PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Peoria’s Midwest Food Bank, the Peoria Journal Star, and Salvation Army are teaming up to make sure local families don’t go hungry this Christmas.
On Tuesday, dozens of volunteers filled more than 4,700 food boxes. It’s part of the Peoria Journal Star Christmas Fund campaign.
“It is such an honor for us to be able to do this. We have the warehouse space, we have the workforce, and that is something that the Journal Star and the Salvation Army did not have, and so we’re able to just form a partnership and to be able to fulfill that need for them,” said Monica Scheuer, executive director of Midwest Food Bank-Peoria.
Each box contained items such as canned ham, canned vegetables, stuffing, and potatoes. The boxes will be distributed to local families in need, during the week of Christmas.
“With the economy right now, the food prices are really up and the family dollar is stretched to its limit with other things that they have to pay for. So to receive a box like this will make a huge impact just on the feeling of family, being around the dinner table,” Scheuer said.
The Journal Star’s Christmas Fund will also fill more than 1,700 stockings with toys for children.
