The Wasatch Community Foundation organized a food drive that culminated in 1,200 bags of food for Wasatch County School District students who may have gone without during the upcoming holiday break.
According to the foundation, food insecurity affects many Wasatch County School District students during the two-week Christmas Holiday break. They depend on breakfast and lunch at the school cafeteria five days a week when school is in session.
The foundation, which seeks to advance the well-being of Heber Valley residents, has implemented an ongoing Christmas event in response.
Locals donated 1,200 bags of food, totaling 24,000 pounds. Volunteers collected the food, took it to a central location, staged it and deposited it into 1,200 donated cloth bags for distribution.
Student families who have registered with the local food pantry Christian Center of Park City based in Heber City then picked up the bags. The total monetary value of the food supplied was approximately $90,000, the foundation said.
Roughly 460 volunteers helped. The foundation invited local church congregations, neighborhoods, schools, nonprofits and for-profit organizations.
Through JustServe and other means, volunteers signed up and showed up, bringing their assigned food donations. They transported, assembled, staged, filled bags and distributed all of it.
The main lead was Diane Glenn, who organized every detail, according to the foundation. She is director of the Wasatch Community Foundation Human Services Pillar.
“These families are struggling right now and as prices continue to rise, they are hurting even more, so they rely on these food bags,” Glenn said. “…”These two weeks would be hard [for them] without the food bags.”
Entire families often show up to help, the foundation said.
When Kailey Parker and her family served this year, she said, “I think it is great … for kids to see we live in a really blessed community, but there are still lots of needs. To give back just a little is kind of nice. My wish for these families is that they can just be happy and warm and healthy.”
Liam Butters showed up from Orem to serve and said, “I found out about [this opportunity] through JustServe.org. It’s always good to see people come out and help the community. Choosing to do this on a Friday night … is always super impactful.”
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