The Marshall County Sheriff’s Office will conclude its holiday season “Cram the Cruiser” food drive this weekend.
MCSO Deputy Chris Greenfield opened a sheriff’s office SUV to fill with donated non-perishable foods and money Friday, Dec. 22 in the last on-site manned collection of the drive at Walmart in Benton. The department also parked an empty, unlocked cruiser in front of the sheriff’s office to allow residents to bring canned goods and other non-perishables and leave them inside. As of about 4 p.m. Friday, Greenfield said MCSO had since mid-November collected more than 2,000 food items to distribute at local food banks such as Bags of Hope and several hundred dollars for Marcella’s Kitchen.
Greenfield, who has spearheaded the effort since its inception at MCSO last year, said he was pleased with the turnout thus far.
“If we would have gotten one bag, we would have been pleased with it,” Greenfield said. “It’s an outlet for people to donate who might not know how or where to give, and it goes to a good organization at Bags of Hope in Hardin. They feed about 30 families every Tuesday and Thursday. They’re families that are in this county, so you’re feeding county families; so, it’s all good. Regardless of how much we get, every bit helps, so we’re just pleased with what we’ve done so far.”
In the inaugural year for the drive MCSO collected more than 4,000 food items and $800 total. Final totals for this year’s drive were not yet available.
Sheriff Kevin Byars said in a previous interview that it was a need the department was looking to help fill.
“It’s a way for us to kind of give back to the community as well and help out the ones that are less fortunate,” Byars said. “Whether people in this county like to realize it or not, we do have folks here who are in need, and this is just a way to help. We want to be community partners as well; our job is a tough job to do, we see nastiness and have to deal with that, but we’re here to help too.”
The cruiser remained in front of MCSO as of Friday afternoon; Greenfield said it could remain in front of the office to collect last minute donations through the weekend.