By Molly Lovell
Editor
     An army of volunteers young and old will be collecting food for the South Portland Food Cupboard and the Scarborough Food Pantry through a Kiwanis Club sponsored fundraiser this Saturday, April 7.
     The Key Clubs and Builders Clubs at Scarborough and South Portland High Schools along with the K-Kids Club at Wentworth Intermediate School will be going door to door from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. to collect non-perishables for the pantries.
     Kiwanis Clubs all over the world will be participating in this day of community service called the Kiwanis One Day.
     Secretary of the Scarborough Kiwanis Club Paul Bernard said the idea is to see what kind of an impact Kiwanis Clubs can make in just one day.
     Internationally, there are 8,000 clubs, which amounts to roughly 500,000 Kiwanians world wide, Bernard said.
     “Add in the Key Clubs and you’re looking at a million man hours on one day,” he said.
    Key Club member Jeremy Carter, a sophomore at Scarborough High School, said the South Portland Food Cupboard was chosen as the focus of the fundraiser because it’s one of the most recognizable organizations of its type in the area.
     “It has done such good work for over 10 years and has helped thousands of people who faced food insecurity. I can’t think of a better organization to help with a food drive,” he said.
     Director of the pantry, Sybil Riemensnider, said more than 400 people a month pass through the doors of the organization.
     She also said that in the 10 years of its existence, the amount of people who use the pantry’s services has increase four to five percent.
     Riemensnider said that besides food donations from residents and local businesses, $3,000 a month is spent on purchasing items.
     Carter said he was very surprised when he learned how many people in the community needed help.
     “I think that one of the main jobs of (the) Key Club and Kiwanis Club is to help its community first. Knowing that there are so many people in need, I feel, ha made everyone’s drive and determination to make this a successful food drive even stronger,” he said.
     Besides traveling door to door to collect food, volunteers will be manning drop off points at Scarborough and South Portland High Schools.
     The following items are needed the most: peanut butter, grape and apple jelly, strawberry jam, tuna fish, macaroni and cheese, stew/hash or spam, spaghetti sauce, bath soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant and diapers.