Friday, November 20, 2009
Truck keeps food bank rolling along
Send us your news Your Community, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, VA 24010 or e-mail yourcommunity@roanoke.com.Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank has received a new delivery truck from the Walmart Foundation.
Walmart employees delivered a new refrigerated box truck to the Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank last week as part of the company's "Walmart Gives Back" holiday campaign.
Photo courtesy of Jeremy Butterfield, the Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank.
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The Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank, known for its giving generosity, just received a gift of its own. It's 24 feet long and can lift up to 4,000 pounds with the flip of a switch.
Employees from Roanoke-area Walmart stores and the Walmart Foundation delivered this new arrival -- a refrigerated box truck -- last week as part of their $32 million holiday giving campaign dubbed "Walmart Gives Back."
Margaret McKenna, president of the foundation, said this truck rolled out of Madison, Wis., along with 34 others -- each worth about $85,000. Every donated truck was packed with 12 pallets of Great Value brand products and fresh apples, and then delivered to food banks around the country.
This all began two years ago when the food bank staff began searching for replacements for their aging five-vehicle fleet. This most recent donation from Walmart replaced the last of the food bank's older fleet. The food bank is grateful to the Lincy Foundation, Roanoke Women's Foundation, Lawrence Transportation and ABF Freight System for replacing the other four vehicles.
Among the ecstatic employees at the food bank was Dave Bethel, director of operations. And he couldn't have been more thrilled. After all, Bethel has regularly picked up and delivered food throughout the 26-county region covered by the food bank. He also remembered the troubles the old truck caused.
"It was a great truck, but it was 17 years old and had over 300,000 miles on it," Bethel said. "It broke down quite a few times. The 'reefer' [refrigeration unit] didn't operate. That was important because these trucks are used to pick up frozen food products."
Jeremy Butterfield, communications and public relations coordinator for the food bank, said that the repair costs for the old vehicle were simply too expensive. He added that $10,939 had already been spent keeping that vehicle on the road over the past three years.
On the day the new truck arrived, Bethel took it for a spin.
"It was a sweet ride," he said.
Soon, Bethel embarked on a trip to Clifton Forge and Covington in the new truck. He said that about 120 miles were added to the odometer that day and he enjoyed every minute of it.
Butterfield said the new truck will help pick up and deliver an average of 51,000 pounds of products each week. He added that the retail store pickup program has increased by 18 percent in the 2008-09 year over the 2007-08 year. The job is easier with the proper tools.
Bethel said that he is extremely appreciative of this donation, but the community will benefit much more.
"These things are exceedingly expensive," he explained. "Thank God for our donors."
For more information about the Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank go to: www.swvafoodbank.org.
For more information about the Walmart Foundation and their other charitable causes go to: www.walmartfoundation.org.
