Food Bank Donations Finally Coming In

Donations of canned food used to feed needy Mother Lode families during the holidays are finally beginning to stack-up.

Sue Villiers of the local Amador Tuolumne Community Action Agency holiday food basket program, said their deadline for collecting Thanksgiving food has been extended several times because of a slow start.

“They have only just started coming in,” Villiers said yesterday. “The school drives will be winding-up this week.”

She said Columbia Elementary school students collected donated 500 cans of food this year in less than two-weeks.

Donated food can still be placed in marked barrels located at most area grocery stores, in front of the Tin Man on Highway 108 and at the Sonora Triple A office. Or they will come out and pick-up food as well.

Currently, their needs are for 12-cases of canned cranberry sauce, 15 cases of pie filling and eight- cases of canned vegetables.

Numbers of people receiving food has increased each year by nearly 250, Villiers said. This year the Food Bank anticipates feeding nearly a thousand families for the Thanksgiving holiday.