Drive seeks socks, winter items, more

Rachel Thompson/News-Register##Rhonda Forest hands a bag of flour and a box of diced peaches to fellow volunteer Jim Herman as Gary Larson looks on during Saturday’s “Stuff the Truck” food drive at Grocery Outlet in McMinnville. The event marked a first-time partnership between the grocer and Hope on the Hill, a food pantry and clothing ministry based at McMinnville’s Nazarene Church on the Hill. The drive supported the group’s Thanksgiving outreach, including plans to distribute 230 turkeys and meal supplies to local families in need. “The reason we’re having to do this is because YCAP is being hit hard right now,” said board chair Joe Forest. “We’re one of YCAP’s biggest customers, and they’re really struggling. But the community is stepping up. I’ve had people just hand me hundreds of dollars and say, ‘Buy what you need.’ It’s such a blessing.” The effort yielded more than $500 in cash and 1,877 pounds of food. “Without Mike (McGinty of Grocery Outlet), it would not have happened,” Herman said. Donation details, including a link to the program’s Amazon registry, are available on the Hope on the Hill Facebook page.

Provoking Hope, a peer-supported recovery program, will hold its annual “Fill the Van” drive Wednesday, Nov. 5, to collect socks, hats, scarves, mittens, winter coats and hygiene items.

The goal is to fill a van parked at Grocery Outlet, 568 Highway 99W, McMinnville. Donations can be made from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The socks and winter items will be distributed to those in need.

Items also can be donated any time before Nov. 5 in “Socks for the Sole” boxes at Provoking Hope’s office, 213 N.E. 10th St., or in boxes posted at other businesses.

Drop-off locations include the By-Pass restaurant in Dayton, Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Willamina, Les Schwab in Newberg and McMinnville, or in McMinnville at Vineyard Heights, Wilco, Praise Church, Jack Maxwell American Family Insurance, Awaken Church, Key Bank, Calvary Chapel, Grocery Outlet, Pacific Northwest Tire, the Church of Scientology, Recology or the McMinnville community center, public library, senior center or aquatic center.

For more information, call Provoking Hope at 971-228-2020.

[Pictured is a similar drive held Oct. 25 by Hope on the Hill in partnership with Grocery Outlet.]