2021 Cram the Van Food Drive Continues Record-Breaking Streak, Raising Nearly 45,000 Pounds of Food
At the beginning of this year’s Cram the Van season in September, we were optimistic when we said “Yes, WE Can!” about our annual food drive. Thanks to the generosity of our member communities, local schools, employees and trustees, and many volunteers, we can confidently say, “Yes, WE Did!”
That’s because our 2021 Cram the Van food drive collected more food for local food banks than we’ve ever collected before, raising a whopping of 44,576 pounds!
This year’s collection brings the combined eight-year Cram the Van total to over 86 tons of non-perishable food items, which is a 573% increase since the program’s inception in 2014. (That year, we raised 6,615 pounds of food.)
This year, our electric cooperative held 13 in-person donation events between September and October, where we collected both our donations and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for our members as our way of saying “thank you.” We also coordinated six school-wide competitions in five area school districts (USD 428, USD 363, USD 466, USD 356 and USD 200), which helped us raise several thousand more pounds.
In addition, our fellow electric cooperatives, vendors, sponsors, and other supporters from across Kansas also attended our third annual Co-ops Care Charity Golf Tournament earlier this fall to help us raise more monetary donations. Thanks to the generosity of more than 120 golfers and our own cooperative employees and volunteers, we raised more than $11,000 for our local food banks during our annual charity tournament.
And in addition to our many in-person events, school competitions, and related programs, we also held an online Cram the Van donation campaign, for the second year in a row, which helped us raise an additional $2,600 in cash donations.
Thank you to our communities and local schools for showing us “Yes, WE Can!” Cram the Van and helping us generate another record-breaking year!
The third graders at Scott City Middle School won their building’s food drive competition, raising the most can donations, and won a $500 cash prize from Wheatland.The Harper Mission Mart received $1,121 in cash donations from our 2021 Cram the Van food drive in addition to food donations. Pictured (from left) are Mary Hoisington, member services and key accounts manager, Nathan Schrock, staking technician, Mike Alldritt, a representative of the Harper Mission Mart, and Wade Grumbein, area wide supervisor.The Caldwell Food Bank received a cash donation of $1,320 from Cram the Van events and related proceeds. Pictured here (from left) is Mark Arnold, Wheatland Electric trustee for District 7, Shawn Ryan, serviceman, Velta Glenn, a food bank representative, and Clint Gulick, line foreman. An additional $250 donation was also made to the United Methodist Food Pantry in Caldwell.The Hamilton County Food Bank in Syracuse received $2,648 donation from our 2021 Cram the Van season. Pictured here are Stacey Addison-Howland (far left), a Wheatland trustee, and Alli Conine, director of member services and corporate communications (far right), with representatives of the food bank.
Wheatland employees (from right), Mary Hoisington, member services and key accounts manager, Wade Grumbein, area wide supervisor, Diane Fisher, consumer services representative, and Derek Holdt, journeyman lineman, serve members during our Cram the Van event at the Harper Fall Fest on Oct. 16, 2021.Corbin Spellman, staking technician, Kyle Strickert, substation maintenance foreman, and Curtis Peterson, district manager, grill hamburgers and hot dogs at the Holcomb Longhorn Festival.Members go through our food line at the Syracuse High School football game on Sept. 24, 2021, one of our 13 in-person Cram the Van events. Members received a hamrbuger or hot dog meal in exchange for their cash or can donation.Central Kansas Christian Academy won first place in our Cram the Van Hiss-Sherman School Competition in Great Bend. The school raised 22.15 pounds of food per student and won a $500 cash prize from Hiss Sherman Wealth Management Group. Pictured here are Mary Hoisington (far left), member services and key accounts manager at Wheatland, and Matt Hiss (far right) with school representatives.The Ministerial Alliance in Scott City received a cash donation of $3,667.92 for Hope’s Closet from this year’s Cram the Van proceeds. Pictured here are representatives of the local food bank with Wheatland employees: Damon Carmin, wireless tower technician (far left), Jevin Kasselman, director of IT/broadband (second from left), Katie Eisenhour, Wheatland trustee (third from right), Alli Conine, manager of member services and corporate communications (fourth from left), Rhei Thurman, executive assistant (second from right), and Andy Rodriguez, wireless tower technician (far right).
