Annual Coyoteopoly food drive aims to collect 6,000 food items

Volunteers in Coyoteopoly’s 11th Vermillion Food Pantry food drive are hoping to collect 6,000 food items – 200 more donated items than last year’s event.

Jordan Gooding, president of the Coyoteopoly food drive, said this year’s drive is advertised through door hangers, rather than the previous method of stapling flyers on plastic bags.

The hangers were distributed around Vermillion on Oct. 23.

“It’s definitely more efficient,” he said.

This is the second year the food items will be picked up on Halloween, a switch that Gooding said serves as an effective marketing strategy and a way to reach more people.

“By doing that you have all your moms and dads at home ready for somebody to knock on their door, usually a kid, but they’re home, they’re there and they’re in the giving mood already,” he said. “They’re giving out candy, why not give a can of tomato soup or something?”

Last year’s drive collected 5,800 food items and more than $2,000. Gooding is hoping for 6,000 food items and $2,300 this year, he said.

Cash is usually the first thing on the needed items list, as the pantry is able to purchase items at lower prices because of their nonprofit status, Gooding said.

“Paying in monetary donation to a food pantry is worth way more than your can of soup. So if I spend a dollar at the grocery store, the food pantry can take that same dollar and buy more than a dollar’s worth,” he said. “So they can buy it in bulk and buy it for cheap.”

Keith Joy, president of the Vermillion Food Pantry board of directors, said though they’re grateful for any kind of donation, they’re generally able to stretch money a little further than individuals are able to.

Hamburger, for instance, is only around 18 cents a pound when purchased through Feeding South Dakota, Joy said.

“With the cash, we’re able to buy stuff that we need. We’re able to negotiate pretty decent prices on stuff locally and we do some purchasing of stuff through Feeding South Dakota,” he said. “The money’ll go a little further if we do get money.”

As of Oct. 23, the Vermillion Food Pantry has served 4,924 people in 2015, about 160 more than last year at this time. They served a total of about 5,800 last year, Joy said.

“Our numbers have risen dramatically in the past five years,” he said. “We’re reaching about a fourth of the people that are food insecure in our county.”

Close to half of the people the pantry serves are children, Joy added.

Gooding said anyone interested in helping collect donations can meet the group in Beacom Hall at 4 p.m. on Halloween.

Donations will be delivered to the pantry at 7 p.m. that night and will be organized with the help of food pantry volunteers at 1 p.m. the following day.

Continually the pantry’s largest annual food drive, Joy said the Coyoteopoly volunteers are appreciated.

“We’re just tickled to death that they’re willing to do that for us,” he said