This December, food banks all over the Palouse are preparing to receive donations from the biggest food drive of the year.
Palouse Cares, a non-profit organization that rallies citizens of Moscow and Latah County to gather canned food, is gearing up for its sixth annual food drive this Saturday at 9 a.m. All participants will meet at Eastside Marketplace on South Blaine Street. Beginning at 10 a.m., volunteers have two hours to gather as much non-perishable food as possible.
“The creation of Palouse Cares was an accident,” said Rick Minard, president of the organization. “It was originally a small food drive that local businesses participated in.”
Palouse Cares food drive has grown sizably since its inception in 2006, Minard said.
“UI plays a huge role in the food drive. Without the university, we could never be operating this well or efficiently,” Minard said.
The five major contributors in years past have been University of Idaho fraternities, sororities, residence halls, ROTC and UI athletics. Minard works closely with each organization to draw more participants to the program. Each year, more and more students volunteer. Minard said he also believes this project is a learning experience. Foreign students unacquainted with food drives get a chance to learn about them and are encouraged to take part, he said.
The organization creates a detailed map of every street in Moscow. When volunteers arrive coordinators place them in groups of four, and each group is assigned a certain part of Moscow where they travel door-to-door to collect food. An auction to raise money for food banks such as Moscow Food Bank and Trinity Moscow Food Pantry follows the collection.
“Canned food is not sufficient enough by itself. People need money to buy perishable products, such as milk and eggs,” Minard said.
Last year, 500 participants collected 20,000 pounds of food in Moscow alone. This year, Minard hopes that number will grow.
“I cannot convey how awesome it is to see a community come together for one cause. We all know that no child or adult should ever go hungry. It is incredible to see 20,000 pounds of food donated to one location in one morning. That amount will last for seven to eight months,” Minard said. “It’s not just another food drive.”