Sunset Transportation Organized Logistics for “Scouting for Food,” America’s Largest One-Day Food Drive for the 11th Year in a Row
ST LOUIS, MO — Thousands of St. Louis Area Boy Scouts and volunteers participated in the nation’s largest one-day food drive on Nov. 15th, 2014. Sunset Transportation, a St. Louis-based third party logistics company organized the logistics for the event for the eleventh year in a row. “We greatly enjoy giving back to our community, and what better way to do that, than to partner with the Boy Scouts, and the St. Louis Food Bank to make a huge impact on the community,” said Lindsey Graves, VP of Operations at Sunset Transportation. “Sunset is thrilled that so many caring individuals across the Greater St. Louis Area took the time to donate food items to help families in need,” said Graves.
This year was the 30th Annual” Scouting for Food Good Turn”. On Saturday, November 8th, approximately 30,000 Boy Scouts delivered 1 million bags to houses all over the Greater St. Louis Area for residents to use as they donated canned goods. On the following Saturday, November 15th, Boy Scouts braved the cold weather to return and collect those bags and take them to 40 local fire stations, where Sunset Transportation organized a volunteer fleet of over 35 tractor trailer trucks to pick up 1,811,354 food items and transport them to the St. Louis Area Food Bank. Within 48 hours, the donated food will begin to hit pantry shelves at over 500 food pantries in the region. This will provide a nutritious supply of food for over 4 months for those in need, including many families with children.
Sunset Transportation began handling logistics for “Scouting for Food” eleven years ago when the U.S. Army was deployed to Iraq and could no longer provide transportation and logistics support for the Boy Scouts. This year, Sunset transported 35 truckloads of food in cooperation with dozens of truck drivers who donated their time, used their own trucks, and paid for their own fuel.
Sunset Transportation, Inc. (www.sunsettrans.com), headquartered in St. Louis, is a leader in third party logistics and freight audit and payment solutions. With 25 years of experience, Sunset Transportation has expertise in truckload, less than truckload, international, inter-modal, warehousing and supply chain solutions. Sunset helps companies save on transportation costs by enhancing processes and maximizing resources.
St. Louis Area Foodbank (www.stlfoodbank.org) has been feeding people in the St. Louis area for over 35 years. Each year, they gather and distribute millions of pounds of food and personal care items to families in both Missouri and Illinois. With every dollar donated to the Foodbank, they can provide 4 meals to hungry people, and over 97% of resources are spent towards food distribution.
The Boy Scouts of America (www.stlbsa.org) started “Scouting for Food” in 1985, and have collected 47 million items since this date to help feed the bi-region area. Children under the age of 18 comprise the largest segment of those receiving food assistance from this food drive, and the amount of food collected helps stock over 500 pantries in the St. Louis area.
Photo Credit: Bruce Levitt