Food collection efforts continue

MAT-SU — With most of the donations collected from sites around Palmer that participated in this year’s Great Palmer Pantry Push, early indications suggest generous Valley residents have topped last year’s effort to fill the shelves at local food banks.

Palmer Pantry Push organizer and Palmer Food Bank volunteer Patty Dubler said more than 10,000 pounds of food has been collected so far, and some of the 60 sites are still accepting donations.

She said the stars of this year’s push were school children at Machentaz and Swanson elementary schools and Academy Charter School in Palmer. Students at Academy Charter collected nearly a third of the donations, Dubler said.

Palmer Mayor DeLana Johnson also is headed to the three Palmer schools Tuesday to congratulate students and present them with an award for their generosity, Dubler said.

This month the Boy Scouts also are conducting their annual “Scouting for Food Drive.” Boy Scouts executive director Ed Bos said Scouts have been distributing fliers this month telling residents about their big food collection day Nov. 2.

He said it’s ideal if neighborhoods want to organize a food drive in their area. All they need to do to have their donations collected and delivered to area food pantries is call and schedule the Boy Scouts to pick up their gifts.

The Scouts also have placed donation barrels inside local grocery stores to make sharing easy, Bos said. To have the Scouts pick up donations, contact Bos at (907) 444-5679.

People don’t need to work through the Scouts or Palmer merchants to help, though. Donations also are accepted year-round at area food pantries.

Eddie Ezelle is the executive director for the Wasilla food bank. He said last year the Scouts collected 5,200 pounds of non-perishable food and $143.25 cash for the newly renamed nonprofit. The Food Pantry of Wasilla Board of Directors voted recently to rename the organization Mat-Su Food Bank.

Ezelle said the food pantry gives away food to more than 500 Mat-Su families each week.

“This is a major step forward in our service to our Valley neighbors in need,” he said. “With the formation of the Mat-Su Food Bank, we are able to help supply other smaller spaced pantries with gathered food supplies not always available here to our Valley residents.”

One of the changes is that the Wasilla food bank started its own Food4Kids Program in July at the Boys and Girls Club in Wasilla. It replaces the Children’s Lunchbox, a hot food program for kids that had been operated at the site by Bean’s Café.

Ezelle said the Valley has grown to include 22 pantries of various sizes around the Mat-Su Borough. He said that last year, the Wasilla food bank distributed more than 40,000 pounds to other agencies on top of what it distributed directly to hungry Valley families.

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.