Annual Idaho State Police food drive seeks to feed over 700 families. Here’s how you can donate

AMMON — The annual 10 Counties of Christmas by the Idaho State Police is back, and organizers are asking for the public’s help to feed more than 700 families this Christmas.

The initiative is in its eighth year. In its first food drive in 2017, it helped to feed 53 families.

“We never know what the number is going to be. It’s gone up every single year, since inception,” ISP Sgt. Blake Higley said.

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This year, ISP aims to feed 731 families in District 6, which includes Bonneville, Butte, Clark, Custer, Fremont, Jefferson, Lemhi, Madison, and Teton counties.

Higley said 90% of those they deliver food to come from recommendations from local school districts, but organizers also work with other local agencies to find families in need.

Some of these include the food banks in Mackey and Arco, and a senior home in Teton County, after getting recommendations from other troopers who patrol in that area.

Since the start of the tradition, Broulims has been a partner with the ISP, serving as the source where community members can donate or buy a bag containing the Christmas dinner.

Each bag contains either a turkey or ham, potatoes, canned yams, stuffing, green beans, a 2-liter bottle of soda and marshmallows.

Ryan Bishop, Broulim’s store director, said the whole dinner costs around $30 to $40.

In addition to Broulims’ involvement, Higley said other businesses have donated products or money to support the fundraiser.

At Tuesday’s event, Westmark Credit Union donated $5,000 to the 10 Counties of Christmas, and it is the second year the financial institution has donated.

Naila Gomez, Community Impact Specialist for Westmark, said the credit union has been exploring ways to give back to the communities in the three regions where it operates.

For eastern Idaho, this is one of the food drives that they planned to support with a financial contribution.

“The $5,000 is a good contribution to kind of give a kickstart to the program, and also makes our community realize that any little donation can be a big difference,” Gomez said.

Kamden Hunstman, relationship development officer for Westmark Credit Union, said that when it comes time to prepare the bags, bank employees come and lend a hand.

Another contributor is the Idaho Pork Producer Association, which has donated to a food drive for the past seven years.

Kirk Pugsley, president of the association, said this year, it has donated 560 half hams, which is about 1,600 pounds of meat.

“One of the decisions we made this year was after having heard the fact that some folks don’t have the ability to keep things long term, we opted to optimize by using half hands instead of whole hands so that they can use it up during their meal time and not have a leftover that may just go bad and throw it away,” Pugsley said.

Bishop said the group that deserves the most thanks is the customers of Broulims who come in and buy a bag or donate a few dollars to help make the food drive possible.

“It’s the community coming together and helping keep this program going,” Bishop said.

Those interested in supporting the food drive can visit Broulim’s in various counties to buy a bag, and state troopers will be inside the stores asking for donations.

Higley said the goal is to deliver the meals by Dec. 19.

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