ThisWeek CW 11/24/2014

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2014/11/21/being-thankful-local-kids-step-up-to-support-food-pantry.html

Young people in Canal Winchester are doing their part to give back to the community and support the needs of the local food pantry.

Canal Winchester Human Services administrator Penny Miller said that without the support of many exceptional kids, the Community Food Pantry would have a greater struggle to provide for needy families.

“In the past few months, our Community Food Pantry has been the recipient of generous donations that were driven by our kids,” Miller said.

“We’ve had a Boy Scout, Josh Gigler, who has collected over 3,000 items over the past couple years and collected about 1,400 this year alone; a 4-H girl, Brooklyn Best, who collected over 1,400 items this year; and another 4-H kid whose prize hog was purchased by Wyler Chevrolet with the meat being donated to the pantry.

“This year we also had a girl, Kristen Twitchell, who gave us her lemonade stand profits and Tori Rawn, who collected shoes to donate.”

Besides these individual efforts, Miller said the pantry has become dependent on larger youth-driven events such as the Football for Food, Pizza for Food and Scouting for Food programs, as well as a new Simply Give program through the Canal Winchester Meijer store. Students at the middle school are collecting money to purchase gift cards that are then matched by Meijer and donated to families in need through the food pantry.

Kelly and Keith Best, who moved to Canal Winchester about 12 years ago, said they are really proud of their daughter’s efforts. Kelly Best is also Brooklyn’s sixth-grade teacher at Canal Winchester Middle School. She said part of Brooklyn’s decision to make the food donation drive her 4-H project this year was based on the number of Feed our Future backpacks going home on Fridays with students to provide them with weekend meals.

“When you look at Canal Winchester, you often think most people are well off and don’t need help, but when you see the number of Feed our Future bags going home, you realize how much need is really here,” Kelly Best said. “Brooklyn exceeded our expectations. We set her goal at 500 items and thought that was ambitious.”

Brooklyn said she knew some of her friends were going through tough times.

“That hit close to home and I wanted to help them, and sometimes, it was thinking about them that helped the project succeed,” she said.

Brooklyn enlisted a few of her friends to help distribute bags and fliers at homes around her neighborhood, soliciting donations for the food pantry.

Similarly, Kendra and Rob Gigler, who moved to Canal Winchester about 11 years ago, are proud of their son, Josh, who has undertaken a food donation drive on his own for the past three years, starting when he was 10 years old.

He collected about 400 items that first year, nearly 1,300 items the second year, and this year collected about 1,400 items and a few hundred dollars in donations.

According to Josh, the food pantry program coordinator, Lisa Zurbriggen, worked at an after-school program he had attended, which was where he learned about how many families the pantry serves each week.

“I found out that they serve 52 families and put out about 3,000 to 6,000 items a week,” he said. “In 2011, they were really hard-pressed to get those items. I knew Ms. Zurbriggen and I knew what they needed and that I wanted to help.”

Josh, now a freshman at Canal Winchester High School, said he hopes to increase collections to get to 3,000 donations a year, and then hopes to pass the Trick or Treat for Food program down to another Boy Scout before he graduates.

“I think what impresses my husband and me so much is how he does this himself,” Kendra Gigler said. “Josh reaches out to homeowners associations and every year (is) being a little more creative in how he can collect more and reach out to other neighborhoods.

“Last year, he even approached our dentist for a donation of personal care items because he knew there was a need.”

Miller said she is thankful for so many kids who recognize the power of giving as its own gift, including several other children who have begun asking friends and family to donate to the pantry in their name instead of buying presents for birthdays and similar events.

“Not everyone can be a taker — you also need to be a giver; you have to be appreciative of what you do have and not what you don’t have,” Brooklyn said.