Every year, 93.9 The River’s Monte Belmonte teams up with The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and a bunch of special legislative guests to march 43 miles across the Pioneer Valley in two days to raise funds and awareness for food insecurity in the region. Monte's March XI was more socially distanced during the pandemic.

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As an event coordinator temp at The Food Bank, Monte’s March XI was the big project I coordinated. Leading up to the event, I was in charge of getting prizes for virtual marchers (custom chocolate bars and masks), putting together Monte's Mixed Bags with treats donated from local grocery stores, and ensuring a COVID-safe environment for phone bank volunteers in The Food Bank. I also coordinated lawn sign distribution with volunteers, helped troubleshoot issues that individual fundraisers had with their fundraising webpages, coordinated police escorts, and scheduled Monte's interviews with member agencies along the route. I spent most of the event with the phone bank volunteers, and I joined the March for the kickoff and the last five miles.