BEDFORD – On Saturday, the annual “Stuff A Bus” food drive was facilitated at JAY-C Plus Foods Store located on West 16th Street, which saw a surplus of community members come together and donate items for those in need.
The annual event presented by Rogers Group and hosted by 1340 AM WBIW , 105.5 WQRK and 102.5 LiteFM radio stations, helps to fill the shelves of L.I.F.E. Food Pantry in Bedford.
This year the event brought in over 6,000 items donated by the community for the L.I.F.E Food Pantry and Director of Community Relations for the Pantry, Donnie Hall, loves to see the community come together.
“Its important that we are a community together. Its a good time to share what we have been blessed with to help others, to help those in need is what this is all about,” Hall said. “You can always stop by the pantry to make a donation. It doesn’t have to be today, or tomorrow, you can always help when you can.”
John and Kelly Storms have made donating to “Stuff A Bus” a yearly tradition as they feel it is the best way to help the community.
“It’s kind of become a tradition for us the last few years. We tend to like to help with Bertha’s Mission earlier in the day and then stop by and offer some help with stuffing the bus,” said Kelly.
“We love our community, we are lifelong residents of Bedford. We love that every year more and more people come out in droves to help out with these kind of activities. If you’re from Bedford, you’re one of us,” Kelly said.
Jarred and Scharlotte King were some of the many community members who helped with a generous donation to “Stuff A Bus” because they feel everyone should have the chance to have the opportunity at a great holiday season.
“We feel like everyone should be able to enjoy the holidays, especially the less fortunate. We have the ability to help people, so that’s exactly what we are doing, we want to help,” Scharlotte said.
Maleah Chaney tries to make it out each year to help with “Stuff A Bus” because she said its what she wants to do.
“I just want to give, I just want to give to people that don’t have enough money to do it for themselves. I have the money so the least I can do is give,” said Chaney.
L.I.F.E. Food Pantry is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization that was started in 1987. It is a cooperative ministry supported by more than 40 churches throughout Lawrence County. L.I.F.E. Food Pantry provides emergency food assistance every 30 days and emergency rent or mortgage/utility assistance. In addition, L.I.F.E. sponsors “Life Blessings” in which each student is given a bag of nutritional food on Fridays to take home to help with food insecurity. The pantry provides an average of 12,000 items each month to families in need, living in Lawrence County.
To find out more about L.I.F.E. Food Pantry you can visit their Facebook page or you can call them at (812) 279-4442. Donations can be made Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1204 I Street in Bedford.
1340 AM WBIW, 105.5 WQRK and 102.5 LiteFM radio stations and Rogers Group would like to thank the following sponsors who helped make this event happen:
- TRISTAR
- Lawrence County Equipment
- United Way of South Central Indiana
- Mitchell Manor
- Golden Corral in Bedford
- Day & Carter Mortuary
- Crowder’s Pharmacy
- Bobcat of Daviess County
- Smoot Eye Care
- Air Master Heating and Air
- Hoosier Hills Credit Union
- Ringer & Daniels
- Thomas Insurance Services
- Mays Greenhouse
- Family Drug Healthcare Mart
1340 AM WBIW, 105.5 WQRK and 102.5 LiteFM radio stations and Rogers Group would also like to thank Jay-C Plus Foods Store for their support and hospitality they’ve given toward this “Stuff A Bus” event this year.
