Cheboygan Kiwanis food drive to benefit local food pantries

CHEBOYGAN — This Saturday, the Cheboygan Kiwanis Club will be hosting a food drive, in partnership with the Cheboygan History Center Museum, to collect donations to help restock shelves of local food pantries.

From 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on May 21, members of the Cheboygan Kiwanis Club will be at the History Center Museum, 427 Court St., gathering donations.

"That worked very well last year," said Toni Brown of the Cheboygan Kiwanis Club. "Everybody just had to drive up and we unloaded their cars."

The event will be similar to the one hosted last year. Those who want to donate items will be able to drive in one end of the History Center Museum parking lot, have their car unloaded and drive out the other end.

Brown said the goal of the food and supply drive is to help replenish the area food pantries. Many pantries have been depleted of supplies after the busy holiday season.

The Kiwanis Club members will be collecting as many non-expired, non-perishable food items, canned goods and dry, boxed items as possible. There will also be collections of new or gently used clothing for people of all ages, and supplies for babies, such as diapers, food and clothing.

Personal hygiene items such as shampoo, conditioner, body wash and feminine products, as well as toiletries, can also be donated. Monetary donations will also be accepted at this supply drive, to help purchase the needed items.

"All items collected will be donated to St. Thomas Food Pantry, WIC Closet at District Health Department Four and the Northern Care Clinic," said Brown.

Many of the local food pantries around the Cheboygan area, including St. Thomas Food Pantry, help hundreds of people each year get the food and other supplies they need.

St. Thomas Food Pantry, inside St. Thomas Lutheran Church — at 332 S. Western Ave.— distributes food to needy families on Mondays, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., and has helped needy members of the community since 1994. They accept donations of food and other items, along with monetary donations, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The Cheboygan Salvation Army is currently helping around 20 families a month with food and other supplies, and that need is expected to increase as the cost of groceries increases.

Contact Features Writer Kortny Hahn at khahn1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @khahnCDT.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Kiwanis food drive to help Cheboygan food pantries restock supplies