14th District-wide Food Drive Nets 38,200 pounds

Bloomington Public Schools and its business and civic partners collected over 8,600 pounds of non-perishable food and $8,220 in monetary donations during its week-long District-wide Food Drive late last month. 

The collection totaled 38,200 pounds when the cash donations to pounds conversion is applied, and will provide 114,600 meals. Each dollar donated accounts for three meals, and each meal is approximately 1.2 pounds. All of the food and cash is donated to Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People (VEAP), a non-profit agency serving low-income families and individuals in Bloomington, Edina, and Richfield.

VEAP serves 10,000 people a month, more than half of whom are children. The Bloomington Parent & Family Advisory Council coordinated the annual food drive. This year’s total pushes the total collected to 689,000 pounds since the food drive’s inception in 2009.

Bloomington’s public schools, early childhood centers, central departments and business and civic partners participated in the drive, including Bloomington Acura Subaru, Bloomington Fire Department, Cafe Fusion/Ryan’s Cafe, Dance Endeavors, Early Learning Advisory Council, Jerry’s Do It Best Hardware, Martin Luther Care Center, My Credit Union, Northstar Tavern, Oak Grove Presbyterian Church, MSU School of Nursing (Pond Clinic), Perk Up Kitchen/West Side Perk, Planet Fitness, and St. Stephen Lutheran Church.