Annual food drive sets two records

Last edited 1:56 p.m., Nov. 12, 2015

The seventh annual McDonald’s Cans for Coffee food drive set fundraising records for two organizations.

The drive brought in over 80,000 pounds of food for Ozarks Food Harvest and its partners, making the fundraiser the largest annual food drive for the regional food bank and surpassing McDonald’s of the Ozarks’ previous record of 36,650 pounds set in 2011, according to a news release.

The Oct. 21-Nov. 10 food drive included a 35,200-pound poultry donation by Tyson Foods Inc. At McDonald’s restaurants in the area, customers were given a free small coffee drink in exchange for a canned good.

OFH - which previously counted its largest annual food drive as the School Fight drive with 39,450 pounds - will distribute the Cans for Coffee donations to its network of some 200 organizations across 28 Ozarks counties, according to the release.

“We expect to move all of this food in just a couple of weeks, so that it can help folks out for the holidays,” OFH Development Director Denis Gibson said in the release.

Only two other food drives have been larger in OFH’s history, but weren’t annual events. A disaster-relief drive for Joplin by Clear Channel Communications brought in 49,590 pounds, and a Hurricane Katrina drive by KTTS collected 63,730 pounds, the release said.[[In-content Ad]]