The Springville Kiwanis Club is working with community and business leaders to prepare for the annual Food Drive/Sub-4-Santa Project on December 9, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the old Springville gym behind the Museum at 26 E. 400 S., Springville.
With the support and generosity of Springville residents for over 30 years, the Springville Kiwanis Club has provided aid to citizens in need through the Food Drive/Sub-4-Santa project held each December. There is a great need in the community, and many helping hands are required to make this project successful and reach as many families in need as possible.
Before the day of the food drive, Springville churches distribute over 10,000 plastic food bags. These bags have been donated by Reams Springville Market, and labeled with labels printed and presented by Copies Plus. Springville High School Key Club and students, Kiwanis members, and volunteers placed these labels on each bag in preparation for delivery.
Last year, church groups retrieved thousands of filled food bags from Springville homes and brought them to the old Springville High School gym, where over 280 volunteers helped organize and fill over 500 food boxes; the Spanish Fork Deseret Meat Welfare Processing Facility donated empty boxes. Filled boxes were distributed to Springville families in need and Landmark High School, with the remaining food donated to the Springville Kiwanis Food Pantry located at the old Grant School.
The boxes distributed to families also included a $40 gift card contributed by the Kiwanis Club raised through the Scone Booth during the Springville Art City Days, along with a coupon for a free book donated by the Friends of the Springville Library. A limited number of “Youth Sports Vouchers” were presented by the Springville Kiwanis Club and Springville Recreation and handed out to families. In total, 45,000 pounds of food were collected and donated, $12,400 in gift cards were distributed, $1,800 in youth sports vouchers were circulated, $400 was donated to purchase books, and hundreds of individuals gave thousands of hours to the project.
On the day of the Drive, Key Club members also filled 150 stockings donated by the Springville-Mapleton Chamber of Commerce with candy canes donated by My Lemonade Stand Company of Mapleton. These Christmas stockings were given to children of families utilizing the Kiwanis Food Pantry.
This project continues to grow as the needs of our community increase and with the growth of charitable contributions and volunteers. This is a remarkable project to be a part of, with so many people coming together each year to make this project possible.
To register to assist the Kiwanis Club, go to Just Serve, https://www.justserve.org/projects, and search “Springville Kiwanis Food Drive and Sub for Santa” to sign up for this incredible project.
