Caring in Motion

StarMetro Stuffs the Bus for Local Food Bank

March 04, 2014

StarMetro has once again put caring in motion through its annual Stuff the Bus campaign. Designed to provide items to America's Second Harvest of the Big Bend at a time when donations are especially needed, this year's event was an overwhelming success.

Today, a 40-foot StarMetro bus filled with donated food made a special trip to the Tallahassee-based food bank. In total, 3,186 pounds of food - such as canned soup, vegetables, meats, pasta, rice and cereal - were collected to help restock the food bank's shelves. These contributions will provide more than 4,000 meals - making this the most successful Stuff the Bus food drive to date!

"This is another great reflection on the generosity and caring nature of our community," said StarMetro Director Ivan Maldonado. "We coordinated with a record number of grocery stores, salons, schools, restaurants, health clubs, banks, citizens and StarMetro customers who helped spread the word and collected items. And in a short time, we were able to help fight hunger in a very tangible way."

The community-wide campaign, which ran from January 30 through late February, encouraged the public to donate nonperishable food items at several drop-off sites, on any StarMetro bus and at 30 partner locations. The timing of the annual food drive was especially important as Second Harvest typically experiences a marked decrease in donations following the holiday season, leaving much less on pantry shelves by late spring.

America's Second Harvest of the Big Bend serves residents in 11 local counties to fight hunger among area children, college students, families and senior citizens. Last year, the agency delivered more than 5.4 million meals and bolstered outreach efforts through key community partnerships and collaborations. In addition to working with area organizations to offer drop-off locations, Second Harvest also accepts online donations at fightinghunger.org.

For more information about StarMetro services, visit Talgov.com/StarMetro, like StarMetro's official Facebook page at Facebook.com/StarMetroTransit or follow on Twitter at Twitter.com/RideStarMetro.

Contact Information

Ivan Maldonado, Director of StarMetro, 891-5191; Sandra Manning, Utility Marketing, 891-6175; or Alison Faris, Communications Department, 891-8533

Subscribe to News Releases

Sign up to receive our news releases via email, along with many other features, with our Email Subscription Service.