Feds Feed Families

Kurtis Conrad, a store associate at the Tinker Commissary, assembles a grocery bag full of food items for the 2015 Feds Feed Families Food Drive Campaign. The bags cost no more than $10 and are located at the front of the store for purchase. The commissary will then donate the purchased bags to the campaign. The commissary has already sold 200 bags, which totals 1,700 pounds of food to be donated. Other donation collection boxes are located at the Youth Center, Bldg. 460 (72nd Air Base Wing Headquarters), Bldg. 3001 (flagpole entrance), and the Balfour Beatty Community Center. (Air Force photo by Kelly White/Released)

Feds Feed Families starts taking on pounds

Published June 19, 2015
By John Parker
Staff Writer

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The collection boxes are out and the 72nd Security Forces Squadron is already picking up food donations for the seventh annual Feds Feed Families campaign.

The drive at Tinker Air Force Base and across the Department of Defense is part of a national campaign coordinated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. More than 4.9 million pounds of nonperishable food and basic items have been collected nationwide since donations began June 1. The Tinker drive will end Aug. 31.

"Last year, the Air Force as a whole collected 200,000 pounds of goods for people," said Tech. Sgt. Dondrel Scott, the drive's POC. "This year I would say that we need to do better than that because it's definitely for a good cause of helping out people that are less fortunate than ourselves. We just want to encourage people to give as much as they can."

All donations will help people and families served by the Mid-Del Food Pantry. Drop-off locations are at 72nd Air Base Wing Headquarters Bldg. 460, Bldg. 3001 (flagpole entrance), the Tinker Commissary, the youth center and the Balfour Beatty Community Center. The commissary has pre-packaged food bags for sale.

Tinker organizers ask participants to please report the weight of their donations to Sergeant Scott at dondrel.scott@us.af.mil. He can also be reached at 734-2900.

Recommended items include canned foods (fruits, vegetables, soups, higher-protein products such as meats, tuna and peanut butter); tomato-based condiments; baking ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, boxed mixes); and hygiene supplies (diapers, deodorant, toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo).

Also suggested are canned/dried beans; whole-grain foods such as brown rice, whole grain cereal and whole-wheat pasta; and chili and stews, preferably with reduced sodium and reduced fat.

Contributors can also buy items from online retailers, such as Walmart and Amazon, and direct them to be delivered to the Mid-Del Food Pantry. Label packages to: Mid-Del Food Pantry, Attn: Feds Feed Families-DOD, 322 N. Midwest Blvd., Midwest City, OK, 73110.

Please also report the food weight to Sergeant Scott.