Hundreds come out for food, diapers, pull-ups in Coeur d'Alene

With rain dumping down on a 40-degree Tuesday morning, Steven Ogden dutifully manned his post outside Lake City High School.

As vehicles rolled up one after the other, Ogden asked a few questions, chatted with drivers and waved them ahead to where more volunteers waited to help. 

And so it went for more than two hours as St. Vincent de Paul North Idaho teamed up with Second Harvest food bank to give out food, diapers, pull-ups, prizes for kids and family day passes to the Kroc Center. 

All people had to do was drive up, and many did.

“This initiative comes at a critical time, as April marks Child Abuse Prevention Month, and supporting families with basic necessities helps create a more stable and nurturing environment for children,” wrote Scott Ferguson, St. Vincent’s executive director. 

Organizers estimate about 300 families responded to the free distribution. A long line of cars, trucks and SUVs snaked around the LCHS parking lot.

Potatoes, onions, apples, corn on the cob and ground beef were among the 16,000 pounds of offerings, as were bags of dog and cat food. 

Andy Caster, Second Harvest volunteer, said he has seen a rising need among people just for the basics so they have enough to eat.  

Second Harvest serves North Idaho and eastern Washington and most recently had stops Bonners Ferry, Plummer and St. Maries. All saw strong turnouts.

Such was the demand Tuesday that Caster said they were scheduled to distribute food starting at 11 a.m., but because the line grew so long so quickly, they started 15 minutes early. 

“Everything has increased everywhere we’ve gone,” he said. 

Katie Simmons, director of ICARE with St. Vincent de Paul, said they received 70,000 pull-ups in February and 70,000 diapers in December, which led to Tuesday's collaboration with Second Harvest.

For families with babies and toddlers, Simmons said, such items are critical.

“This is how you prevent neglect,” she said. “When we have clean bottoms, our babies are healthy.” 

Diapers and pull-ups, Simmons said, can quickly get expensive and many families can’t afford them.

“With the economy now, people don’t have money to purchase diapers and pull-ups so they can be regularly changed,” she said.  

Taryn Molitor, St. Vincent’s prevention coordinator, said that was one of the reasons they were there. 

“So we have safe, happy and healthy families.” 

    Volunteers give out food on Tuesday at Lake City High School.