NHS Football Team Scores Big On First Drive Of The Season 

BY STAN MANZANARES
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Niwot High School football team members and coaches expressed their gratitude to the Niwot community for the overwhelming support of the team’s 2nd Annual Niwot Football Food Drive benefiting the OUR Center. The players who participated in last year’s event set their goal higher this year, hoping to exceed last year’s total of 3000 pounds of food.  This year’s goal was set at 4000 pounds, an ambitious 33 percent increase.  Little did the players know when they set out on their mission that they would exceed that goal by a much larger amount.

Residents of the Niwot community who were home Aug. 12, were greeted at the door by a Niwot football player distributing one of 1880 grocery sacks, requesting food donations for the Longmont-based nonprofit organization which helps people in need in the St. Vrain region move toward self-sufficiency. The sacks, donated by Bert Steele of Niwot Market and store managers from both King Soopers of Gunbarrel and South Longmont, were affixed with a note detailing a list of suggested items for donation. 

The players returned Sunday morning to collect the donated items, then delivered them to the OUR Center Food Pantry. When the delivery was complete, players discovered that nearly 5125 pounds of food had been donated by Niwot residents, more than twice the 1000-pound increase they were hoping for.

The players were greeted by exuberant staff members at the OUR Center, including Glenn Highman, and Rick Reiten, OUR Center’s Hospitality Center Manager, who were astonished with the level of success of the food drive.  

The players also witnessed firsthand the assistance being provided by the OUR Center, which provides vital services, including a food pantry, daily hot meals, a clothing bank, a day shelter, a warming center, homelessness prevention programs, and community referrals to help families and individuals in need in the communities of Longmont, Lyons, Frederick, Erie, Firestone, and Niwot. 

“By securing donations like food for agencies that serve those who are hungry and hurting in this economy, youth become vital players in helping people in need,” Niwot resident Tracey Bernett said.  Bernett, past president of the OUR Center Board of Directors, continued, “We, at the OUR Center, thank the Niwot High School football team for leading efforts to address the problem of hunger in their St. Vrain Valley school catchment area by holding a highly successful food drive. This was truly an effort that will help their fellow students and their families in local neighborhoods.”

The Food Drive far exceeded expectations, and the team plans to be back next fall with another collection effort as its Community Outreach Program.