November 25, 2004

Feeding the Hungry—one treat at a time

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

When Girls Scout pals Georgie Dunn (seated) of Almaden and Cassie Walstrum of Blossom Valley decided to treat the homeless on Halloween by collecting cans instead of candy, never in their wildest dreams did they expect to spend six hours gathering up 500 cans of food from residents ready to shell out Skittles and Snickers bars instead.

Just days before the treat feast, both girls designed, printed and delivered flyers to their neighborhoods in Blossom Valley and Almaden describing their motives behind the first annual “Halloween for the Hungry” canned food drive, with a goal of delivering 100 cans to the Santa Maria Urban Mission. At the end of the day, Georgie was so tired, she fell asleep before the witching hour and missed out on the festivities, but she drifted off with a smile on her face.

“They both chose the Mission as their school and our church, the Episcopal Church in Almaden, because they both support this cause,” said Beverly Dunn, Georgie’s mother. “They had so much fun, they plan on doing a food drive again next year and hopefully expanding their collection area!”

“We were happy that a lot of people donated and we found out that 500 cans will last two weeks,” Georgie exclaims. “It got dark too early this year, so we plan to start earlier next year. “We are going to ask other friends to help us so we can collect more cans. Maybe we’ll try for 1,000 so we can feed the homeless for a whole month next time!”