Cram the Van — A Community Fundraiser Becomes a Storytelling Powerhouse, With Alli Conine

Hear how a Kansas utility delivered 159 TONS of food with a branded van, school competitions and coordinated, consistent messaging over the last 10 years.

Creators & Guests

Host

Megan McKoy-Noe

Brand Storyteller

What is The StoryConnect Podcast?

StoryConnect features interviews with marketers, communicators, CEOs and other leaders at cooperative and independent broadband companies, electric cooperatives and municipal power providers. The goal of the podcast is to help listeners discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers. It is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources.

Intro:
A production of Pioneer Utility Resources.

StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape
their stories and connect with their customers.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Cram the van.

How can a community fundraiser become a storytelling powerhouse?

That's what we'll be talking about on this episode of The
StoryConnect Podcast.

Hi, I'm your host, Megan McKoy-Noe, one of the storytellers at
Pioneer Utility Resources, and I am joined by Alli Conine, the

director of member services and corporate communications at
Wheatland Electric Cooperative.

Allie, thank you so much for joining us today.

Alli Conine:
You're welcome. Thank you for having me.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, this is exciting.

Now your co-op, you deliver energy for life to more than 20,000
homes and businesses in 14 counties across

Kansas and parts of Colorado, too.

It's quite a service area to cover.

Alli Conine:
Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Right, and then ten years ago, you launched a community food
fundraiser like no other.

Tell us a little bit about your Cram the Van event.

Alli Conine:
Absolutely. So a little over a decade ago, we set out to find a
new way to expand our

involvement in the seventh cooperative principle.

So from that –

Megan McKoy-Noe:
It's my favorite.

Alli Conine:
Yep. From that, Cram the Van was born and created.

We set out to find the largest fleet vehicle that we had at that
time, which was a red

van. So, that's what we've used for a number of years.

We put some flashy graphics, Cram the Van on it, and we have
driven that van tens of thousands of miles

over the last decade across our service territory and
essentially doing what, you know, cram the van.

We literally crammed the van.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
With food?

Alli Conine:
With food, yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay. And your story too.

Now, I should ask.

You said it's a red van.

What are your brand colors?

Alli Conine:
Red, black and white.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Nice.

So you talked about graphics.

You have a wrap for the van?

Alli Conine:
Yep.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I assume?

Alli Conine:
Yep.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
What does it look like?

Alli Conine:
It's a van.

Like the doors are open at the back with canned items kind of
spilling out.

And then cram the van is a big just graphic in the middle of it.

So it just looks like you're cramming a van.

Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So those are the graphics that are on the side of the van as it
drives through your communities.

So I've heard of folks filling bins, filling buckets because we
have bucket trucks during canned food drives.

But I've got to say, your van, especially a branded van for this
event, it's driving the effort to a whole new level.

Where did this idea come from?

I mean, was it a staff suggestion?

Was there already a food fundraiser that you all knew about and
just decided to take to a new level?

Alli Conine:
No, honestly, I mean, I think that I obviously was not.

I started in 2015, so I was not here for that inaugural year of
Cram the Van.

But from what I've heard, at a staff meeting, you know,
everybody's just sitting around the table and trying to come up

with some, you know, something that we could do to really
enhance that concern for community.

And the food drive concept was born.

And I think it just kind of unfolded from there.

We knew that we had a red fleet van that we were no longer
using.

That would be – we took out the back seats, so it was just, you
know, a blank space.

It can hold a lot.

I can tell you that. It can hold a lot, thousands of pounds of
food in the back of that van.

So, yeah, it just kind of unfolded from there.

And through the years we've just grown, and we've progressed so.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, I'm curious how many different food pantries do y'all
support?

Because this isn't just for – I mean, you serve such a large
area, right?

It's not just one?

Alli Conine:
We have a really large and spread out service territory.

So we support a dozen local food banks across our service
territory and –

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Do you split up all the food up evenly?

Alli Conine:
It's actually divided, so whatever's collected, so, for example,
here in Scott City, whatever's collected in Scott City

is donated to our local food bank.

So not every food bank gets the same allocation.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So that means that whatever's collected locally, stays locally.

Alli Conine:
Yes. Yep.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Which is nice.

Alli Conine:
Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I know that it's evolved over the years since you all started
this more than a decade ago now.

Alli Conine:
Yep.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Talk to me about how community competition has played a role in
the event's success over the years.

Alli Conine:
Yeah, so our schools are really invested in Cram the Van.

Our largest school competition actually takes place in Great
Bend.

So, we just serve the city of Great Bend.

So that's our largest, you know, area that we serve.

But last year we collected, just under 12,000 pounds of food.

We've collected much more than that in the past, but those
school competitions have really.

I mean, there is a lot of rivalry between the schools in each
location.

We've collected a lot of food through school competitions, so
it's been good for us.

We do give a cash prize for the winning school, so that's also
an incentive.

You know, so they're able to purchase something that they're in
need of or, you know, they have a pizza party.

We do try to incentivize them, but the kids really I mean, they
get excited about it.

It's exciting for us.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, yeah. I mean, I'm starting to wonder if you're going to
need a fleet of red branded vans as this

event catches on and keeps growing.

Alli Conine:
Yep, absolutely.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So a lot of us have fundraisers like this, not quite this

large. But I'm wondering, just because we're talking about
marketing, it's great that it works well in the community and

everyone's caught on. But talk to me about how you manage the
program internally.

I mean, this is a huge effort.

So do you have a volunteer committee?

Do you share milestones with staff to get your staff really
engaged?

Do you have special shirts for your staff?

Anything to kind of get them excited about the event each year?

How does that work?

Alli Conine:
So the program is run by the member services team.

So, myself and then I have four other employees from Wheatland
that are on the member

services team. So we typically Cram the Van runs September and
October.

So we've been thinking about Cram the Van, Power the Pantry,
since the beginning of the year.

It's really something that never leaves our mind, especially
over, you know, last year was a little bit different because we

changed the way we were doing things.

But prior to, I mean, our goal was always to raise more than we
had collected the year before.

So we had a goal for ourselves.

But we manage the program and run it.

We do have a lot of employee support, board support.

Obviously these programs wouldn't be successful without the
entire cooperative, because it is a lot of work.

We do provide shirts each year.

We have a theme that we, you know, it's different every year.

So every year the shirts are different.

But we really do try to get our employees excited about Cram the
Van.

Yeah. And you know, we've had a lot of success, and everybody
realizes the importance of what we're doing.

So I think that's an even bigger driving factor for us.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Nice. I mean, you're sharing the story internally as well, and
they're seeing the impact in your community.

I'm a sucker for a good theme.

Alli, what are some of the themes that you all have used in the
past?

Alli Conine:
So prior to Covid 2020, we were just Cram the Van.

You know, we had red shirts, white logo.

Every year, we did the same thing.

We went to locations across our service territory and hosted,
basically,

we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and accepted cash or canned
donations.

In 2020, we changed the way we did things a little bit
different.

It was more of a drive-in.

So we had like a drive-in movie theater theme.

In 2021, our theme was "Yes, we can." So we had a can –

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I see, I see what you did there.

Alli Conine:
"Yes, we can," We had a lot of success that year.

2022 was think big, big energy, big ideas.

So that was a fun one too.

And then last year was Power the Pantry.

So we kind of rebranded ourselves last year.

I'm sure we'll talk about that more later.

But we, you know, Wheatland made a cash commitment.

We really thought about why we were doing what we were doing,
but the themes really just get people excited.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
As themes tend to. Do you see how they work on me?

And I didn't even know what they were, but I was like, ooh,
themes.

Tell me more.

Alli Conine:
Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. I do want to talk about how the program has evolved over
the years, and you've alluded to that a couple of times now.

It has been and continues to be Cram the Van.

But now, yes, you're really focusing on, is it Power the Pantry?

Alli Conine:
Yep. Power the Pantry.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay. How has that changed?

Alli Conine:
So obviously last year was our 10th season of Cram the Van.

So we wanted to make a big impact.

And we have learned over the years lots of things.

One of those things is that cash can go a long ways.

You know, when we're donating various, you know, kind of random
food items to the local pantry, obviously they're

grateful, but they have specific needs.

They have specific items that they, you know, have requests from
for their members.

We give around Thanksgiving.

So they do Thanksgiving baskets, Christmas baskets.

So cash is really king.

So we, Wheatland made a $50,000, commitment.

So in our goal last year was to double the impact.

We fell just a little bit short, but we obviously we collected
$90,785.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I mean, I feel a little bit short that you might be selling
yourself short on that.

Alli Conine:
Yeah. We're excited.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
That's huge.

Yeah.

Alli Conine:
Yes. And the look on the faces when we delivered that cash check
to those local food banks.

I mean, you couldn't help but get emotional.

I mean, they rely on those food donations and obviously cash,
they can do a lot more with that.

So it was a great year.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Wonderful. And I have to say congratulations, celebrating ten
years.

It's huge.

I don't know that folks who have not taken this deep dive on
your website to see the impact of Cram the Van would realize

this, but y'all have gotten, what, 159 tons?

Alli Conine:
Yep.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Tons. 159 tons, y'all, of food donations.

And then just last year alone, you said y'all raised almost
$100,000.

Alli Conine:
Yep. Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
To donate.

In addition, did you also have food that you donated or had
folks donate?

Alli Conine:
The food was actually part of that total.

So we've always done like a dollar equals a pound of food.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay.

Alli Conine:
Some of that money, or some of those canned items came from the
Great Bend Schools competition.

And then we also have a co-op care charity golf tournament in
September, that all of the funds raised from that event

are donated evenly.

That money is distributed evenly across the dozen food banks
that we serve.

So there was a little bit of cash, or sorry, canned goods that
came out of that

$90,785. But the majority was cash.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. Yeah, that's an amazing impact that you're having on your
communities.

So it sounds like you have a lot of community partners that
you're working with as well.

How do you coordinate the program with all of them?

Alli Conine:
(breaths deeply)

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Deep breaths, deep breaths, Alli.

Alli Conine:
I said, you know, we start planning for these events well in
advance.

So we have a good relationship with the schools, the food banks.

Everybody that we're partnering with in our community, so
communication for us is key.

And I think, you know, we've done it for so long, that everybody
understands the importance.

And they're invested in the program as well.

So, you know, we've just built those relationships, and we
continue to build them.

And, you know, we continue to collect more each year, so that's
our goal.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So I love that this began as a way for Wheatland Electric to
really focus on concern for

community and how to live that cooperative principle, which is
something that many of us try to find new ways to do that.

And you really created this huge, coordinated this huge
community effort, to help tell that part of your

story. But as a storyteller myself, I geek out about the ways
that you can tell this story.

So how are you telling the story?

Are you sharing profiles of people that are impacted by these
donations?

Are you highlighting the different community food banks, maybe
some people running the competitions at the schools?

How are you showcasing the story across all of your channels?

Alli Conine:
We have highlighted the local food banks.

We have a good relationship, like I said, with them.

So the directors of those food banks, typically they've been
there for, you know, a number of years, maybe some of them since

the beginning, since we started doing Cram the Van.

So, we've done interviews with them.

You know, they've provided, you know, lots of good feedback and
obviously the importance of the donations and the time of year

that we do it. The food banks really rely on that food.

So we've highlighted it in that way.

Last year, obviously, the check presentations.

They did not know how much they were getting when we came to do
the delivery.

So it was a surprise.

So seeing the look on their faces and the volunteers, I mean,
you know, I said it was emotional.

I mean, tears were shed.

I mean, it's a lot for, you know, the local food bank here.

I mean, in Scott City got just under $13,000 in cash.

I mean, that can go a long ways for a community.

So, I mean, the impact that way has been really, you know,
fantastic for us.

But, you know, those stories resonate with people.

You know, I think everybody, you know, suffers.

You know, they go through difficult times, and we really see our
members supporting other members in need.

So that's important to us as well.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. No, I love that.

How does it tell your story, though?

I mean, we've talked about the way that you share the story, but
what's the big takeaway that folks have from this about your u

tility?

Alli Conine:
That we're invested in the communities that we serve.

I mean, we saw a need, and we wanted to help make an impact.

And, you know, we continue to do that year after year.

I mean, it's not something that I ever see us not doing.

But yeah, I mean, we're more than a utility.

You know, we're not just providing the lights and homes.

You know, we're really, we are that we're invested in the
communities that we serve, in our members.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
And I love that it is.

It wraps up in cooperative month, right?

October every year.

It's a nice, like when you're figuring out these community
fundraisers and efforts tying it in.

I'm assuming you all do tied in with National Cooperative Month
and showcasing that.

Alli Conine:
Yes, absolutely. We talk about Cram the Van any opportunity that
we get, but especially during October.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. All right, one last question before I let you go, because I
could just keep you all day just talking about this and ways to

do this. But what advice do you have for other folks that are
trying to launch a community engagement program like Cram the

Van, or maybe something else that meets their community need,
but they're trying to launch a program to help tell their story?

Alli Conine:
You know, I think it's important to look and see, like, what the
needs really are.

You know, for us, you know, ten plus years ago, we saw that
need.

Nobody was really doing food drives, anything at that time.

So I think it's important to, you know, you don't want to – not
everybody needs to do a food drive, but find out what your

community really needs and then figure out how to build on that
year after year.

Get the community involved, get the schools involved.

I mean, I think that's been part of our success, too, is it's
not just us.

You know, we we've gotten the schools involved.

We talk about the school competitions earlier.

I mean, people are invested in this initiative.

And I think that's why it continues to be successful year after
year.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that.

Get folks invested and identify your specific community needs.

Alli Conine:
And don't be afraid to, you know, make a change.

I mean, we you know, we've been doing the same thing for, you
know, nine plus years.

And we really wanted to make a bigger impact.

And we knew that cash was going to make that impact.

So that's why we, you know, Wheatland made the commitment.

We committed $50,000.

And we're doing that again in 2024.

And hopefully we do double the impact this year.

But, you know, we've made adjustments, you know, along the way.

We saw what worked, what didn't.

And, you know, we just continue to build on that year after
year.

So, and it's important for us to keep our employees, our
trustees, involved.

So, you know, their support.

We couldn't do that without any of them either.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. So you're telling your story to your staff, to your board,
and to your entire community.

And the community is helping tell your story with you, which is
just fantastic.

Alli Conine:
Absolutely.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Again, we could keep talking about this for a while, but thank
you so much for sharing your story with utility pioneers.

I can't wait to see how Cram the Van grows this year –

Alli Conine:
We're excited.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
– and on down the road.

She is Alli Conine from Wheatland Electric, and I'm your host,
Megan McKoy-Noe at Pioneer Utility Resources.

And until we talk again, keep telling your story.

Outro:
StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a
communications cooperative that is built to share your

story. StoryConnect is engineered by Lucas Smith of Lucky Sound
Studio.