There may be no bottom line to charitable giving. I may give because I embrace the mission. Perhaps I know someone who was helped by a certain program or service. I may have gone to Guidestar.com and reviewed the 990s of various community organizations and picked a particular one because of its strong fiscal history. Maybe I read a story, heard a presentation or had my imagination captured by a particularly meaningful ad. I may have served as a director on the board or volunteered with the organization. Perhaps the annual report grabbed my attention. Or, as is often the case, I gave because I was asked.

Our not-for-profit, Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana, is a lot like the more than 60,000 other charities in Indiana — always working hard to find just the right way to ask you to invest in our mission. Today’s tottering economy makes our goal of ending hunger for the most vulnerable people in east central Indiana much easier to understand. Everyone is feeling the squeeze, and many know that when it’s tough for the middle-income families, it is excruciatingly painful for people already struggling to make ends meet. Those of us with means continue to support important causes even as we rein in our own personal spending.

Households throughout our eight-county service area have begun receiving our annual fall campaign request. Our appeals go out monthly, but it is the beginning of the holiday season that sees the best results. The requests are typically short and to the point. We tell you what your dollar can provide in terms of meals to hungry people. We may give you a snapshot of the programs we support and the people who are served. We include a return envelope and sometimes a message that you can sign that will go to a family that is assisted. These appeals are punctuated once a quarter by our donor newsletter. The newsletter gives us the opportunity to tell you more about the happenings at Second Harvest. We share pictures and statistics as well.

The monthly appeals are one source of funding for our organization. It may seem strange that while they are coming into your homes, other funding mechanisms are also in gear. The United Way campaign is one of them. While we are inviting our donors to keep up their important support of our activities, we are supporting the United Way campaigns in Delaware, Madison and Henry counties — as well as the federated campaign carried out through government entities. We stand ready to visit places of business to share our story as we support these important community fundraising campaigns. We all benefit as these campaigns bring people, funds and resources together to positively impact the places we live.

There are many layers to fundraising. This year, we are adding yet another. We are raising capital, program and endowment money through a campaign called “Second Harvest on the Move, A Region Responds to Ending Hunger.” This campaign provides the exciting opportunity for individuals, organizations and corporations in our region to punctuate their ongoing support of our day-to-day operations with an additional gift that will move us forward into a secure future with expanded services.

This $4 million campaign has raised $2.2 million already, with another $400,000 promised when the Kresge Challenge is met. It is a great time to support the campaign. Every gift given for capital and program will increase by 50 percent with the Kresge Challenge. Gifts may be given on line at www.curehunger.org. Click on the grocery bag, then on the Network for Good logo and go to donate now. Be sure to type “Second Harvest on the Move” in the “Designation” section. Once the campaign is complete, our offices will be out of the construction trailers, our equipment will be updated, our facilities renovated and we’ll have more food on its way to hungry people in our communities.

Lois Rockhill is executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana. She can be reached at lrockhill@ curehunger.org.