Boy Raises Money, Buys Food For Community Assistance Center

SANDY SPRINGS, GA — A Sandy Springs boy has taken the phrase, "the reason for the season," and turned it into a mission to help his less fortunate neighbors. Winston Fejervary, a 5-year-old preschooler, recently raised $820 to buy food for clients served by the Community Assistance Center.

Winston used the money to buy two shopping carts full of fresh meat, veggies and fruit to help stamp out hunger in the community. He donated the food to CAC's food pantry, which provides food to more than 500 local families a month. This pantry also receives more than 1,200 visits a month from people in need from Sandy Springs and Dunwoody.

Winston's grandmother, Maria Fejervary of Sandy Springs, is teaching him about the importance of giving back to others in the community.

“I try to teach my children and grandchildren about giving. I asked him how may toys he has. He said he must have 1,000," Maria Fejervary said. "I asked him what’s more important: toys or food? He said food — without it you’ll die! So we talked about it. If food is more important, would you rather get food for your birthday than toys? And he said yes.”

Winston reached out to his friends and asked them to provide grocery store gift cards instead of toys for his birthday. His friends contributed $220. With the help of his grandmother he created an online fundraiser on social media and raised more funds. Publix at Abernathy Square also contributed $250.

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While Winston had a lot of fun shopping, he also thought it was hard work. He and his grandmother shopped for the food, they filled the carts, loaded it into the car, drove to CAC and helped unload it at the Food Pantry.

“He feels proud and had a big smile on his face,” Winston's grandmother said. “He’s learning that giving is more important than receiving.”

Fejervary, who is involved with other charitable work, believes that if you teach kids at a young age to give then it will be part of their routine their whole lives. Another child in Winston's prekindergarten class has announced he will do something similar for his birthday.

“It’s important to teach children that they can make a difference, and I think it’s empowering to them,” she added.

Overall, donors give about 650,000 pounds of food a year to CAC, worth over $1 million a year. Donors make it possible for CAC to distribute more than 50,000 pounds of food a month to neighbors need.

CAC also needs more volunteers for all areas of its center. If you are interested, contact Nolan at volunteer@ourcac.org.

Images via Community Assistance Center