From staff reports
TRUSSVILLE – The Trussville Area Chamber of Commerce (TACC) announced their annual community-wide food drive will be held in February. The 7th annual “Love Your Neighbor” food drive will be held in conjunction with Valentine’s Day. Collection points will be manned at various locations and times during the week of Feb. 14.
A ‘drive through’ kick-off will be held on Saturday, Feb. 13, from 9 a.m. to noon in the First Methodist Church of Trussville (FUMC) parking lot.
“We try to make it easy for people in our ‘drive-through world’ to donate, so on that Saturday, people can actually drive into the parking lot, drop off their non-perishable items to volunteers, and then drive on out. They don’t even have to get out of their cars,” TACC Executive Director Diane Poole said.
Celebrity volunteers, including NBC 13 anchor Ken Lass, Fox 6 anchor Janet Hall and former University of Alabama football standouts Bobby Johns, Quinton Dial and Rudy Griffin, plan to be on-hand at the kickoff at FUMC to greet contributors.
“For the past six years, we’ve used the Valentine’s Day theme of love to remind people to ‘love their neighbor’ and to help those in need,” T.E.A.M. volunteer Louise Jensen said.
T.E.A.M. assists those in the immediate Trussville area who are in need of food, clothing, and other necessities during difficult financial times. Louise also says,
“Many people think of helping others during the holidays but they sometimes forget that some people need help all during the year. We hope this food drive will bring an awareness to donate these items all year long,” Jensen added.
Volunteers hope to capitalize on the success of previous years’ food drives. Area schools have been instrumental in the food drive. Several companies also sent monetary donations to T.E.A.M. Independence Place, a faith-based agency developed to meet the social/recreational needs of adult individuals, will staple informational flyers to food bags. This year’s goal is to collect enough non-perishable items to help T.E.A.M. provide food until the fall.
Specific items which are particularly needed include personal hygiene items, cooking oil, flour, corn meal, sugar, canned meat and fish, dried beans, cereal, breakfast food, peanut butter, jelly, saltines, and mac & cheese. T.E.A.M.’s other immediate needs include not only volunteers but also a larger building in which to house and distribute their donated items.
Area churches which participate as T.E.A.M. members include Clear Branch United Methodist Church, Deerfoot Baptist Church, First Baptist Church Trussville, First Methodist Church of Trussville, Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Faith Lutheran Church, and Cahaba Springs Presbyterian Church, and Holy Infant of Prague Catholic Church. In addition, the McSweeney Foundation is also a member of T.E.A.M.
Drop-off locations include participating T.E.A.M. churches, the Trussville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Trussville fire station on Main Street in downtown Trussville, McSweeney Foundation/MCM Custom Vehicles and T.E.A.M.
All locations will gladly accept donations Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during that week. Most of the participating churches will also conduct drives on Sunday, Feb. 14, and Feb. 21. You may also leave donations at the T.E.A.M. building, located at 88 Cedar Lane in Trussville. Their hours of operation are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from noon to 2 p.m. and Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m.