Some small acts of kindness made by shoppers at Dowagiac’s Family Fare several weeks ago combined to create a large helping hand for needy families throughout the area Monday.

Employees with the grocery store handed a $2,000 check to volunteers with ACTION Ministry’s food pantry that afternoon, donating the proceeds of the company’s hunger scan campaign, which ran in conjunction with other SpartanNash-owned stores from Aug. 31 to Sept. 11. Money for the donation was raised by shoppers of the Dowagiac store, who had the option to donate money to ACTION’s food pantry in exchange for coupons while checking out at the store during the campaign.

“We are very grateful to the people who gave during this campaign,” said Jeff Neumann, president of ACTION, in a statement emailed to the Dowagiac Daily News. “This is a great opportunity to work with Family Fare as many small gifts were turned into a large benefit for people in need.”

ACTION, a coalition of members from several Dowagiac area churches, will use the donation to help stock its pantry, located inside the former Groner Funeral Home on Main Street. The $2,000 should allow members to purchase between 12,000 and 15,000 pounds of food, Neumann said.

This year was the first that the Dowagiac Family Fare participated in the hunger scan campaign, said store manager Glenn Jankowski. The store has worked with ACTION volunteers in the past, regularly donating baked goods and other items to the food pantry as well as pitching in to help during C. Wimberley’s annual Feed the Hungry food drive, of which ACTION is a major recipient, Jankowski said.

Given that history, when it came time to choose a local food pantry to donate to, Jankowski said ACTION was the natural choice.

“We see a lot of people in need visit our store every day,” he said. “It is great, as part of the community, to get the chance to help them out.”

The amount of money the community raised through the campaign exceeded the amount he and his staff forecasted prior to its start, Jankowski said.

ACTION distributes food at its pantry at 10 a.m. every Saturday, serving between 30 to 50 families, Neumann said. In addition, volunteers help distribute senior commodities, provide transitional housing and organize community prayer events on a regular basis.

“Besides the donation, Family Fare’s actions have helped raise awareness of what we are doing in the community,” Neumann said. “It puts ACTION in the vernacular of more and more people.”

The organization hosts monthly meetings at 6:30 p.m. on the third Monday each month at its headquarters on Main Street, which is open to the public, Neumann said. For more information about ACTION, people can call the ACTION Center at (269) 782-0000.