Food drive Sunday at local Publix
Lee County Transit (LeeTran) is deploying its fleet of buses to Publix locations throughout Lee County on Sunday, Sept. 20 to collect food for the hungry.
From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. that day, a LeeTran bus or paratransit van will park in 32 Publix parking lots*, challenging shoppers to fill it with food for the less fortunate residents of the community.
At 4 p.m. the buses will caravan to the Harry Chapin Food Bank’s Fowler Street warehouse, where volunteers will unload and sort the donations.
LeeTran employees are volunteering their day’s labor to serve the community. “The community has already been very generous in the fight against hunger,” said Transit Director Steve Myers, “but with so many extra feeding stations open during the summer, the pantries need restocking again for fall. By asking shoppers to purchase one or two extra food items for donation, we think we can do a great deal of good.”
With unemployment reaching a staggering 13% in the county, there are more than 20,000 people a month relying on the Harry Chapin Food Bank for groceries, an 82% increase over the last two years. The food bank serves more than 90 nonprofit organizations in Lee County.
Publix locations in Lee County range from Del Tura in North Fort Myers down to to Bonita Beach Road, and Camelot Isles in Cape Coral to Homestead Plaza in Lehigh. “We’re hoping for the same outpouring of support that we experienced in the Letter Carriers Food Drive in May,” said food bank associate director Joyce Jacobs. “There are so many people who need our help.”
* Publix at Morse Shores Plaza will not be participating.
Source: LeeTran