Food for Families Food Drive to take place Tuesday

It is that time of year again to help out those less fortunate in Evangeline Parish.
The 29th Annual Food for Families Food Drive will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at two different locations. Northside Civic Center will serve as a donation site from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. A second donation site will be St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Mamou.
The event is sponsored by KLFY-10 and Food Net, and there will be gumbo for volunteers, a DJ playing Christmas records and Santa Claus will be making an appearance.
“It becomes a season of giving that time of year,” Food for Families Chairman Eugene Fontenot said. “People get in the spirit of giving and receiving. People feel good about giving. We can even go back to the scriptures about it is better than to give than to receive.”
Food for Families is asking strictly for non-perishable items to be donated. Those items include: Rice; flour; cornmeal; pasta; dried potatoes and beans; canned goods such as vegetables; fruit; fish; juices, milk and meats; peanut butter; syrup; cooking oil; mayonnaise and mustard; coffee; creamer; tea; breakfast foods; crackers, toilet tissue, toilet articles, soap; powered milk; soup; canned tuna; baby diapers and wipes; Jello; jelly; baking products; sugar; seasoning; tomato sauce; Kool-Aid; hot and cold boxed cereals; home paper products; shampoo and detergents.
Montetary donations are also welcomed.
“We try to encourage staples like rice and meat products, canned meats, high-protein food like peanut butter,” Fontenot said. “Monetary donations are encouraged because we can buy in bulk and make that money go a long way.”
In some cases, the organization is even able to help people pay rent or utilities that may have fallen behind due to elderly or handicapped residents choosing to pay for prescriptions or medical care over monthly bills.
“The drive helps people for about six months,” Fontenot said. “It starts diminishing after that. We know between Thanksgiving and Christmas it becomes a high need. All of the food that is picked up stays local.”
According to Fontenot, the goal of this year’s food drive is to collect six tons of products and a couple of thousand dollars in monetary donations.
“We call it a day of celebration,” Fontenot said. “It is only one day but it helps people more than one day.”