Teen collects 4,000 pounds of food for church food bank
By Julia Baum
A church food bank that recently launched in the Cambrian Park neighborhood is getting a lot of help feeding the hungry from a Leigh High School student.
The student, Nathan Flynn, recently raised $500 and collected about 4,000 pounds of food for the South Valley FISH Pantry at St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church as part of his Eagle Scout project. Flynn, a member of Troop 318 who has been in the Boy Scouts since age 7, had another project planned but changed his mind when church leaders approached him last year about lending a hand to the food bank.
“I was originally thinking I would build a bench for the church, but instead they just started up this food pantry,” Flynn told the Resident. “For the first six or seven Flynn months they can’t receive donations from the federal government, and they said if I could do food donations, that would be great.
“It does more than building a bench in a park; it has a bigger impact,” he added.
But the busy holiday season meant putting the project on the back burner until this year.
“It just took me awhile to get everything together,” Flynn said. “Then after that it became the holiday season, and people just weren’t available during that time.”
A little more than a month ago Flynn finally leapt into action and rounded up other troop members to scout his neighborhood for donations. Flynn said he held about five or six food drives to reach his goal by an April 1 deadline.
“During the week, I would hand out fliers to a section of my neighborhood and I’d have a group of Boy Scouts go out in that street and knock on every door,” he said. “I was doing this, too, and basically went to every house and knocked on doors.”
The Rev. Judy Bangsund, St. Timothy’s pastor, said the idea hatched after a long-running food bank at nearby Transfiguration Church closed last year. St. Timothy’s clergy and members recognized a hunger gap that needed to be filled and decided to carry on the cause.
“They served around 200 families every month, and when they closed, there was nobody to pick it up,” Bangsund said in an interview. “At the time we didn’t have the space, but after a while some space on the church campus opened. We asked ourselves, ’Why not?’”
Church member Bob Couper, who has helped with various congregation programs during the 15 years he’s attended St. Timothy’s, said the food bank model is based on the one used by Transfiguration Church. According to Couper, the model has helped retain volunteers by not requiring too much of their time.
“This one lady over there (at Transfiguration) had an idea that really worked: People can only come once a month,” Couper said. “Now we have a lot of volunteers; it’s self-sustaining now with the volunteers that we have.”
Residents in need of food call the food bank and make a monthly appointment, which Bangsund said is more convenient. About 10 ZIP codes including Cambrian Park, Willow Glen and Almaden Valley; are served.
“We give them a date and time so there’s no waiting in line,” Bangsund said. “At some food banks people stand and wait in line for hours, but that’s not the case with us. We’re not wasting people’s very precious time when they have so many things to do.”
A few more merit badges and a project review still need to happen before Flynn gets his Eagle ranking, but the real reward for him is the “good feeling” he gets from helping others. Flynn’s involvement with the food bank has been a “wonderful asset” that Bangsund said reflects well on his character.
“Some Eagle Scouts choose other kinds of projects which may or may not really help,” Bangsund said. “They’re good projects — planting trees is always good — but this one really starts a ripple effect that makes a much bigger impact.
“He doesn’t give up, and that is what I really think makes strong character,” she added. “This kind of community effort is what I think will make him a real Scout that shows his Christian faith — the kind of character we’re hoping to develop in this world, for this community.”
To schedule an appointment or make a donation with South Valley Fish Food Pantry, call 408-6694949. Donations can also be dropped off at the South Valley FISH Pantry, 5151 Carter Ave.
Contact Julia Baum at 408-200-1054.