Food donations are pouring into the Bread of the Mighty Food Bank just in time for Thanksgiving.
In early November, the food bank had experienced its biggest food shortage in about eight years.
With all the donations coming in, Administrative Assistant Kristina Stubbs said, "It's night and day."
"We have food everywhere right now," Stubbs said. "It's quite beautiful here."
Of course, she said, food will be delivered right away to people and will only last a day or two.
It didn't have the resources to help families with Thanksgiving meals until last week, she said.
Churches, organizations and individuals have donated, including a Girl Scout group and moms with their kids.
"We've had all walks of life," Stubbs said.
Volunteers have stayed late to help sort the bank's food supply.
The food bank has already put together about 300 Thanksgiving baskets for families, she said.
In addition to that, Congregation B'nai Israel gave Bread of the Mighty 80 pre-packed baskets, she said.
The food bank will add dessert, bread and meat before sending them off to families, Stubbs said.
Debie Talbot, development coordinator for Bread of the Mighty, said the community has been wonderful in response to its "skinny year."
About 10 UF colleges and organizations have recently conducted or are conducting food drives, Talbot said.
Students in Free Enterprise, an organization devoted to business education and service projects, sponsored a canned-food drive that ended Friday.
It collected 1,443 cans and ,50.55 during its four-day "Chomp Out Hunger" drive. The food and donations were given to Bread of the Mighty.
Talbot said the food collected will go toward the Thanksgiving boxes for needy families.
Matthew Kaufmann, a member of the organization, said even though the group's goal was 1,500 cans, the money it donated made up the difference.
The money and 83 cans were donated by passers-by at the organization's setup on the Plaza of the Americas, Kaufmann said. About 600 cans were collected Friday, he said.
"Now that it's over, I can breathe a little easier," he said.
About eight or nine organizations contributed to the food drive, Kaufmann said.
The Florida Leadership Academy donated 523 cans and Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity, a co-ed business organization, donated 234.
Kaufmann said he hopes the drive will become an annual event that will expand beyond the Warrington College of Business Administration.
Even though Thanksgiving will come and go, Talbot said organizations and businesses throughout the community are continuing their donations through Christmas.
"That's going to be another big time of need," Talbot said. "It doesn't stop really with Thanksgiving."
