SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — By mid Friday afternoon volunteers at the Nordstrom Building were getting ready for the rush. Unloading and organizing the food for the giveaway.
The piles of bread and buns are ready and so are the pies. Most of this food is from area grocery stores that needed to make room for fresher products. Faith Temple assistant director of operations Josh Hayes says the lines of people picking up food are longer.
“On average, before the season we would see about a thousand cars or individuals who would physically come. Over the holiday season we’ve seen about 12 hundred all they way up to 15 hundred people some weeks, so the need is definitely evident especially around the holiday season,” said Hayes.
He says people want to buy toys for their kids or give gifts to others, and that money often comes out of the food budget. Each week Faith Temple buys some food to make sure they have plenty of protein. That adds up to about 5 thousand dollars giveaway. So donations are always appreciated. They also need about 80 to 100 volunteers to run each giveaway.
“So we are always looking for groups, we are always looking for single individuals
who are willing to come out on a Friday between 3 and 3:30, said Hayes.
Pastor Jeff Hayes says they want to make sure their volunteers feel appreciated.
“We make it worthwhile for them. Some of the volunteers need boxes of food, so we pack boxes of food for anyone that needs one and also we are going to be giving away these camping stoves and so that’s kind of an incentive for them too,” he said.
The drive through giveaways are usually scheduled from 4 to 6 PM every Friday at the W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds.
