Pathfinders Host Bare Necessities Drive

By Autumn Dunzweiler

UCC communications coordinator

Food pantries provide so many needs for the community, but there are many more needs that don’t get met. Necessities like soap, shampoo, and toothpaste are all essential needs that many can’t afford. When Richie Brower, associate director of youth and young adults at Upper Columbia Conference, asked what the Pathfinders, a group of youth in the fifth grade through the eighth grade, could do for the Spangle, Washington community, the bare necessities were at the top of the list.

“It started with a conversation I had with Pastor Lonnie Scott, Spangle Community Church pastor,” shared Brower. “I told him Pathfinders were coming to the area in March and May and we’d love to help with the food pantry at their church, as we have in the past. He told me that their greatest need was necessities.”

Ideas began to form and many more wanted to get involved. Then after much brainstorming, a friendly competition was decided upon. The Bare Necessities Drive Challenge would be between the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior classes at Upper Columbia Academy, and the Upper Columbia Academy Elementary School and Upper Columbia Academy Church combined. The contest was hosted by the Wheatland Coyotes Pathfinder Club at UCA Church, led by Cindy Williams.

Beginning February 1, thirteen members of the Wheatland Coyotes Pathfinder Club and twenty-four students at the elementary school along with UCA church members, would be up against the 275 students at Upper Columbia Academy. The drive was from February 1-15 with the goal to collect as many household, cleaning, or personal hygiene items as they could. After the contest, the items would be donated to the food pantries in the area.

Everyone was excited to get started, but to make the challenge more enticing, the group that collected the most personal hygiene items (100 unit minimum), would win a prize of $500 offered by the Upper Columbia Conference youth department for their class or school fund.

“Partway through the contest, we heard a rumor that the sophomore class had hundreds of items,” shared Lorna Hartman, UCAES administrative assistant. “We kept on working because you never know about rumors.”

As the 15 days came to an end, the items were collected and counted. On Wednesday, February 22, the winning team was awarded the $500 prize after collecting 705 items. The Wheatland Coyotes Pathfinder Club and UCAES, supported by the UCA church, won.

“The team worked hard and won,” shared Hartman. “We are thankful for everyone’s donations that made it happen, and we salute the other teams and their donations as well.”

Overall, 1,051 items were collected. “It was exciting to see all the items collected and to think how many people will be blessed by them,” said Cindy Williams, Wheatland Pathfinder Club director. “We are distributing them to three food pantries – Fairfield, Spangle, and the Better Living Center in Spokane. We would like to do another necessities drive in the future.”