The Great Popcorn Rescue

There is a spilt second when making popcorn, the one right before for the first kernel pops. You know it is coming soon. The heat is being applied and your ear sits pressed against the microwave door, listening for that first explosion. Once it happens, there is no turning back. The pops begin to multiply, a percussion ensemble isolated inside that bag. 

It was this very moment, the one right before everything explodes, that Bryon Haverstick, COO of Scouting America, Sagamore Council, found himself in. Each year, scouts across the 14 counties that comprise the Sagamore Council sell thousands of pounds of popcorn. Haverstick is tasked with receiving a massive shipment and distributing it across the various troops. Just one week before the annual shipment of popcorn was set to be delivered, he learned that the warehouse he was planning to use would no longer be available. 

His first thought was to call Food Finders President/CEO Kier Crites Muller. Food Finders and Scouting America have had a long history of working together. For the past few years, local troops have volunteered their time to Food Finders, hosting food drives and providing great support to FFFB’s BackPack Program in Howard County through weekly delivery efforts. 

“I knew we had to find a way to help our friends. When I gathered our team to brainstorm solutions, they immediately understood the significance and stepped up in a   fantastic way”, said Muller. “We are so often on the receiving end of community support, I’m proud that our team rallied to provide that same support to a community partner in their time of need.” 

Haverstick knew that his first call would be the right one. Food Finders always came through. The next morning, Muller called him back. The answer was undoubtably yes. 

“It was not a question of if Food Finders would help, it was a question of how,” said Haverstick.  

Immediately, Muller mobilized our Food Finders team. There were many details to iron out and very little time to do it. Where could we make room for 55 pallets of popcorn when our warehouse didn’t have extra space? The pallets would then need to be sorted, restacked, and reloaded on outgoing trucks so space would be needed for that too. 

The team found a creative solution. Instead of using the Food Finders warehouse, space could be made in the storeroom of the Fresh Market. Additionally, the loading dock could be easily open for the inbound and outbound trucks that would arrive over the course of the two-day popcorn operation. On top of their already busy schedule, in the days leading to the massive delivery, the Food Finders team kicked it into another gear, reorganizing the backroom to make the necessary space.  

On the fateful day of the delivery, Haverstick and his Scouting staff and volunteers joined forces with our staff and volunteers to unload $375,000 worth of popcorn in record time. By the next evening, every order had been sorted and sent out. It was a smashing success, thanks to the last-minute collaboration of two organizations who work toward the same goal, supporting the community that surrounds them. 

“As local community organizations, we really rely on each other,” Haverstick explained.  

Later this year, the Scouts plan to continue our long partnership by hosting a massive food drive at their 3,000-person University of Scouting. “We are hopeful that everyone will bring at least one item, which would make for a lot of food,” said Haverstick. 

Meanwhile, you can support your local scouts by purchasing the very popcorn that passed through our Fresh Market. When you see a scout selling popcorn, you not only support their scouting experience, but the continued collaboration between Food Finders, the Scouting America, and the local community.