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Snyder High School freshmen Jordan Phillips (left) and Drevian Hernandez helped load canned goods collected for the Kiwanis Club’s Goodfellows campaign. -
Larry McAden loaded food onto a dolly at Snyder Elementary School for the Kiwanis Club’s Goodfellows food drive. McAden said the club struggled filling baskets due to a lack of monetary donations.
The Snyder Kiwanis Club collected and sorted canned food on Thursday in preparation for the 64th annual Goodfellows food drive, but the club is facing challenges this year with a drop in monetary donations.
Larry McAden, a club member for more than 30 years, said that in addition to the cans collected from the Snyder Chamber of Commerce and the three public school districts, the club relies on monetary donations to buy items such as toilet paper, flour, rice, potatoes, eggs and chickens for each of the packages they give to families in need.
“A few years ago, Kiwanis was doing well enough financially that we upped the amount of cans we put in each unit,” McAden said. “In recent years, there have been fewer monetary donations. If we don’t have enough donations, the club will spend its own money to buy remaining needs for the units. As a result, we are using up all of our funds this year.”
Each unit, or bag of groceries, consists of the canned goods from the drive and the items the club purchases. The number of people in a family dictates how many units they are eligible to receive.
This year the Goodfellows drive is serving 661 people. The units will be distributed at The Coliseum.
McAden said there are several reasons behind the drop in donations, including the economy and groups of students seeking donations from businesses instead of the donations coming from individuals. Even though the club has collected all the cans for this year’s drive, monetary donations are still being accepted to help fund future Goodfellows drives.
“If someone wanted to donate, they could just give the donation to a Kiwanis member or drop it off at any of the local banks,” McAden said.