On a cold cloudy day, Monroe County residents lined up at MCCC for food donations to brighten their day.
Parking Lot 2 next to the La-Z-Boy Building filled with cars as residents arrived for the Mobile Food Pantry March 14.
The event ran from 10 a.m. to noon to help an expected 250 families.
“Supposedly there was enough food for 250 families and if you look at the tables and stuff that’s left, I think we far exceeded the 250,” said Student Activities Coordinator, Tom Ryder.
Vehicles were given a number for how many families needed food to make it more efficient and easier to keep track of how many were given food that day.
“We distributed 14,889 pounds of food to 319 households, 926 people,” Ryder said.
Ryder said people were lining up hours before the event started.
“I got here at about 7:40 a.m. and when I got here there was probably already 15-20 cars,” Ryder said.
Helping put the food packages together were members of MCCC student government, faculty and Monroe County Opportunity Program (MCOP) members.
The Monroe County Food Bank started in 1983 and was acquired by MCOP in 2002 according to the MCOP website.
With the COVID-19 pandemic and Michigan’s prevention methods occurring, there was a chance the food bank wasn’t going to happen.
“With the cancelling of events and closing of classes, I just double checked to make sure they didn’t have a problem with it,” Ryder said. “The administration didn’t have a problem with it as long as it was outside.”
Vehicles were still lined up around the parking lot at 12 p.m., while the volunteers continued to help families.
