An interesting day

Tuesday was an...interesting...day for food drives. Yes--that's the best word I can think of.

We had 4 places to pick up food--all local. We started at Cincinnati Christian School where we thought we were emptying the contents of two barrels of food so that the food drive could continue, but it turns out the school had only collected half a barrel of food. So we had that loaded up in about 15 minutes.

Total weight collected: 115

Next we went to the DNA Diagnostics Center in Fairfield. Upon arrival, we were sent to another entrance, then we followed the receptionist through a long maze of twists and turns to the barrels. Both barrels had the Shared Harvest poster taped to the front. One barrel was full of food and one was full of....toys.

Yes. They had used one of our barrels for a toy drive in conjunction with the food drive. Which was fine--we're all for Toys for Tots--except we had to take both barrels that day, and Shared Harvest doesn't take toy donations. We're a foodbank. The receptionist didn't seem to know what to say, so I told her again that we needed the barrel sans toys. We ended up wheeling both barrels to the front and unloading the toy barrel in an office before heading out.

Total weight collected: 200 lbs. (that's food only, no toys)

Next stop was to the Meadow Ridge apartment complex. Due to a shortage of empty barrels at the foodbank, we decided to load the contents of the barrel we were collecting into boxes, just to free up another barrel for a big food drive at the Hamilton City Schools in January. As we were emptying the barrel we came across another interesting discovery.

Every piece of food in the barrel had this sticker on it reading: "Happy Holidays from your friends at Meadow Ridge Apartments 513-860-2866." Now, this is a nice, personal touch (and free advertising), I suppose. But the reality is that this food isn't going to be distributed in time for the holidays--it still has to go through the inspection process here at Shared Harvest! So hopefully this food can be sent out around another holiday...maybe Valentine's Day?

Total weight collected: 145 lbs.

The final food drive location was a plasma center in Hamilton. After waiting for several minutes in the lobby (and watching a three-way tie with the big wheel on the Price is Right) we were asked if we could leave the barrels in a last attempt to collect a little more food. We agreed, packed up the cart, and came back to Shared Harvest.

All in all it was an easy day (although kind of a weird day) for food drives, with limited lifting. And we still collected several hundred pounds of food. Again, I want to express a hearty thanks to all businesses who are participating in food drives with us this year. We are so grateful for your donations--and just remember, we need your help all year round!