By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. —
It's too early to tell exactly how much the haul was for the Reno County Food Bank and other local organizations from Saturday night's Cruise For The Food, but early signs are encouraging.
"The truck across the street from Daylight Donuts was my old junker truck," said organizer Lovella Kelley. "We were unloading it as fast as we could. We figured we probably unloaded it about four times. The truck across the street from me, we unloaded twice and the trucks farther north, the one at 13th and Main we had to go rescue them because they were having to put it on the ground."
The Food Bank only takes food, but other local organizations like Brighthouse and New Beginnings had asked for other supplies, so those will be separated out.
"The ones north of 13th unloaded their trucks directly at the Food Bank," Kelley said. "It was just too much to try to store anywhere. From what I hear, the Food Bank looked really full of bags. I don't have any way of judging at this point how much. Last time, we figured we had at least 3000 pounds and I'm quite sure that it's well over that."
Kelley said the thought was that this would be a one-time thing, but they've done it twice now and it's gone really well.
"When the need becomes evident, it's such an easy way to do it," Kelley said. "You can tell people to come and donate to such and such a place, but most people are not going to make a trip to leave food on somebody's doorstep at a business, but they will do this, because it involves interaction and fun and it's just so easy."
Kelley was gratified by the additional assistance she was able to get this time around, as in addition to St. Vincent de Paul, Emanuel Lutheran was there with a truck, Park Place Christian was there, the Food Bank was there and United Way also participated.