What is the Food Drive and Where is the Food Going

Food banks have been around for a decent amount of time, just a bit longer than 35 years to be a little more precise.  The concept of food banks was developed by John van Hengel. Van Hengel was a retired businessman in Phoenix, AZ. He had been volunteering to work at a soup kitchen, trying to make food to serve the hungry.  Today, there are over 200 food banks around the country.  Here at Forest Grove high school, we have a food drive to help serve this purpose.  

When asked about where the canned goods are going, Forest Grove High School’s ASB president, Victor Chavez said that half of the cans will be going to the Oregon Food Bank and the other half will be going to The Elks, here in Forest Grove.  He says that the reason they give half to the Oregon food bank is that they give the school supplies like barrels to put the cans in, they help the school make sure we have a place to put our cans.  The reason we give the cans to the Elks is that it’s more local and the school would like to offer help people here in Forest Grove.

The reason it is so important for people to donate cans is that most of us go home to warm hot meals but there is a percentage of us that don’t always have that.  Chavez says “What the Elks and the Oregon Food Bank do really good is reaching out to people in need, which is the hard part… It just takes reaching out to make sure that people are fed.”

The first time they gave him this project, he was a freshman and saw it as more of a task. He spent time trying to understand why it was so important rather than trying to get as many cans as possible. His second year, he saw how important it was that people donate to these food banks and other local shelters.  Last year was the best year for the canned food drive, there was a little over a thousand pounds of food. Chavez explains why it was so important to him that people do donate cans saying, “People need to be fed, because [maybe] they don’t have the certain funds to do so… it’s a basic need that needs to be met.”

Each year, the food banks of America provides food to more than 46 million people.  This is through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries.  So the next time you think about skipping out on donating cans, think about all the people you could help.