Arlington boy requests food for Food Bank instead of presents

ARLINGTON — When Arlington’s Caden Wynne turned 7, he didn’t want the coolest toys or the latest video games.

Instead, he asked all of his friends to show up to his birthday party June 12 with food items that could be donated to the Arlington Food Bank.

On July 2, Caden, his 9-year-old brother Coleson, their mother Shauna and their grandmother, Candi Nicholas, dropped off 51 pounds of food, donated by five different families, to the Food Bank.

The boys’ mother explained that they’d already attended a few “charity birthdays” among their friends, and Caden was inspired to follow suit, especially since his grandmother volunteers at the Food Bank once a week.

“Our family has enough, and the kids know that,” Shauna Wynne said. “They got excited as the idea sank in.”

Wynne has raised her boys not to put more food on their plates than they need, while Nicholas hopes that her grandsons will grow up to replace her and the other adults at the Food Bank when they’re no longer able to work there. Both mom and grandma noted that the boys not only delivered the food, but also spent time sorting out the Food Bank’s shelves.

“I’m just so impressed with the people who work there every day, for years at a time,” Shauna Wynne said. “It’s a neat thing to do, and somebody has to do it.”

The Arlington Food Bank is looking to do its work in a new building soon, according to Jim Scott of the Food Bank.

Scott explained that the Food Bank plans to move into the Arlington Airport building once occupied by Weston High School, in order to provide enough room for both themselves and Helping Hands, but he estimated that such a move will cost $750,000. Even with grants to defray that cost, he expects they’ll need to raise $500,000 in funds.

“We serve 100 families a week,” Scott said. “They average four to five people per family, but some of them have eight or 10 people. Those numbers have gone up this year, of course, due to tough times.”