Area high schools seniors raced through IGA Friday morning, collecting almost 1,000 non-perishable grocery items to help kick off the 11th annual Feed Seniors Now Food Drive hosted by the Green River Area Development District. The food drive benefitting senior citizens continues through the end of April, and organizers encourage the community to get involved.
One of the partners for the food drive is Independence Bank, who agreed to purchase all of the items collected by the students.
“It’s just something that is so special for us … we have folks that are actually suffering from some type of hunger insecurity,” Independence Bank Daviess County President Nick Oller said. “So to be able to help make that impact and give back to those folks. This is something that’s super special to us.”
There were five teams of seniors featuring two students each from Owensboro Innovation Academy along with high schools in Hancock, Henderson, McLean, and Webster counties.
They had roughly a minute to shop. The winning team was the duo from McClean County with 528 items collected.
“It feels good to know that we won but it also feels good to know that all this food is going to help people in need,” Charlie Wright said.
Both girls said they were extremely competitive, so they went with prefilled baskets and dumped cans of tuna, beans, rice and pasta into their collection, quickly filled up two carts full of items.
As part of the partnership, representatives from Independence Bank also raced to fill up their own carts. Specialty Foods Group, another partner, will be donating Kentucky Legend meats to the drive.
Donations of shelf-stable food items (such as canned goods, peanut butter, pasta and cereal) will be accepted until April 29, at the GRADD office and Independence Bank locations in Daviess, Hancock, Henderson, McLean, or Webster counties. Checks or cash donations are accepted at Independence Bank locations.
On May 4, volunteers will deliver groceries to low-income seniors in the five participating counties. It’s estimated nearly 4,000 food deliveries have been made throughout the duration of this program.
