Community food drive enlists many volunteers

Hordes of volunteers descended on the downtown Sal-vation Army lot like a hurricane Saturday. They unloaded trucks, sorted through donations and packed boxes full of pasta, canned soup and other foods.

Proceeds of the 26th annual communitywide food drive, known as Operation Harvest, will be given to eight local food banks.

"It's organized chaos," said Dusty Edler, chairman of this year's event and a member of the Yakima Rotary Club. "We're all over the place. It's a fast pace for sure."

By late afternoon, about 105,000 pounds of food and between $25,000 and $30,000 had been donated. That is less than last year, when the drive pulled in more than 127,000 pounds of food and $36,000.

"We are very happy with the results. We had a really good time," Edler said. "We knew it would be down this year because of the state of the economy."

The event was manned by about 150 volunteers, who raked through neighborhoods in Moxee, Naches, Selah, Gleed, Terrace Heights, Union Gap and Yakima to collect donations. Food was also dropped off at the Yakima Salvation Army parking lot on the corner of Sixth and Yakima avenues -- the campaign headquarters -- and the three Wray's grocery stores.

The event is sponsored by Yakima's Rotary clubs.

"It's exciting to see this, a well-oiled machine," said Greg Luring, president of the Yakima Downtown Rotary. "It's a great tradition in Yakima."

Aadriana Hernandez, a senior at Eisenhower High School, said the event is a wonderful opportunity to meet people. Even with the crowds and bags flying everywhere, she enjoyed herself.

"It's liberating giving back to people who gave back to me long ago," she said. "There's a lot going on -- a lot of teamwork and communication."

Nina Brebant of Belgium and Ronaldo Recto of the Philippines said they too learned from the experience. Visiting Yakima through a Rotary exchange program, they said they don't often see people unite for the same cause.

"Everybody here is very energetic," Brebant said. "Even if it's not our community, help is still help. I feel satisfied."

Sofia Rodriguez, an eighth-grader at Lewis and Clark Middle School in Yakima, didn't know what to expect when she agreed to volunteer. Turns out Operation Harvest was a lot bigger and more fun than she imagined.

"It feels good because you are helping to feed other families," she said. "It's joyful and quick."

* Erin Snelgrove can be reached at 577-7684 or esnelgrove@yakimaherald.com.

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