DART Stuff the Bus and Turkey Round Up a big success, thanks to generous Delawareans

November 17, 2016

What is synonymous with Thanksgiving dinner? Turkey and all of the fixings of course!

That’s for many of us, but for the 117,970 food-insecure Delawareans, a traditional Thanksgiving dinner is simply not in the budget.

Thanks to the generosity of thousands of Delawareans, our state’s most vulnerable families will be able gather around next Thursday’s Thanksgiving table.

2016 marks the 19th year for both DART First State’s Stuff the Bus holiday food drive and iHeartMedia’s Turkey Round Up. Both drives took place last week and showcased just how generous Delawareans are.

DART buses were parked at the Dover Acme and Milford Walmart last Monday before traveling to New Castle County to collect donations at the Fairfax Acme on Route 202 on Wednesday. Rodney Square on Thursday and Friday, and for the first-time ever, a Saturday collection at the Elkton Road Acme in Newark.

Two packed buses arrived at the Newark warehouse on Friday to deliver the haul. Volunteers from Ameriprise Financial were on hand to unload the buses. In total, 20,362 pounds of food were collected!

On Nov. 10 and 11, iHeartRadio collected frozen turkeys, holiday non-perishable food, and financial donations as part of the 19th annual Turkey Round Up!

The Turkey Round Up was held at Food Lion stores in Middletown and Dover. iHeart Radio air personalities encouraged listeners to participate throughout the event both days.

Food Bank staff and community volunteers assisted by collecting donations and carrying turkeys to refrigerated trucks.

When all the donations were officially weighed in, generous donors provided 783 turkeys, 3,643 pounds of food, and $11,939 in cash to the Food Bank of Delaware.

Thanks to the help of many hard-working volunteers, Thanksgiving meals will be distributed to income-qualified families statewide through mobile pantries. In addition 2,500 Thanksgiving meal boxes and turkeys will be distributed to local organizations that serve those in need tomorrow.

In addition to turkey, a tradition Thanksgiving meal may include potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, vegetables, ingredients to bake pies and more!

While we tend to think about helping our neighbors through the holiday season, please don’t forget that hunger is a problem every single day. We know that 1 in 5 Delaware children live in poverty, and that many of our clients are veterans, senior citizens, or people dealing with chronic illnesses.

To learn more about how you can help, visit www.fbd.org.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at the Food Bank of Delaware!