Special to The Tribune
TRUSSVILLE – The Trussville Area Chamber of Commerce (TACC) announced Tuesday the annual community-wide food drive will be held once again in February. The 8th annual “Love Your Neighbor” food drive will be held in conjunction with Valentine’s Day this year, and 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. 11, from 10 a.m. until noon in the First Methodist Church of Trussville 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.
Trussville Ecumenical Assistive Ministry (T.E.A.M.) volunteer Louise Jensen said the drive being around Valentines is a good reminder of the love one should have for others.
“For the past seven years, we’ve used the Valentine’s Day theme of love to remind people to ‘love their neighbor’ and to help those in need,” she 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.
“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 said.
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. 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.
Drop-off locations include participating T.E.A.M. churches (listed above), the Trussville Area Chamber of Commerce, Bryant Bank, BB&T, and T.E.A.M. All locations will gladly accept donations Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. during that week. Most of the participating churches will also conduct drives on Sunday, Feb. 12, and Sunday, Feb. 19. You may also leave donations at T.E.A.M., 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. You may leave a message for T.E.A.M. at (205) 661-5039. Member churches share the expenses of T.E.A.M., supplemented with donations from individuals and community and civic organizations.
