The CampusFoodTrucks (CFT) Kickstarter campaign has been online for just over two weeks and has raised $4,296 thus far, $7,704  short of the money needed to keep the food truck operational. 

Ten days away from its May 12 deadline, 55 backers have pledged donations so far. The largest amount pledged is $300 from one backer. 

Though the average pledge is $76.71,  the majority of backers have pledged $20 or $30.

According to Steve Borukhin ’14, one of the founders of CFT, support for the Kickstarter campaign has come from a variety of sources, including students, family members and friends of the operators, as well as employees of the College.

Reade Brower P ’13 is not the owner of the truck, as was stated in a previous Orient article, but had lent Mike Smallidge—a restaurant owner based in Bar Harbor—the money to buy the truck a number of years ago. Smallidge used the truck for a summer and then agreed to lend it to CFT for their first year of operations. They worked out an agreeable rent deal for the following years, according to Brower. 

Smallidge plans to put the truck to use in the future if CFT cannot afford to buy it outright by the end of the Kickstarter campaign.

In the online comment section of the Orient’s April 18 article about the CFT Kickstarter, Brower offered to match donations of $200 with a donation of $100 from himself—up to $500. 

“I’m just trying to encourage other people, if they can afford it, to donate in a little bit of a more substantial way,” said Brower.

In his comment Brower asked the people who are inspired to pledge $200 because of his promise to post a comment about why they decided to support CFT. 

Shaun Hogan, an explosive detection dog handler at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq—who used to work as a security officer at the College and plans to return after the completion of his contract—posted in the thread promising to donate $200 in response to Brower’s offer.

Isaac Brower ’13, son of Reade Brower and one of the original founders of CFT, also posted in the thread promising a donation of $200 with Reade Brower’s matching $100. 

Three other people have pledged $200, but have not posted in the thread.