Sunset Transportation Scouts for Food in 2021
Sunset is proud to continue our 18-year partnership with the Greater St. Louis Area Council Boy Scouts of America and St. Louis Food Bank as we returned to an in-person food drive, following the COVID-19 hiatus in 2020. The 2021 event was the most successful since 2016, collecting 653,026 pounds of donated food in one day.
ST. LOUIS, Missouri — On Nov. 20, 2021, Greater St. Louis Area Boy Scouts (STLBSA), Scout leaders, parents, and Sunset Transportation volunteers worked together to fight the ongoing local hunger pandemic during Scouting for Food, the largest one-day food drive in the U.S. Sunset is honored to have served 18 years giving back to our hometown community the best way we know how – organizing logistics and executing under pressure.
The 2021 food drive was the largest since 2016; a feat we’re proud to share! To provide an idea of the sheer size of the day’s collection is to look at the statistics:
- 41 Sunset volunteers worked to coordinate, dispatch, and palletize food delivered from…
- 34 dry van drivers from…
- 13 local truckload carriers who volunteered their time and fuel, coupled with the hard-working drivers with the St. Louis Area Foodbank and Operation Food Search, to pick up…
- 653,026 pounds of donated food, collected from…
- 36 St. Louis area firehouses. The food collected was transported to the St. Louis Area Food Bank, where it will provide…
- 533,082 meals to meals for local families and individuals in need during the holiday season and beyond.
- 2,035,799 food items were collected throughout the entire event! Two million!
- The food is then distributed to more than 500 food pantries and banks throughout St. Louis metropolitan areas, southeast Missouri, and southern Illinois regions.
“Scouting for Food is a hallmark activity for the entire Sunsetter family and a personal favorite of mine. With so many volunteers this year, it was truly gratifying to see new faces taking an interest in giving back and participating first-hand. The success of the 2021 drive is a tribute to our local community coming out for those in need during some tough COVID months.
I speak on behalf of our entire team when I say it’s always a pleasure working on this event and one we can all be proud to support,” said Lindsey Graves, Chief Executive Officer for Sunset Transportation.
To view the photo gallery of the day, from firehouses to Food Bank, visit Sunset’s photo album HERE.
Sunset extends a truckload-sized thank you to our friends, customers, and carriers who volunteered items, drivers, equipment, and trucks to help transport the donations for Scouting for Food:
- Alcatraz LLC
- Angie’s Transportation
- EJA Trucking
- Flanagan-White Express
- Global Transport
- MS Transport
- Petro Logistics
- Pilot Freight Services
- SDX Special Delivery Xpress
- StarEx Transport LLC
- Collegiate Awards
- Chemline
- Critzas Industries
- Descartes
- Diamond Pet Food
- Forklift America
- Golterman & Sabo
- Hopkins Manufacturing
- JW Software
- Lean Staffing Solutions
- Lou Realty Group
- McLeod Software
- NexTerra Wine Company
- Old Vienna, LLC
Didn’t get to participate and still want to give? You can donate directly to local pantries in your area by texting “ScoutFood” to 91999. A $1 donation equals approximately four meals provided to those in need!
Scouting for Food Partner Agencies
St. Louis Area Food Bank
Sunset Transportation
Operation Food Search
Local food pantries (outside St. Louis City and County)
Fire Chiefs’ Association
About Sunset Transportation – sunsettrans.com
Sunset Transportation is a women-owned third party logistics (3PL) company with 2nd generation, family-style Midwest roots. We’re driven by the right-size fit for each customer, using domestic and global supply chain resources to be the ultimate service provider for shippers looking to streamline their logistics programs. Our culture allows customers to feel like family, while receiving advanced transportation management solutions, reporting, and reliable execution.
About Scouting for Food – stlbsa.org/scouting-for-food/
What was intended to be a one-time service project in the greater St. Louis area, the Boy Scouts of America adopted Scouting for Food as a national BSA program and encouraged every council to participate. Scouting for Food has continued annually since its beginning in 1985 as a signature service event throughout the now 63 counties served by the Greater St. Louis Are Council. In 2019 the drive collected approximately 1.9 million food items. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic created a unique challenge to the drive, but Scouts were still able to make a big impact. Over $50,000 was raised via a text-to-give campaign, equaling approximately 200,000 meals provided to local families in need. We were also able to collect and donate over 145,000 food items to local pantries.
About St. Louis Food Bank – stlfoodbank.org
The St. Louis Area Food Bank, established in 1975, collects and delivers millions of food and personal care items annually to those in need throughout the bi-state area. Serving approximately 42,000 local people each week, the food bank provides four meals for every dollar donated and allocates 97 percent of its resources for food distribution.