There’s an amazing story about the very first emergency food box that went out to a family in need this week on Monday morning, April 25, 2011.
A 9 year old girl named Zoe packed that box on Friday afternoon, April 22. Packing a food box is more than just putting food into a box, it takes planning and a little creativity as Zoe learned on Friday afternoon.
Zoe’s emergency food box. The very first box given to a family on Monday, April 25, 2011.
But to us Sunshine Division staff and regular volunteers packing the food box is the easy part. The challenge is making sure that our warehouse has an inventory of food so the emergency food boxes can be packed.
When Zoe learned about the Sunshine Division from her dad, Dennis Glasgow, and the challenges we face she had a solution.
Dennis Glasgow is the Program Director at AM 860 KPAM/AM 1550 KKOV and had a brainstorming meeting with Officer Phil Kent a few weeks ago about being a radio partner and coming up with great ideas to generate some large donations to the Sunshine Division. Dennis shared this with his daughter Zoe. And then he shared with us:
My daughter is at that age where she’s noticed a lot of homeless and people in need here in Portland – and like her Mom – has a HUGE heart – and feels very sad for all the families that cannot eat and sleep like our family does – so she came up with the idea before her party – that she has more than enough toys and she’s a very lucky girl – and hence her idea for our guests at the birthday party to make a donation to the Sunshine Division…
We’re very proud of our daughter – she’s our only child – and with both my wife and I being in radio – we’ve worked closely with charities more than half our lives – so we’re not only excited about Zoe’s idea and her guests donation to your specific charity – but very glad her mind and heart are in the right place – I’m hoping to bring Zoe by and see what everything is all about and drop off a trunk-load of food…
Zoe with her birthday presents, 115 pounds of food for the Sunshine Division.
Friday afternoon was inspiring for us. Zoe has a heart of gold and her smile lights up an entire room. When she and her parents first arrived Zoe unloaded all of ‘her birthday gifts’ into one of our blue donations barrels. She filled the barrel with 115 pounds of food donations! After weighing the barrel we took Zoe and her parents on a tour of our warehouse. While on the tour she came up with many ideas about ways she could bring more donations to the Sunshine Division. We were impressed.
The last stop of our tour was the room where the emergency food boxes are packed. To keep the tour from being boring we asked if she wanted to pack a food box. Yes! Then we got to work. With a box we walked around our pack room, telling her how many of each item goes into an emergency food box:
1 box of cereal, 3 cans of tuna fish or canned meat, 1 canned dinner (pork and beans, ravioli, etc), 1 can of soup, 2 cans of vegetables, 1 can of fruit, 2 cans of tomatoes/tomato sauce, 1 jar of peanut butter, 1 container of mayo, 2 cans of beef broth, 1 container of salad dressing, bottle of pomegranate/cherry juice, crackers, hot chocolate, pasta, rice, mac and cheese.
To top the box Zoe added instant soup and a bag of marshmallows; she likes marshmallows. She took packing this food box very seriously and we got to see a food box through the eyes of a 9 year old. As Zoe packed the box she visualized what it would be like to have to eat that food. Every item that she added to the box was the largest can or package out of everything available in that food category.
Once the box was packed, Zoe weighed it, and then carried it into the food vault putting it at the beginning of the line. Zoe’s emergency food box was the first box to go out to a family on Monday morning.
Thank you Zoe and happy 9th birthday! We can’t wait to see you again.