Aiden and Ainsley Sivertson, who attend North Star Elementary School in Bend, have volunteered since 2020 to help those who are hungry in Redmond by collecting food for the Redmond Food Project.

The food project began in 2020 and consists of Redmond donors who place food in green bags outside their homes, which are then picked up by volunteers. According to Sharrie Sheridan, the project’s founder, food collected by the project is then donated to St. Vincent de Paul of Redmond where it gets distributed to the community.

On the second Saturday of every other month, instead of doing other things kids like to do, Aiden and Ainsley, both 9, enjoy going to their grandma and grandpa’s home in Eagle Crest to help collect food bags from donors who contribute to the project, said Val Linhares, the twins’ grandma.

Their grandparents, who volunteer as neighborhood coordinators for the project, will take the wheel and drive the neighborhood while Aiden and Ainsley hop out of the car and collect the bags from different donors.

“The reason why I like to do it is because I am part of the world,” Aiden said. “And the world cares about me, so I should care about them.”

“We go collect all of their bags, and our favorite one is the last stop,” Ainsley said. “Big Donor.”

Big Donor, Ainsley explained, is the person who leaves the most food. Usually that person leaves five bags of food for the twins to pick up, which takes about three trips to load up.

“We are very lucky … and I understand what it is like to not have a lot of money. If you look around town there are a bunch of people that don’t have homes. Their dogs and their pets and their children are hungry,” Ainsley said. “And I love animals. So, for me it is like helping the people and then they can save money for the animals, because animals are the best.”

Ainsley said when she grows up she wants to be an equine veterinarian, because horses are her favorite. Her brother Aiden said he wants to be a farmer when he grows up. He said he wants to produce mostly corn but also hay, eggs and potatoes.

“I want to be a farmer so I am still helping the food growth community and still giving people food that I grow on my own farm,” Aiden said.

The twins’ grandparents stood by on Thursday after school as they chatted with a reporter.

“We are very proud of them. And they are very very kind people and they really do care about people,” Val Linhares said. “We are over the moon proud of them.”

Sheridan told The Spokesman that the December 2023 food collection yielded 9,869 pounds of donated food from 654 Redmond residences.