Food giveaway draws crowd

The girls huddled together in the school parking lot, waiting for the next car to pull in.

“I get the next one!” one exclaimed while another protested. “No, I get the next one,” one said.

The Lakes Middle School students – members of Idaho Drug Free Youth – served Tuesday as volunteers at a food giveaway for low-income families. More than 9,000 pounds of bread, fruit, vegetables, milk, juice and other items were given away in about two hours at Lakes Middle School in Coeur d’Alene.

The event was sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Second Harvest Inland Northwest and the Lakes Parent-Teacher Association.

About 200 people representing area families stopped by to pick up goods. Organizer Mike Feiler of Thrivent Financial said the turnout was the largest he’d seen since the giveaways started in July.

“We’ve never run out of food, and I think we’re going to today,” he said.

Registration was not required. Those picking up food only had to give their name and phone number, along with the number of people in their family.

Feiler worked with his wife, Janet, public information officer for the Coeur d’Alene School District, to organize the event. The Lakes PTA and the PTAs from the downtown and midtown elementary schools donated money to help the 24-foot refrigerated truck packed with food make the drive to Lakes.

The giveaway was scheduled to start at 10 a.m., but people lined up a half-hour early. A few minutes after scheduled start time, the line was halfway down the parking lot.

Coeur d’Alene resident Mark Melvin stopped by with his 17-month old daughter, Julia.

“It’s really helpful,” he said as he placed a box of bread and juice into his van. “Every little bit helps.”

The student volunteers said the reactions from those who stopped by to pick up food was the best part of the day.

“I like helping people with kids,” said 12-year-old Lauren Pine. “You just feel so good.”

Thrivent received a grant to buy another refrigerated truck to distribute food in Southern Idaho. Feiler said he hopes more community groups will partner with his group and with Second Harvest to help distribute the food.

“Second Harvest basically says food is not the problem. Distribution is the problem,” Feiler said. The Lakes students helping distribute the goods were a huge help, he said.

“To give these kids an opportunity to volunteer like this is just a huge, huge payoff,” he said.

Mary Larson, Lakes PTA co-president, said the giveaway complements the community-service-oriented education kids are exposed to at Lakes.

Feiler said the giveaways benefit from media attention, which lets people know how they work.

“When they see the word Lutheran they think we’re going to dump off a bunch of missionaries at the school or something,” he said.