchange for a free physical, parents and students were asked to bring in a food pantry donation item.

The food drive was marketed by SOSMed and CAP, along with a free direct mail piece sent to 10,000 households in Rochester, Dover, Somersworth area by EMS advertising the food drive and SOSMed’s two free walk-in sports physical clinics for students. SOSMed matched the food donation value with a financial donation to CAP.

“This was our first year piloting the ‘free sports physicals for food donations’ initiative, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect,” says Dr. Fred Brennan, director of SOSMed’s sports medicine program. “However, thanks to our dedicated staff members who gave up their time to work the evening clinics, we were prepared to handle the heavy volume. In fact, we were happy to see the continuous line of people walking through the doors with food, several with grocery bags full. We knew that the more free physicals we performed, the more people we were helping.”

Not only was this partnership beneficial to CAP and the food pantry, but parents also expressed their thanks during the clinics. “Sports physicals aren’t covered by insurance, and when you have two or three kids who need one, it can really add up,” says Dr. Brennan. “It was reassuring to hear from parents that they appreciated what we were doing and how we were helping the community, both by offering the physicals for free and helping out the hungry.”

The food and monetary donations go a long way to helping keep the pantry shelves full, and all of the donations will go directly to local families, says CAP’s Executive Director Betsey Andrews Parker. “We want to thank Seacoast Orthopedics & Sports Medicine and everyone who made a donation, and we’re thrilled to have this new relationship with SOSMed.”

In addition to Seacoast Orthopedics & Sports Medicine and CAP promoting the free sports physicals for food donation program, Eastern Marketing Services, who frequently partners with CAP, donated a large postcard mailing to help raise awareness.

About Seacoast Orthopedics & Sports Medicine
Seacoast Orthopedics & Sports Medicine is one of the largest providers of orthopedic care in the Seacoast region and serves as the official orthopedists and team physicians for the UNH Wildcats. Its main office is in Somersworth with a satellite office in Lee. For more information, visit www.SOSMed.org.

About Community Action Partnership of Strafford County
Community Action Partnership of Strafford County is a private non-profit organization that works with community partners to assist low income and elderly residents in their efforts to become or remain financially and socially independent through programs such as fuel and electric assistance, homeless prevention and intervention, emergency food and shelter, Head Start, Weatherization, job training and placement and transportation. CAP of Strafford County has outreach offices in Farmington and Dover and Head Start educational centers in Dover, Farmington, Milton, Rochester and Somersworth. Visit us online at www.straffordcap.org.