A food drive by Save on Foods Saturday made a big difference for hungry people in Oceanside, says food bank co-ordinator Major Rolf Guenther.
“It was a great success,” he said. “We collected 2,067 pounds of food, so just over a ton. We also collected $1,000 in donations, so that will help a lot, too.”
Guenther said the Save On Foods drive will fill the shelves at the Salvation Army food bank, but he stressed more help will always be needed.
“It fills the shelves, but we give out every month up to about 380 week supplies of food. That’s a lot,” he said. “It will help people for about a month or a month and a half.”
Guenther stressed that, with Christmas coming, he’s going to have to ramp up his efforts, as he expects the need to be even greater this year than last.
“Christmas is coming and we expect as many as 800 households for Christmas, compared to 722 last year,” he said. “That means 800 one-week food supplies plus some Christmas extras. This helps a lot, but we need to continue with it. People are hungry the whole month around.”