Dec. 19 is Muffin Day here at Foodlink, where we celebrate how it all began.

Muffin Day represents the day in 1978 that Foodlink founder Tom Ferraro made a public plea for donated food to support Rochester’s local food pantries. The kind folks at Thomas’ English Muffins responded and Tom went to the factory to pick up a few muffins. The donation, however, was larger than he expected. He had to return to the facility with a borrowed school bus, loaded it up, and the rest is history.

Last year, as Foodlink celebrated a milestone — 40 years of serving the community — we touted our history with a press release, we marked the occasion with a delivery of English Muffins from Thomas’, we spent time at one of our valued member agencies, St. Peter’s Kitchen, and we celebrated as a staff at an Amerks game.

This year, we turned the spotlight around and decided to spend the day thanking others. Yes, Muffin Day is a day to recognize our founder’s vision and legacy and the hard work of our staff, but it’s also important to recognize the dedication of our volunteers, supporters and community partners. Our Community Kitchen made muffins for some of our supporters, and we will spend the day making calls to donors who have recently pledged their support.

If you’ve ever donated, volunteered, attended one of our events, or taken action to raise awareness or address hunger in our communities … thank you. Thank you for walking alongside us and supporting our mission. Your ongoing support is the best gift for which we could ask as we mark 41 years of service.

Happy Muffin Day.