HANCOCK COUNTY — Community leaders are working to restart a food pantry drive that provided thousands of pounds of food to area pantries every year.
Last year, the 40,000 Pounds of Giving food drive did not take place in Hancock County for the first time in nearly 12 years. In that time the drive, organized by former Hope House executive director Carl Denny, had collected more than 500,000 pounds of nonperishable food items for county food pantries.
A similar effort will continue this year, under new leadership and a new name. The Greenfield Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club, Rotary Interact Club, Key Club, city of Greenfield, local Masonic lodges, Keihin, Walmart and the Daily Reporter have teamed up to organize “Fill a Truck, Fill a Pantry,” slated for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 25 in the parking lot of the Greenfield Walmart, 1965 N. State St.
The event is organized so donors will use a drive-thru drop-off to provide their donations, and then the food items will be distributed to six trucks parked around the drive-thru area, according to a news release.
The drive will benefit six area food pantries: the Hancock County Food Pantry, Angel Connection Food Pantry, Groceries of Grace, Hancock County Meals on Wheels, Kenneth Butler Memorial Soup Kitchen and Bridgeway Church Food Pantry.
Brian Lott, one of the chairmen of the event, said he is looking for businesses, schools or churches willing to put collection boxes at their locations. The group is also accepting cash donations in advance of the event, which will be used to purchase skids of food items such as pasta sauce or sports drinks, Lott said. No cash donations will be accepted the day of the event, according to a news release.
Another difference between the 40,000 Pounds of Giving event of the past and the new event in August is that the food won’t be weighed.
Weighing the food was time-consuming, officials said. They’ll likely count by boxes of food rather than pounds of food to track how much is gathered on the day of the event, Lott said.
“Fill a Truck, Fill a Pantry” relies on collaboration between the clubs, groups and businesses organizing the event to function, officials said.
Walmart is providing tables and fork trucks for the event, while the city of Greenfield street department is lending its orange cones to mark off the drive-thru areas, Lott said. The six pantries have pledged volunteers to pack their trucks throughout the day, but young adult volunteers from the Kiwanis Key Club and the Rotary Interact Club are also expected to donate their time to help the event be a success, officials said.
While the committee working to organize the event hasn’t set a goal for how much food they’d like to collect, they said the aim is right there in the name of the event.
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Meals on Wheels of Hancock County is one of the recipients of the food from the upcoming “Fill a Truck, Fill a Pantry” event on Aug. 25.
Most of the agency’s clients are on restrictive diets, especially low-sodium diets, and Meals on Wheels requests the following items:
Small packs of crackers
Individual fruit cups (in natural juice)
Low-sodium canned soup
Tuna in spring water, in pouches or canned
Small jars of peanut butter
Regular flavor instant oatmeal packets
Fig Newtons
Animal crackers
Graham crackers
Vanilla wafers
Cereal (such as Cheerios, Corn Flakes, Total)
Canned beans (navy, chickpeas, kidney, black)
Low-sodium canned chili
Canned chicken and dumplings
Granola bars
Nutrigrain cereal bars
Low-sodium canned vegetables
Low-sodium canned beef stew
Canned or boxed juices
Pudding cups (no chocolate)
Jell-O cups
Melba toast
Dried fruit in snack packs
Applesauce (individual containers or small jars)
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