FLEMING ISLAND — Waste Not Want Not received a $1,500 check from the Walmart located on County Road 220.
Waste Not Want Not is a nonprofit that relies on many forms of communal help to help the …
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FLEMING ISLAND — Waste Not Want Not received a $1,500 check from the Walmart located on County Road 220.
Waste Not Want Not is a nonprofit that relies on many forms of communal help to help the communities of 10 different Florida counties. The Fleming Island Walmart demonstrated its support for the 501(c)(3) on June 26 by giving the organization $1500 and a Walmart morning welcome.
“We are able to do what we do because of the help from the community,” Staudt-Killea said. “Local organizations like this Walmart donate money. We have over 250 local volunteers. We wouldn’t be around without Clay County.”
Staudt-Killea entered through a backroom door to the Walmart backroom where she was greeted by nearly two dozen Walmart employees. They made Staudt-Killea feel like family by teaching her their daily chant. A team lead will say “W” and the rest of the team will shout “W.” They’ll continue through the rest of the word at which point, the lead will ask “whose Walmart?” The team will respond with a resounding “my Walmart.”
Staudt-Killea said it was really nice to join the company’s morning routine. Her own morning routine was made better by going to the Walmart instead of the 1,200 square-foot warehouse of Waste Not Want Not. It doesn’t hurt that she got to accept $1,500 on behalf of the nonprofit either.
Waste Not Want Not is celebrating its 30th year and ordered dozens and dozens of special commemorative keychains to hand out at various events planned throughout the year. The coronavirus had other plans though and many of these events had to be cancelled.
“That’s OK though because now I get to give these to each of you,” Staudt-Killea said.
The keychains are shaped like a starfish and feature an engraving explaining how just one person can make a difference. Staudt-Killea told the story of a girl on a beach tossing starfish stuck on the beach after high tide back into the sea. A passerby asked the girl why she was doing that, knowing that it’d be nearly impossible to get every starfish back into the sea.
“What difference is it going to make?”
The girl responds with an answer that keeps Staudt-Killea, Waste Not Want Not’s 250 volunteers and now, the nearly two dozen people in the backroom that Friday morning, motivated day in and day out: “It makes a difference to this one starfish,” the girl said to the passerby as she tossed another starfish back into the ocean.
Staudt-Killea said similar mornings make an impact in a number of ways. Waste Not Want Not received $1,500. She said every dollar donated translates to 15 pounds of rescued food.
“I always tell people this because you always hear about how $10 doesn’t feel like much,” Staudt-Killea said. “That’s 150 pounds of food. Think of all the good that much food can do.”