Annual YF&R Food Drive Held

By LAURA ROBISON

The Progress

The annual ‘Harvest For All’ food drive was held on Saturday, Feb. 10 at Lin’s Marketplace in Overton. The drive is sponsored each year by the Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) organization. This year, the volunteers collected food donations to benefit Brooke’s Good Deeds food pantry.

Shoppers entering the grocery store were encouraged to pick up an extra item from a suggested list to help the volunteers serve the children and families of Moapa Valley.
It was cold and windy out but that did not deter the volunteers.

“We are hoping for more donations than last year,” said YF&R member Sarah Stallard. “We are grateful for the increasing generosity of residents, and Lin’s is a great partner in our endeavors.”

The YF&R group is a program within the Nevada Farm Bureau meant to build, grow and develop young farmers and FFA alumni into Farm Bureau members. The group advocates for agriculture and to provide opportunities to give back to the communities.

YF&R’s Harvest for All Program has been running for over 20 years and has helped feed millions of Americans. In 2022, YF&R nationwide, volunteered nearly 10,000 hours of service, collected 25 million pounds of food, and donated $1 million to food banks all across the country.

Nevada Farm Bureau Federation Representative Kyle Reber was on hand Saturday. “We don’t just do food drives, our programs include competitive events, community outreach, social events, travel, education, promotion and much more,” Reber said.

Lin’s store manager Jesse Jenson said, “It is fun to see these young people serving their community. They are polite, courteous and simply amazing. To help out we usually order extra items on their list for this occasion.”

Shoppers Matt and Corinne Messer came by to donate some food items for the cause. “With the price of food nowadays, we are in a position to help, so we are glad to be able to,” Matt said.
And Corinne added, “We are impressed by the youth in the Valley and we like to help out. It’s impressive for this group to help those who need food.”

After the day’s work, Reber announced that the local efforts and the generosity of Moapa Valley residents had yielded 82 bags of groceries, estimated to be over 600 lbs of donations.

The group also has educational displays and demonstrations at the Clark County Fair and Rodeo and are looking for volunteers to help with those events. To learn more about the YF&R and the Farm Bureau, or to inquire about pitching in at the Fair, email Kyle Reber at kyle@nvfb.org or call him at 775-870-0079.