Jilline Fearons, chair of Food for Tots, and the teams from Fun107 and WBSM presented a check for $83,000, on December 5, to Keith A. Hovan, chief executive officer of Southcoast Health, and Dr. Brian Sard, chair of pediatrics, as the culmination of the Food for Tots 2018 fundraising drive to support Southcoast Health pediatrics.

Food for Tots is a monthly fundraising drive that took place from April to November and invited the community to dine out at some of the area’s best restaurants on the third Thursday of every month. Participating restaurants donated 15 percent of their total revenue of the day to benefit pediatric services at Southcoast Health, which are provided in collaboration with Boston Children’s Physicians. More than 31 area restaurants and 6 corporate sponsors participated from the towns and cities of Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Fall River, New Bedford, Tri-Town, Wareham/ Buzzards Bay, Westport, and Tiverton RI.

“I am overwhelmed by the success of our Food for Tots campaign and proud to live in our community. The restaurants opened up their doors and their hearts to the children in our community and I will forever be grateful to them. When we began this campaign we never dreamed that it would grow to what we have today,” said Fearons, at Wednesday’s check presentation.

“Something really special happens when the community and health care work together. Through these efforts we have created more awareness for our pediatrics program at St. Luke’s while creating invaluable community partnerships.” Hovan said. “These funds aid us in our mission to deliver the best quality care possible. For that we are immeasurably grateful.”

Townsquare Media, which donated significant airtime on FUN107 FM and WBSM 1420 AM to promote the drive and participating restaurants, was instrumental in not only promotion but recruiting the community restaurants. Michael Rock of Fun107 said “We would walk into the restaurants and tell them about the program for Southcoast pediatrics in collaboration with Boston Children’s Physicians and before the first sentence was out they said ‘yes’.”

Food For Tots with Media Team and Sponsors- Sponsors, matching donors, and staff of Southcoast pediatrics attend Food for Tots check presentation. From left to Right- Kara Levoshko, Lou Sousa CIO of Plymouth Investment Advisors, Stephanie Texeira of Avalon Medical Spa, Corey Lorenco of On-the-Go, Dr. Brian Sard, Keith Hovan CEO of Southcoast Health, Jilline Fearons, Michael Rock, Anthony (Gazelle) Arsenault, Abby Martin-Renoir, Kasey Silvia, Phil Paleologos, Mark Gendreau of Plymouth Investment Advisors, Nicholas Lisotto of Bay Club of Mattapoisett.

For more information regarding the Food for Tots program or to get involved as a donor, visit www.southcoast.org/philanthropy/food-for-tots/ or contact Tricia Grime at 508-973-5355 or grimep@southcoast.org.