CCYF food drive gathers 80,000 pounds

Another year. Another huge haul for Clark County’s second-largest one-day food drive.

The 9th Annual Titans Youth Foundation/Clark County Youth Football Jamboree Food Drive collected more than 80,163 pounds of food on Saturday at McKenzie Stadium.

Event co-organizers Dylan Henry and Keith Lobis, both Union High School seniors, said this year’s haul means 70,000 hungry adults and children will receive a meal or emergency food basket.

Fewer teams participated in the jamboree, meaning last year’s record of 100,011 pounds was out of reach. But the contribution per team was up substantially. Ten teams gathered more than 1,500 pounds each, led by 3,980 pounds from the Vandals 2nd-3rd grade team.

The top individual collectors were Cody Armstrong of the Rebels sixth grade team and Ben Kapelka of the Falcons 7th-8th grade team.

An additional 2,100 pounds of food was gathered at the Union High School varsity scrimmage on Friday.

The event is Southwest Washington’s largest one-day food drive behind Walk and Knock. In its nine years, the CCYF food drive has donated more than 500,000 pounds of food to the Clark County Food Bank.