Grocery grab benefits Lincoln High food pantry

A three minute race around Russ’s Market at 33rd & Hwy 2 on Friday morning ended with $1,000 worth of food in the check out line.

The grocery grab was put on by the Lincoln South Rotary Club, an event they do every year with a raffle to determine who will win the $1,000 grocery haul. 

“This is our purpose – Lincoln South Rotary and every Rotary club around the world does events, does things, does fundraising to help different causes, and we do a lot in our community,”  said Suzanne Tyrrell, president of the Lincoln South Rotary Club.

Two staff members from the Food Bank of Lincoln grabbed all the food they could, from canned goods and pasta to boxes of cereal, and piled it high in their carts.

All the food they grabbed will go to the Lincoln High food pantry.  

Mike Wortman won the Rotary Club raffle and decided instead of keeping it for himself, decided to donate it to a cause that need it more.

As the retired principal at Lincoln High, he knows first hand the good the Lincoln High food pantry does for the students and families at the school.

“Just to see the families and the students come in and what they get can sometimes be their food menu for several weeks,” Wortman said. 

So with cheering crowds surrounding them, Alynn Sampson and her coworker developed a strategy for their three minutes of grocery grabbing.

“So it was how do we think about where the food’s at, how do we grab as much as we can in a quick amount of time,” Sampson said.

Now, students at Lincoln High will be able to select from the carts and carts of groceries that will soon arrive at their food pantry.