‘On the bus’ with The River 95.3’s ‘Camping for Hunger’ campaign

By Norma Jean Shaw & Roger Bianchini
Royal Examiner

Front Royal and surrounding area residents have come to look forward to two things in November – Thanksgiving AND the annual Camping for Hunger campaign, put on for the eighth consecutive year last month by Northern Valley regional radio station The River 95.3, WZRV-FM.

COURTESY PHOTO/THE RIVER 95.3
For one week each year, The River 95-3 ‘Camping for Hunger’ bus is ground zero for the holiday spirit of giving in this community. Scout Troop 52’s Venture Club was among the visitors helping stock the bus.

The week before Thanksgiving, beginning at noon, Monday, Nov. 14, through Saturday, Nov. 19, River 95-3 staff members spent their days and nights camping in – and broadcasting from – a stripped down, old school bus parked at the Royal Plaza Shopping Center, off South Street in Front Royal.

COURTESY PHOTO/THE RIVER 95.3

During that week, the station broadcasts live from the bus, asking the community to support its drive to gather donations for the food pantry of Front Royal/Warren County C-CAP.
“The project started back in 2008 while the country was in the midst of a recession and the food pantry shelves at the local Salvation Army were nearly empty,” station owner Andrew Shearer explained of the advent of the Camping for Hunger campaign. “We decided to come up with some sort of community project to help fill those shelves. Joe Woodall, our Production Director and I sat down and developed the basic premise, but it was Joe who hatched the ‘sleep out overnight in the bus’ idea. The staff took it one step further and thus Camping for Hunger was launched.

COURTESY PHOTO/THE RIVER 95.3

“The thought has always been that we can suffer for a week, knowing that many others suffer 24/7, every week of the year,” Shearer observed, adding, “The community has embraced the project as its own and has provided both monetary support and over 100,000 pounds of food in the project’s eight years. Our beneficiary these days, Front Royal/Warren County C-CAP, continues to have needs for both resources and more importantly, manpower to help administer their on-going pantry and support system.”

Shearer said donation totals this year exceeded expectations with nearly 10 tons of food collected and over $7,000 in cash donations.

According to Pat Younk, Executive Director of Front Royal/Warren County C-CAP, this year’s Camping for Hunger donation will serve over 500 food-pantry families, and hundreds more will receive help with utility bills, rent and assistance in finding a safe place to sleep.

COURTESY PHOTO/THE RIVER 95.3

Though Thanksgiving has come and gone, it looks like many will have reasons for which to be thankful, all because a community came together to gather around a beat-up old school bus to contribute food and money to help their neighbors – or should we say “friends” – have the resources for more than just a cold and sparse holiday season.