Annual food drive working to collect 100,000 lbs of food

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - A regional food drive is being held on Saturdays this month. The goal is to gather 100,000 lbs of food for those in need.

Several organizations like the Idaho Falls Community Food Basket, JustServe, and Melaleuca are working together to achieve this goal.

This is the food drive's fifth year. They were not able to meet their hundred-thousand pound goal this year, so they are even more motivated to reach it this time.

Donations were gathered in several truck-loads Saturday morning, and they are still not done.

"We'll be collecting food through October 26th, and we will be at all the grocery stores on the weekends, handing out most needed items, fliers and collecting monetary donations," said Idaho Falls Community Food Basket Executive Director Ariel Jackson.

Jackson says food insecurity is up by more than 3 million people in the United States, and the Food Basket has seen a 30% increase over the last five years. She says they serve about 7,000 people a month and almost half of those people are children.

Peanut butter, dry pasta, and macaroni and cheese are the items the Food Basket needs the most, but monetary donations also really help.

"Every dollar donated, we can turn into $4.80 worth of food, so you can kind of quadruple your dollar and that allows us to buy what doesn't come in on the food drive," Jackson said.

The food drive will run at the church parking lot at the corner of Sunnyside and Holmes for the next two Saturdays, so you still have time to donate to help those in need.