Decatur St. Patrick School students drop off their donations at the sixth annual WSOY Community Food Drive on Oct. 19. For the fourth year in a row, St. Patrick School was the top school donor in the community-wide effort. Holy Family School, Our Lady of Lourdes School and St. Teresa High School, came in second through fourth among the top 10 schools in donations. Decatur - Decatur's four Catholic schools placed first through fourth in the top 10 schools collecting food for the sixth annual WSOY Community Food Drive Oct. 19. Of the 270,000 total pounds collected, the Catholic schools' collective donations totaled 109,423 pounds. The donations went to two local food pantries, Decatur Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army.

 

For the fourth year in a row, St. Patrick School placed first among the schools for its donations, which this year weighed 40,625 pounds. Holy Family School was second, donating 28,100 pounds. Our Lady of Lourdes School was third with 26,509 pounds, and St. Teresa High School donated 14,226 pounds.

"We only have 148 students, but they really put their efforts into this campaign," said Father Jeff Grant, pastor at St. James and St. Patrick Parish. "It is a tremendous food drive."

At the Decatur Catholic Charities food pantry, Robin Murray, communities services supervisor, said the donations were greatly appreciated and very much needed. "We are seeing very high numbers who have not had the need before to come to a food pantry for help. We are serving a record number of households right now, and are seeing an average of two dozen new people every day at our pantry, people who have never had reason to visit us before."

Low wages, the economy, unemployment, and high utilities, are contributing factors to the increase in numbers of people who are seeking help, said Murray. "They are in all ages. We see families, individuals, senior citizens, and the homeless.

"The Community Food Drive helped to stock our extremely bare pantry shelves, and will carry us through several months and serve a great number of families and individuals," said Murray.