By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Each year, to assist families who may be struggling during the holiday season, WaFd Bank plays host to a food/toy drive to help ensure that everyone across the Castle Country has a happy holiday.
WaFd Branch Manager Carmen Jones joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss the event and share more on how the community can get involved.
“We’ve done a food drive for a while. We ended up not doing it last year, but we were like, “Let’s bring it back this year, and let’s add toys in there just in case,” explained Jones of the event. “This year seems to be impacting a lot of people, and so we really just wanted to give back again to the community. We would love to fill our box. We have a box right in our lobby, right through the front doors that people can drop off in.”
Speaking first on the food items, Jones discussed what the bank is hoping to see donated,” We’re looking for anything to fill the shelves of the food bank As we continue we have a our drive is about a month and a half, so as they come in we’re going to take donations to the food bank as they fill up so that they’re not sitting there forever. And if we do get anything that are fruits or anything like that. We’ll take that immediately over to the food bank to make sure it doesn’t go bad.”
Moving to toy donations, Jones shared,” New is preferable. We plan to take our new toys and help supplement the United Way’s Angel Tree program, because I know they end up covering a lot of those costs themselves. If they are gently used, we’ve reached out to the Children’s Justice Center and to Little Learners to take them to those kinds of places.”
Examining the drive from her position as branch manager, Jones shared why events like these are important to her: “I’ve always just loved giving back. I myself was a poor college kid, and then moved right into a situation where I needed help on occasion. No one can focus if they’re hungry. This isn’t about just living a life, it’s about thriving in life and just giving back to the people that we interact with every day.”
Jones also put out a call to action for the residents of the Castle Country to get involved in the drive,” Just think about any time that maybe you’ve needed help. Think about when you go hungry, and if you have a little extra, give back. What a great opportunity then to give back to the people in our community.”
She added,” We are open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The box is right inside the lobby, so it is literally two feet inside the door. You don’t even have to come in and search for it. If you struggle to get out of your car, I am happy to come out and gather it for you. Come through the drive-thru and ring our bell, and we’ll come out and get it.”
WaFd’s food/toy drive runs from Nov. 1 until Dec. 19. Donations can be made at the WaFd building at 308 East Main Street in Price.
