2nd Annual Anaheim Hills Food Drive

It's that time again my friends, time for the 2nd Annual Anaheim Hills Food Drive!

It All Starts With The First One

We all know this is true.  One step.  One pound.  For me it was one bag.  I bought it on our Disney Cruise last year.  I liked that it folded up into my pocket.  I thought I would be more likely to use it.  It turns out I was wrong.  I kept it in the center console of my truck and forgot it all the time.  When I finally used my reusable bag at Trader Joe’s, I felt like a million bucks.

I bought my next two at Albertson’s.  One is insulated.  I bought one at Ralphs and one at Ace Hardware too.  They all go for about a dollar, so it’s an easy purchase.  Honestly, I don’t always remember to take them, but I am getting better all the time.

You have to start with one, so I am going to help you with that.  It’s time for our Second Annual Food Drive!!!  I cannot adequately express how excited I am about that.  I had so much fun last year.  It was fun seeing you and it was fantastic that we delivered over a ton of food to the Second Harvest Food Bank.  (They support all of the local smaller food banks, so that’s why we deliver to them.)

Now that we are a registered provider, we can donate whatever we want, including fresh and frozen meats!  Canned hams, peanut butter, soup (39ȼ a can at Albertson’s right now) and other items with good shelf life are the most preferred.  Personal hygiene items are also welcome as it turns out.

This year, I’m going to hand you more than a donation receipt.  I’m going to hand you a reusable grocery bag!  It might be your first or your tenth, but who doesn’t need a new reusable grocery bag!  We donated 2,097 pounds of food last year in four days.  I’ve already made arrangements to dramatically increase our donation.  After the success of last year’s food drive, I was approached by several businesses who want donation barrels at their place of business.  So far; we will have barrels at Lincoln Ace Hardware in Orange, Systems One Consulting in Orange, Ear Abstracts in Yorba Linda and C.O.R.E. Physical Therapy in Fullerton.  What business are you thinking of right now that would host a barrel for us as well?  We really need to pull together to show that a small group of friends can donate thousands of pounds of food!

Another advantage of doing this now is that the food sales are fantastic at the stores.  Every Tuesday your mail box is full of ads for 3-day sales at your local grocery store.  Have you ever paid attention to those?  I didn’t, but I do now.  We have at least three Tuesdays to take advantage of the best sales.

Do you know a food distributor that will step up and make a significant donation?  Now that we are a registered donation team, we are allowed to bring in fresh food including meat.  Meat is heavy!  I wonder what a pallet of meat weighs??  What about a case of soup or a case of peanut butter?

This is us showing everyone that we are different; I am not a traditional Realtor who leaves a door hanger on your door and you are my friend, not a name on a mailing list.  We are a team that works together to help our community. 

I’ve got a new passenger this year.  Belle the Therapy Dog will be riding shotgun!  I’ll bet she is the lucky mascot we need to get to accomplish miracles!  Plus, you get to meet her and see how happy she makes me!

This is Part 1 of a series.  Watch this space!  The 2nd Annual Anaheim Hills Food Drive kicks off today!