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ACCESS/MT drive raises $16,000 Envelope campaign goal is $25,000 in donations by April 15 The ACCESS/Mail Tribune spring envelope drive has raised more than $16,000 from 430 individual donors since it began March 1, ACCESS officials said Monday. "We're doing very well," said Philip Yates, ACCESS resource development manager. "That's a lot of response early on." The goal of the drive is to raise $25,000 by April 15. Envelopes were inserted in the Mail Tribune on Monday, March 1, and readers were asked to send tax-deductible contributions to help the social service agency replenish its supply of food. Yates said the 60,000 pounds of food collected over the holiday season has dwindled to about 6,000 pounds. The agency distributes approximately 1 million pounds of food annually to needy valley residents. Every dollar donated will buy four pounds of food, Yates said, so a successful drive would mean 100,000 pounds of food for the agency. A $36 donation will fill four typical ACCESS food boxes, Yates said -- enough to feed four families of three for four days. In addition, donations received by March 31 will count toward a potential matching grant from philanthropist Alan Feinstein, founder of the Institute of Public Service at Providence College and the Feinstein International Famine Center at Tufts University. Feinstein has pledged to match a total of $1 million dollars in donations to food charities nationwide. Some portion of that could come to ACCESS, but the actual amount is still unknown, Yates said. All who donate to the drive through April 15 will be entered in a raffle for seven prizes, including merchandise and travel. In addition to the envelope drive, 20 local businesses are conducting food drives for ACCESS this month. The envelope drive is sponsored by the Mail Tribune, which inserted the envelopes, and Avista Utilities, which paid for the envelopes. Larson's, the Phoenix Auto Center, Ed's Tire Factory, Green's Vacuum and Sewing, ScanDesign and Naumes Equipment provided space in their advertising to promote the drive. (Mail donations to ACCESS Food Share, P.O. Box 4666, Medford, OR 97501-9969. To donate food, call ACCESS at 779-6691.) Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA