Kacy Dunckhorst, left, from Banner Churchill EMS, accepts food items during Sunday’s First Responders Food Drive.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
Sometimes, second guessing yields to the first hunch, and that’s what Beth Riley discovered Sunday afternoon once an early fog lifted.
The community responded to the holiday food drive and set an annual record with 28,810 pounds, but Riley had her doubts because traffic was slower than usual at Walmart. The holiday food competition encourages shoppers to give any food item to the agency of their choice. The agency that receives the most food in weight wins.
Riley, one of the main organizers of the annual First Responders Food Drive of Churchill County, woke up Sunday worried the crew from Care Flight, the newest addition to the food drive, wouldn’t be able to land because of weather.
“The safety of our crews re our top priority,” she said, acknowledging the fog began to dissipate. “At 10:30, we got the final go ahead, and the fog had lifted enough to bring in the helicopter. People love to see them.”
Riley pointed out people think it’s “a big deal” when a large portion of a parking lot is taped off for the landing of a helicopter.
For Riley and the other volunteers who gathered for a few hours to interact with the community and accept their food donations, they expressed their shock when weighing the food at the end of the day.
“After weighing everyone at Golden Gate gas, I looked up at Samantha, the store manager with a tear in my eye,” Riley said. “Not only did we beat our goal of 25,000 pounds of food and water, we surpassed it. I told her this year was our highest year yet.”
Riley said the food drive raised 27,260 pounds in 2020, but for the past four times, the weight slowly went down each year. She said 25,600 pounds was record in 2021 followed by 24,040 pounds two years ago and 23,666 last year.
The Churchill County Sheriff’s Office, which won last year, topped the other agencies with 10,160 pounds. Fallon Police Capt. John Riley handed the first-place trophy to Cpl. Michael Hardin.
Fallon Police Department came in second with 7,220 pounds followed by the Fallon Churchill Fire Department with 4,540 pounds. The county’s Search and Rescue brought in 3,460 pounds and the Banner Churchill Emergency Medical Services with the help of Care Flight accepted 2,800 pounds.
“This makes a total of 28,180 pounds this year,” said Riley. “In nine years, we have raised 174,634 pounds.”
As for those second thoughts, Riley had spoken with Walmart Manager Chris Ceresola about the slow morning and thinking this year’s food drive was too close to Thanksgiving and shoppers were struggling with the costs associated with the holiday. Once the totals were tallied, Riley revered her second thoughts about having a different date for next year.
“Boy was I wrong,” she said. “I should know better. Our community comes together like no other.”