In a year when need was greater than ever, a local “Secret Santa” helped provide more than 123 tons of food for families struggling this holiday season. The food primarily came from an anonymous donor that reached out to Kentucky State Police Trooper Corey King, asking him to find a home for the non-perishable items.
Typically, KSP holds a food drive called ‘Cram the Cruiser’ ahead of the holiday season, but they were not able to host the program like they have in years past due to the pandemic.
“So when our ‘Secret Santa’ reached out I was excited to help,” King said. “They knew we would be good stewards of it and make sure it gets to the right people. This year they really stepped up and gave us a whopping amount.”
King said over the past few years, the Cram the Cruiser event received 60,000-90,000 pounds of donations — this year they received 246,300.
While much of the food is distributed locally to pantries and shelters, some is distributed across the state or even to other parts of the country during disasters.
David Mudd, President of God’s Outreach in Owensboro, partners with King each year to distribute the donations to the Owensboro-Daviess County area and beyond.
“Here in Northwest Kentucky, the request for assistance has definitely increased while the number of donations has decreased,” Mudd said. “This anonymous contribution to our community was a blessing by all means.”
Mudd said the food went to families in the form of care packages, backpacks of food for children and senior citizen centers in the area.
“Trooper King continues to be a community partner and we appreciate him facilitating this donation and helping with the delivery of the food,” Mudd said.
While King would not divulge who the “Secret Santa” was, he encouraged everyone who can to help those less fortunate.
“The need is really significant,” he said. “There’s so many people who have lost their jobs or lost a lot of hours. Here we are in the cold weather season and there are many shelters feeding more and more people, but they may not have quite the giving that they once had. Fortunately what I have seen is when times get tough, people step up and really do help.”
