04.21.2020 Immaculate Conception Food Pantry Drop Off Screenshot

03 Dec Hermann London Donates $2,000 to Maplewood Food Pantry

Posted at 18:28h in St. Louis Realtor by Joey Vosevich

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Every year Hermann London has an office food drive to support the Immaculate Conception St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry in Maplewood, Missouri, but 2020 has been different. This year we had two!

Back in March around Friday the 13th, businesses shut down and everyone was told to stay home. Because of the quarantine restrictions many of the elderly and vulnerable volunteers at the food pantry couldn’t help out, and on top of that, the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri had to cancel their annual April Showers personal care item drive. This left the pantry understaffed and low on important inventory items.

Hermann London’s first food drive coincidentally started right before the stay at home orders in March, but once they kicked in, everyone at the Hermann London office knew more people were going to rely on the pantry now more than ever. That is why owner/broker Adam Kruse stepped up the food drive by also incorporating a social media campaign. Adam interviewed Anne Arias, one of the volunteers at the church, and found out what the food pantry does and how people could support it. Once the video interview was recorded, it was blasted out on the Hermann London newsletter, all of its social media accounts, and shared in Facebook groups like MapleGood and Everything Maplewood Richmond Heights. To follow it up, Adam packed his truck with all of the office’s food donations and filmed the drop off so that the video could be blasted out just like the interview. The point wasn’t to glorify how nice Hermann London is, but to educate the community on ways to support the Maplewood Food Pantry.

Well, it is now 8 months later and the pandemic is still keeping people at home and many haven’t been able to return to work. To make things worse, the Boy Scouts announced in November that they wouldn’t be able to have their annual Scouting for Food canned food drive. The Scouts switched to an online donation system but the food pantries were still going to take a huge hit.

After hearing this, Hermann London started up their own virtual food drive to support the Maplewood Food Pantry at Immaculate Conception Church. Once again it was boys against girls and everyone sent money via PayPal, Venmo, and check to Adam. When it was all said and done, the grand total was $2000 AND the boys beat the girls! Geri Tockstein, the office manger, delivered the check in person to the church on December 3rd, and the church volunteers were STUNNED when they saw the amount.

If you want to donate, you can mail a tax deductible check to the pantry at 2934 Marshall Ave. 63143 or by scheduling a drop-off by contacting Sandra Marks at 314-267-8483. Email questions to icmaplewood@gmail.com