Friendly competition fuels Yountville Food Drive, donate food through Nov. 25
Community Action of Napa Valley (CANV) is the driving force behind one of the largest food collection initiatives across Napa County. This week, three CANV food donation collection barrels were placed at the Yountville Welcome Center, Community Center and Yountville Fit at the Commons for the Yountville Food Drive.
According to the California Association of Food Banks, there are nearly 11,000 CalFresh recipients in Napa County, which equals more than 6,000 households. Seniors, families with children and veterans are some of the most vulnerable food-insecure residents.
Yountville Vice Mayor Robin Mckee-Cant jumped in to help. “We are coming up on a time of year when food banks traditionally need extra help to fill their shelves” she said, adding that because the CANV Food Bank is located in the southern part of Napa on Kaiser Road near the DMV and Costco, it may be difficult for upper valley residents to donate.
“By reaching out to the good folks at Yountville Fit, Yountville Chamber of Commerce and our Community Center, I found three eager partners who were excited to accept barrels for their locations”
Her next call was to CANV. Barrels were delivered on Nov. 18, “By that afternoon all three partners were reporting exciting news, that barrels were getting a base layer of canned items.”
CANV powers Napa food banks (3,000,000 pounds of food are distributed annually) as well as the critical Meals on Wheels food program, which delivers food to 460 Napa County senior citizens every day.
Nervous after requesting four barrels, McKee-Cant decided to pump it up a notch, by tapping into the competitive and generous spirit she knew was present at both Yountville Fit and the Yountville Welcome Center.
She called Arianna Aviña, administrative director of Yountville Fit, and Natalie Leighton, president and CEO of the Yountville Chamber, to inspire them with a competition to see who could fill their barrel first, figuring that the two barrels at the Community Center could offset any overflow.
After just one day, all three locations reported that barrels were filling up. “We had to devise a plan to offload food before the three locations had even started promotions in full,” McKee-Cant said. “This is a great problem to have, so I hope Yountville Sun readers will continue to step up with donations between now and Nov. 25.”
The vice mayor noted that because the Yountville spirit of giving is alive and well, a system needed to be created to make donations convenient so that Yountville residents do not have to drive to south Napa.
“I hope we can find a way to do drives like this quarterly because CANV always puts donated non-perishable foods to good use,” she said.
Nonperishable, unexpired, unopened foods are eligible, and peanut butter, canned soups, dried rice, beans, pasta and cereal are in high demand. In Yountville, donate now through Nov. 25 or make a donation to CANV at any time here: https://www.canv.org/
