A Whole Lot of Portsmouth Love
This week, as I sat down to write I knew that I needed to look back on Fill the Hall. I wanted to take a moment to celebrate all of the people that make this event happen so seamlessly each year. It all starts with Portsmouth Superstar Denise Wheeler, she had the idea to bring this event here to The Music Hall, and my boss, our Director of Marketing Monte Bohanan was quick to sign on. Thanks to these two we’ve now Filled the Hall three times.
Thankfully, Monte signed on, because then we got his wife Sarah to sign on to help us, over the last three years, she has been the day of driving force to keep things moving and most importantly to ensuring that we got everything loaded out of the theater in a neat organized fashion. She keeps us on task, and trust me when I say this, that’s no easy feat.
We also got so lucky to partner with Gather (formerly Seacoast Family Food Pantry). The staff lead by the incomparable Deb Anthony is a joy to work with. They come armed with volunteers and positive energy each year. The work they do is so vital to our community, and they do it with such dignity that it’s inspiring to be a part of.
They also come with supporters like Scott McKee who lead the charge in organizing neighborhoods along with Margaret Witham. To see truck after truck from different neighborhoods was incredible. New to the committee this year, Andre Beaupre stepped in to help rally local businesses. It is amazing to see all of the people who came together to help.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Ashleigh Tucker Pollack who is our Special Events Manager who dealt with all of the details on our end. As well as ALL of the volunteers who came to help us build boxes, run bags up the stairs, sort items, and load up the trucks. And to the many other’s who worked with us on making this day so amazingly successful, the energy and enthusiasm that you all had is what makes this day so much fun.
Last, but certainly not least, thank you to everyone who brought by bags of food or bought bags online. Our goal was to collect 10 tons of food, and thanks to all of you, we blew past that. This year, we filled up Gather’s pantry with 12 tons of food to feed 400 local children two meals a day for the 10 weeks of summer break.
It was an amazing day full of so much #PortsmouthLove. From all of us here at The Music Hall, thank you all for helping us Fill the Hall!