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There’s a huge smile on Amanda Naughton-Gale’s face for a reason. The Food Bank Director saw close to 4500 pounds of food donated through the Scare Away Hunger food drive, vastly surpassing the estimate of about 3000 pounds that she was hoping might come in and, she says, more than 1000 pounds more than they have ever had from a food drive.

Looking at this glimpse of the food bank side by side with the one we did in October, you can see just how much the shelves have been restocked and the gaps have been filled thanks to the food drive, spearheaded by the Helping Our World Pursue Equality (HOPE) group at the local high school.

“Thank you to the community who really took the lead on the things that we really needed, and really followed the list that was given,” says Naughton-Gale. “You guys made the call for laundry soap and dish soap and things like that which are always, always in need.”

Other often-overlooked items that the food drive helped to bring in included coffee, breakfast cereal, and baking staples such as flour and sugar. Not only are the shelves in the food bank full now, but the shelves in the overflow warehouse area as well.

With an average of 1,800 pounds of food going out every month, and the additional needs of Christmas hampers, they won’t stay that way forever. Naughton-Gale hopes, though, that what they have one hand now plus the increased donations through the holiday season will carry them through until the next big food drive in May.