GREAT BEND–The Hiss-Sherman School Competition heated up again this year for Wheatland Electric’s annual Cram the Van food drive. Students from nine Great Bend schools participated with us in a friendly food drive competition, once again collecting more cash and can donations than in previous years for a total of 9,810 pounds during October and November 2021.

Beginning in 2017, the Hiss Sherman Wealth Management Group has generously sponsored this event by awarding the three top collecting schools with cash prizes, incentivizing more students to participate every year. All proceeds were delivered straight to the Community Food Bank of Barton County in Great Bend, just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Along with the schools, the community of Great Bend collected a total of 11,132 pounds of food. This year’s collection brings the combined eight-year total in Great Bend to 42,783 pounds. That’s over 21 tons of non-perishable food items donated since the program’s inception in 2014.

Wheatland Electric collected cash and can donations at the Great Bend Women’s Expo on Sept. 28, as well as brought the big red van to the grand opening of our new Great Bend office on Oct. 25. We also allowed for monetary donations to be made online for the second year in a row.

We couldn’t have set another record-breaking year with the generous support of the Great Bend community. Watch our thank you video to our local schools for making this year’s Cram the Van the best year yet!

Central Kansas Christian Academy won first place in our Cram the Van Hiss-Sherman School Competition. The school raised 22.15 pounds of food per student and won a $500 cash prize from Hiss Sherman Wealth Management Group. Pictured here are Mary Hoisington (far left), member services and key accounts manager at Wheatland, and Matt Hiss (far right) with school representatives.

Jefferson Elementary School won second place in our Cram the Van Hiss-Sherman School Competition. The school raised 13.37 pounds of food per student and won a $300 cash prize from Hiss Sherman Wealth Management Group. Pictured here are Mary Hoisington (far left), member services and key accounts manager at Wheatland, and Matt Hiss (far right) with students at Jefferson.

Lincoln Elementary School won third place in our Cram the Van Hiss-Sherman School Competition. The school raised 6.32 pounds of food per student and won a $200 cash prize from Hiss Sherman Wealth Management Group. Pictured here are Mary Hoisington (far left), member services and key accounts manager at Wheatland, and Matt Hiss (far right) with students at Lincoln.

Donations for our Hiss-Sherman school competition in Great Bend were also collected during our Cram the Van event on Oct. 25, 2021, at our new facility at 200 10th St. Bins are pictured here to collect donation items for each participating school outside our warehouse facility.