Riverside County, 4th District Show Generosity in Holiday Food Drive
The final tally for the Riverside County/Stater Bros holiday food drive is in . . . and it reflects nicely on countywide generosity. And the Fourth District really shines.
According to Assistant County CEO/EDA Robin Zimpfer, the Food Drive took in 17 tons of non-perishable food during the 6-week duration of the drive. This number, provided by Stater Bros, compares very favorably with similar food drives in Orange and San Diego Counties, which took in 7 tons and 2.5 tons, respectively.
Moreover, the desert residents of the Fourth District contributed almost 6 tons of the 17, nearly equaling the haul in Orange County.
The Board of Supervisors recognized the outstanding value of the County’s food drive during the ceremonial portion of the Board’s meeting on Tuesday. In addition to the food itself, the County handed out checks of $2,849 to Food In Need of Distribution, and $3,279 to Second Harvest.
“It was a very successful program,” noted Third District Supervisor and Board Chairman Jeff Stone. “We started the program six weeks prior to the holiday season, which didn’t give EDA or Stater Brothers a lot of time, to really put together a comprehensive program. But with the time we had, we were really able to come up with a significant amount of food for a lot of people that are truly needy in our county today.”
Stone promised an even better effort for holiday season, 2009.
Next year, we’re going to put a stronger effort out there in helping you do the great job you do,” he told the Sam Hook of F.I.N.D.
Zimpfer also noted that the total of $5,782 would generate many times that value in food for the pantries “because of the multiplier effect.”
“We’d like to thank the Riverside County Economic Development Agency and our partners, Stater Bros, for staging this successful drive,” said Fourth District Supervisor Roy Wilson. “But most of all, we’d like to express our gratitude to County residents who showed they truly care about the less fortunate.”