John Javna and Robbie Starchvick
On November 9, more than 20 Jacksonville Boy Scouts and Eagle Scouts from Troop 17 gathered in the Bigham Knoll Campus parking lot before heading out en mass to recruit 100 new food donors for the Medford Food Project. The concerted effort was organized by 16 year-old Robbie Starchvick, a Jacksonville Eagle Scout and South Medford High School sophomore as his Eagle Scout project. Together with parent and other volunteers, Robbie and his fellow scouts took to Jacksonville’s streets to educate residents about the food project. By day’s end, Robbie and his troop mates had recruited 82 new food project volunteers. The successful effort boosted Jacksonville’s rankings…it now has more food donors per capita than any other city in the state of Oregon and perhaps the nation!
The MFP was founded five years ago by John Javna of Ashland. Since, the program has received nationwide attention and is now active in several states. Here in the Rogue Valley, the MFP has 6000 families involved as food donors and as Neighborhood Coordinators. In December, the MFP will collect its one-millionth pound of food – food Javna says is making a marked difference to families in need here in our community. The signature icon of the project is their bright green, cloth collection bags which are filled with donated food and picked-up every other month by volunteers.
Javna made the trip to Jacksonville to address the scouts personally, remarking that it marked the first time since its founding that a recruiting drive of this kind has occurred. “You kids are making history,” he told them. Today’s scouting mission was finding 100 new Jacksonville donors…and another 100 next weekend in other parts of the valley. Just before loading into vehicles and heading out to knock on doors, Javna told the teenage volunteers, “simply by knocking on a door today, you are making a difference.” He then reminded them, “there are no quotas…finding just one donor today will make a difference for one family,” and “by doing this, you are teaching others here and nationwide how to do this as an organized group… you will help the Medford Food Project learn by what you’re doing today.”
To learn more about the Medford Food Project, become a food donor or Neighborhood Coordinator, please contact Jacksonville project volunteers Faye Haynes at 541- 324-1298 or Jerrine Rowley at 541-702-2223.
Posted November 9, 2013 – Updated November 11, 2013
Jacksonville Scout Troop 17