Sunset Transportation Transports 1.97M Items in One-Day Scouting for Food Drive
Sunset is proud of our 15-year partnership with the Greater St. Louis Area Council Boy Scouts of America and the St. Louis Food Bank, as we successfully orchestrated the 2018 Scouting for Food event.
ST.LOUIS, Missouri — On Nov. 17, 2018, hundreds of Greater St. Louis Area Boy Scouts of America (STLBSA), parents, and Sunset Transportation volunteers came together to help feed the hungry during Scouting for Food, the largest one-day food drive in the U.S. Sunset is a second generation, Top 10 3PL (named by Inbound Logistics), and we’re honored to have served 15 years in support of the Scouts through transportation and logistics in 2018.
Sunset’s participation by the numbers:
- 29 employee volunteers…
- …coordinated 28 tractor trailer and box trucks…
- …with 11 local carrier companies and Food Bank drivers…
- …picked up 1,970,766 canned and boxed food items…
- …and transported them from 36 Louis area firehouse collection sites to the St. Louis Food Bank.
- 668,639 lbs. of boxed and canned food were collected…
- …in 10 hours…
- …providing approximately 545,828 meals for local families and individuals in need during the holiday season and beyond. All donations are distributed to a local network of more than 500 food pantries and banks throughout St. Louis metropolitan areas, southeast Missouri and southern Illinois regions.
Sunset begins preparing in late September to recruit volunteers, and our work continues through December. It’s a full-scale team effort to execute the movement of over 660 thousand pounds of food in one day; the collaboration with the STLBSA, the St. Louis Food Bank, internal Sunset volunteers, Sunset customers and carriers who donate their products, people and time to this one-day drive is extensive yet highly rewarding.
In 2004, Sunset Transportation started handling the delivery and logistics support for Scouting for Food when the U.S. Army (who was arranging transportation prior to Sunset) was deployed to Iraq. Since then, this event has become part of Sunset’s service-based culture with many of our staff contributing their time and logistics expertise year over year.
“We’re very thankful for Sunset Transportation; the Sunset team is amazing, year after year, and you can really see the passion they have for the Scouting and Food Bank missions”, says Lenora Gooden, VP Procurement, Greater St. Louis Area Food Bank.
Sunset thanks the following St. Louis-area companies who volunteered to help transport the donations for Scouting for Food: ABF Freight, Chieftain Contract Services, Dodge-Mayflower Moving & Storage, First Capitol Courier, Flanagan-White Express, MS Transport, Petro Logistics, Pilot Freight Services, Sibic Trucking, StarEx Transport and Trans-Lease, Inc.
“Scouting for Food is something our teams look forward to every November. This year was extra special because we were able to bring our families to the Food Bank to work alongside the Scouts, building pallets of food and seeing the trucks coming into the warehouse throughout the day. The spirit of generosity was felt by all our hard-working volunteers, and we’re proud to support the cause,” said Lindsey Graves, Chief Operating Officer for Sunset Transportation.
About Sunset Transportation – www.sunsettrans.com
Sunset is celebrating our 30th year in 2018! Whether it’s transportation brokerage, logistics management, TMS and shipper technologies, or freight payment services, Sunset offers solutions to best fit your business. Our commitment to quality and delivering on our five promises are the foundation of our success: savings, visibility, continuous improvement, data-drive decisions, and relationships, not transactions. Sunset Transportation’s corporate headquarters are in St. Louis, Missouri, with branch and agent offices across the United States.
About Scouting for Food – http://sff.stlbsa.org
More than 30,000 Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturers annually help the needy, collecting more than 55 million food items to benefit children, adults and families in the St. Louis region. The annual one-day food drive, which stocks over 500 pantries in Missouri and Illinois, originated in St. Louis, and has since spread to other Boy Scouts of America councils. This year’s event was sponsored by the MERS Goodwill Missouri.
About St. Louis Food Bank – www.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.
About MERS Goodwill – www.mersgoodwill.com
MERS Goodwill changes lives through the power of work. Its vision is a community where everyone can learn, work, and achieve their greatest potential. Annually serving more than 60,000 individuals, the non-profit agency operates in 75 locations serving 89 counties in the bi-state area. Revenues from 44 Goodwill stores assist with funding MERS Goodwill job training and employment services. MERS Goodwill is a proud member of the United Way.
