Sierra Mitchell, President of the Afton Food Pantry, stepped into the SVI Radio studio to discuss the 5th Annual Fighting Hunger Games Food Drive.

(0:00) Weekday wake up on SVI Radio, Swift 98 and The Spur heading into the guest interview (0:04) segment today. (0:05) And in studio is Sierra Mitchell with the Afton Food Pantry. (0:09) Sierra, it’s already the fifth annual Fighting Hunger Games Food Drive.

(0:14) You’ve been doing this for five years now. (0:16) Yes, five solid strong years. (0:18) I mean, I’ve been at the pantry for nine, but this is the fifth annual Fighting Hunger (0:22) Games Food Drive.

(0:22) We’re super excited about it. (0:24) Well, it is such a great event. (0:25) And of course, all the proceeds and donations go to the Afton Food Pantry.

(0:29) And it is going on like right now. (0:32) It sounds like door hangers are going up tonight, right? (0:34) Yes. (0:34) So there will be youth scouring the Upper Valley.

(0:37) So if you see teenagers in your driveway, don’t be alarmed. (0:40) They are doing a good deed for the most part that I’m aware of. (0:43) They should be hanging a door hanger on your doorsteps this evening.

(0:47) Five thousand of them should be going out to homes and it’s going to say everything (0:52) that we’re hoping to get, items we hope not to get, how to donate monetarily wise. (0:57) If you don’t want to put something outside your door, that’s great. (1:01) And then the food drive will actually happen in a week from now.

(1:04) Excellent. (1:04) And they’ll come back around and pick up the food, right? (1:06) You don’t even have to take it in. (1:07) You don’t even have to get out of your pajamas.

(1:09) You just set that bag of food right on the doorstep on October 7th, anywhere from seven (1:14) to nine, and the youth will be around to gather them. (1:18) Now the Fighting Hunger Games food drive, it’s unique because it does play off the Hunger (1:23) Game books and movies, right? (1:25) So it’s actually a little competition. (1:28) Tell us how that works.

(1:28) Yeah, we have learned competition is where it’s at. (1:31) So historically, the District of Afton has always won, but Smoot has snuck in there a (1:37) time or two. (1:38) We’ll see this year, Osmond and Fairview were very close last year to beating Afton.

(1:43) So we count it by usable items. (1:46) So that’s how we calculate things. (1:48) We count everything.

(1:49) It is about 2,000 hours of volunteer time following the food drive to actually calculate all of (1:55) it to the tee. (1:56) We also deduct any expired items. (1:59) So we take that out of the town’s total, and then this food drive is our largest food drive (2:05) that we ever host, and it should fill us up, we hope, for the next year.

(2:09) It’s really what we base all of our shelves on. (2:12) But this year, the need is higher than ever. (2:14) So we are just hoping for donations, and we’re hoping that the communities get a little competitive (2:19) with each other, and we hope that we just fill up our shelves.

(2:22) All right. (2:23) So door hangers go out tonight. (2:24) Have your food back on your porches October 7th, and youth will be around to pick it up (2:28) 7 to 9 p.m. (2:30) District 1 is Smoot.

(2:32) Yes. (2:32) District 2 is Osmond-Fairview, 3 is Afton, and 4 is Grover-Auburn. (2:37) So those are the teams, if you will, competing against each other.

(2:40) Now, you mentioned you deduct expired or non-usable items. (2:44) What’s the deadline, or what’s the cutoff time for it to be no good? (2:47) Yes. (2:48) So the no good items are anything a year past date.

(2:51) So if our food drive happens on October 7th, we cannot have anything that’s older than (2:56) October 7th of 2024. (2:59) Food banks get to fall back one year on canned food. (3:03) So we ask that you just take a minute to check your dates.

(3:06) It is hilarious when we are dating cans that are older than the teenagers who are dating (3:11) them. (3:12) Like, they get a good little chuckle. (3:14) We got some toilet paper last year that is vintage on eBay.

(3:18) And it’s not even a white color. (3:21) We don’t even know, but we found it that we could have made $23 on eBay because it’s vintage. (3:25) Please check your dates.

(3:27) We cannot use items older than a year ago from our food date. (3:32) Please just, if you’ll just check them, it would help us, and if not, that’s okay. (3:35) They end up trying to go into animals.

(3:38) We kick them to our better late than never shelf, but really we can’t do anything with (3:42) those items that are like 2004. (3:44) And I’m sure you can all understand why. (3:45) So we just ask that you check them.

(3:47) One year back is what we can follow. (3:49) Sierra Mitchell, president of the Afton Food Pantry and Studio this morning. (3:53) Now, you mentioned the need is higher than ever.

(3:55) I hesitate to say it, but I mean, October starts tomorrow. (3:59) So the holidays are just around the corner, right? (4:05) Yeah, that’s something to look forward to. (4:07) So tell us about the need now, but especially as we head into this time of year.

(4:10) Yeah, this has been a very interesting year for us. (4:12) We have never served these high of numbers coming out of the summer. (4:17) We are hitting 35 families right now.

(4:21) That number is not typical until the middle of winter. (4:23) So the fact that all summer long, we’re hitting 35 families. (4:26) And what’s interesting to us is that every single week we’re getting anywhere from one (4:30) to four brand new patrons.

(4:32) That’s where our concern follows is because if they all start coming on the same night, (4:36) our numbers will just continue to rise. (4:39) Then you mentioned the horrible H word, the holidays. (4:43) So we are bracing for what could be up to at least 100 families per holiday just for (4:49) even the protein.

(4:50) We don’t know that we can supply a whole meal this year due to lack of funding. (4:53) But if that’s 100 turkeys, that’s a lot of money for the pantry. (4:58) So we have to brace for what we anticipate will be some of the highest numbers we’ve (5:03) seen in a very long time.

(5:04) What are some of the biggest needs as far as items that you could really use right now? (5:08) Yeah, pasta is always a big contender. (5:10) If you think about it, think about what your family eats the most. (5:13) It’s really what our patrons eat the most.

(5:15) Canned protein, tuna, chicken. (5:17) Chicken’s always the favorite, but tuna is great. (5:20) Cereals, breakfast items.

(5:23) Canned fruits and vegetables. (5:24) Canned fruits. (5:25) We can’t seem to keep peaches and pineapples on the shelf fast enough.

(5:29) We do take hygiene items, toothbrushes, toothpaste, toilet paper. (5:33) We’re almost out. (5:34) So that would be great.

(5:35) We would love everyone to donate that so we can offer that out. (5:38) Paper towels, paper goods. (5:40) We do accept diapers even if they’re opened because we’ll bundle them up.

(5:44) And then there’s some items people never think about. (5:47) Baking supplies. (5:48) We try to give everyone a baking supply kit for the holidays.

(5:51) Maybe they’re making a pie or rolls. (5:54) Cooking oil. (5:55) You don’t realize how much boxed food says use oil with it.

(5:59) Salt and pepper. (6:00) Simple, basic items that you might have that people don’t think about. (6:04) So those would be some great items.

(6:05) Please refer to our door hanger or our flyers on social media. (6:09) We have everything that we’re looking for, (6:10) things that we’re not looking for, (6:12) what to donate that doesn’t get donated often. (6:16) Just refer to that door hanger.

(6:18) Yeah, absolutely. (6:19) And of course, cold hard cash always works too, right? (6:22) Oh, we love cold hard cash. (6:23) So what happens after this food drive is we take any monetary donations (6:26) and buy what didn’t come in.

(6:29) And I’ll tell you right off the bat, (6:30) we already know we’re buying mashed potatoes and rice. (6:32) Those items do not come in in abundance. (6:35) We have a little joke I’ve been telling the teenagers for years, (6:38) like remind mom and dad we don’t need the case of beans, okay? (6:42) Like we have some for like seven more years.

(6:45) We all know that in our own food storage, (6:47) beans is a big one and we get it, corn, green beans. (6:50) But those are items we get in abundance. (6:52) So if you can think outside the box for maybe some rice, (6:56) some mashed potatoes, more pasta, (6:58) those would be fantastic items that would help fill our shelves.

(7:01) But when in doubt, we’ll take the money (7:02) and we’ll go do the shopping following this food drive. (7:06) Again, door hangers go out tonight (7:08) for the fifth annual Fighting Hunger Games Youth Can Food Drive. (7:12) And then the youth will be back around next week (7:14) on Tuesday, October 7th to collect everything.

(7:17) It’s all for the Upper Valley communities in Star Valley (7:20) and everything benefits the Afton Food Pantry. (7:23) Sierra Mitchell, president of the Afton Food Pantry, (7:25) anything we missed? (7:26) No, just thank you so much to the community. (7:28) This food drive is really what we depend on (7:30) for almost a full year of donations.

(7:33) So we’re just so thankful for continued support. (7:36) We do ask if you can maybe leave a light on (7:38) that helps you to see it. (7:39) If the weather is horrible, (7:41) it is hard for the youth to see donations on the doorstep.

(7:44) So we’re gonna just ask for a little bit of grace. (7:46) If your donations get missed, (7:48) I will spend the whole next day driving the community (7:51) and picking up any missed donations. (7:53) You can also drop them by the Afton Food Pantry (7:55) anytime, Wednesday, Thursday, we will be living there.

(7:59) My bed is already set up. (8:01) The youth have already taken our slots in huge groups (8:05) because this food drive, like I said last year, (8:07) we had to count move day over 14,000 items. (8:11) We hope this one’s bigger because our shelves (8:13) are a lot emptier at this time of the year (8:15) and we have higher numbers.

(8:16) So we hope we’re dating 20,000 items, (8:19) but it just takes a lot of volunteer effort (8:21) to make this all happen. (8:23) So thank you for the volunteers who have stepped up. (8:25) Thank you for SVI for promoting it for us.

(8:28) And just thank you to the community (8:29) for making this as successful as it can be. (8:32) We truly, truly appreciate all the generous donations. (8:36) That’s Sierra Mitchell, (8:37) president of the Afton Food Pantry.

(8:38) It’s the weekday wake up on SVI radio.