Canned food for your birthday? Yes, please!

PALMER — At a planning session to drum up interest in a canned food drive, Sherrod Elementary School secretary Tracy Leigh had a moment of inspiration.

“I’m shameless about my birthday so I said, ‘oh, tell them it’s for my birthday,’” Leigh said Friday.

So they did.

“I got to announce for two weeks that it was my birthday,” Leigh said.

And that’s why, in Sherrod’s entry in the second annual Palmer Pantry Push, the cans will be arranged in the shape of a birthday cake. The food drive was timed last year to coincide with the retirement of the Palmer Food Pantry’s director.

“We just thought we’d throw this together real fast and at least he would have peace of mind he would retire with the pantry being full,” Dubler said.

It was a fortuitous time to hold a food drive, though, because the pantry tends to be a bit bare in the fall after providing food to people all summer. Last year, the drive outstripped everyone’s expectations, drawing in 22,000 cans of food and $2,500 in cash that was used to buy food later in the year.

The idea is to get businesses and organizations together and have them compete to see who can raise the most food and who can build the most interesting sculpture out of those donations.

Sherrod participated last year, but mostly just staff.

“They’re going for it this year,” said Patti Dubler with the food pantry, noting that the school next door, Swanson Elementary, is also participating. “I think Swanson kind of egged them on.”

She said the goal is actually relatively modest.

“We’re challenging all the groups to 200 cans,” Dubler said.

Leigh said that so far she’s been amazed at how excited the kids have gotten. There’s a boy who has brought a can every day. Others have gotten more creative.

“Where’s your lunch?” she recalled a parent saying to his daughter. “I put it in the food drive.”

Dubler said the pantry is working to do more things with local groups. She said they led a group from Palmer’s Japanese sister city on a tour of the facility, something they’d like to do with more school groups in the future.

“I think it would be a great idea for kids,” she said. “They could put some of the food that they donate right on the shelf.”

Meanwhile, the long list of organizations participating in the event is only getting longer. There are new schools, churches and businesses this year.

“I have a feeling it’s going to be good,” Dubler said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.

Get Involved

Organizations participating in a food drive for the Palmer Food Pantry:

The UAF Cooperative Extension

Mat-Su REgoinal Medical Center

Matanuska Electric Association

The Gallery

Key Bank

The UPS Store

Palmer Madd Matters

Palmer Bar

EnVee

Country Cutts

Palmer High School

Academy Charter School

Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union

Raven hair Studios

St Johns Lutheran

Swanson Elementary

Shane Lamb Studios

Silva Insurance

Cover Ups

Non-Essentials

The city of Palmer

SilverTip Designs

Slacks Sugar Shack

Fred Meyer

Just Sew

School District Administration

Moosehead Saloon

Mat-Su Borough

Palmer Visitor Center

Chickadee’s

Sherrod Elementary School

First National Bank

Klondike Mike’s Saloon

Palmer Police Department

The Garden Gate

Rusty’s on Dahila

Fireside Books

Flowers by Louise

Active Sole

Stamp Cache

Vagabond Blues

Sidekicks

Excel Therapy

Palmer Junior Middle School

B Bella Hair Design

Carrs/Safeway

Pippel Insurance

NuKreationZ

Midnight Sun Yoga

Alaska Center for Acupuncture

Turkey Red

Wells Fargo

Downtown Deli

Curves

Palmer Senior Center

Body in Balance

Lucas Chiropractic

Noel’s Hair Salon

Machetanz Elelmentary School

Shear Fire Design

United Methodist Church

Thrifter’s Rock