November 27, 2008

Holiday food drive is a success in Almaden Valley

For the past several years, the Kiwanis Clubs of the Bay Area have worked with NBC11’s weatherman John Farley to help provide food for the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Rich Truempler, who was visiting his parents in Almaden, offers a bag of food to Almaden Kiwanis Club member Chris Verburg. Truempler lives in North San Jose. Photo by Carol Rosen

Each year, area residents offer donations that help the food bank provide for those less fortunate. This year is especially important because the economic crisis is creating bigger needs than ever, especially in light of corporate problems that are resulting in smaller gifts.

Almaden Kiwanis Club members volunteered their services at the Lucky Store on Meridian at Almaden Oaks Center. They spent Saturday handing out flyers and thanking those that took the time to buy a bag or two or groceries or to donate money so that others will be able to have happy holidays. By mid-afternoon the local club had collected 45 bags priced at $10, which were discounted from $20, and 38 bags priced at $20, actually containing $40 worth of non-perishable food as well as six bags filled by the donors.

But that wasn’t all, even though the collection this year didn’t include turkeys, people bought 21 turkeys for the donation. And, Almaden people were more than generous with their cash. “One man handed us a couple of bills and said he didn’t want to buy anything. We ran after him because I looked down and there were two $100 bills and I thought he’d given more than he intended. When I caught up to him, he said ‘no that’s what I intended,” said Chris Verberg, a member of Almaden Kiwanis.

In all, the club collected $400 for the food bank.

Full totals for the event were not in by press time. Fifteen Kiwanis Clubs in the Santa Clara County supported the food drive. This year, instead of just the Bay area, the drive included all Save Mart and Lucky Stores in California as well as 203 stores in northern California and western Nevada.

The Kiwanis Club members didn’t have to spend the day alone. They had Pioneer Key Club members Peter Tran and Jeremy Chen spending the day with them. The two are sophomores at the school.