Thanksgiving food drive season off to a good start thanks to DART and iHeartRadio

November 14, 2017

The 2017 Thanksgiving For All food drive got a much needed boost last week thanks to DART’s 20th annual Stuff the Bus and iHeartRadio’s Turkey Round Up 20!

Thanks to the generosity of thousands of Delawareans, low-income families throughout the state will be able to gather around the table next week for a hearty Thanksgiving meal.

DART buses were parked at the Rehoboth Beach Acme for the first time ever last Monday, before traveling up Route 1 to the Milford Walmart and Dover Acme on Tuesday. The busses were in New Castle County Wednesday through Saturday with visits to the Fairfax Acme, Rodney Square, Middletown Acme and Newark Acme.

Three packed buses and a paratransit arrived at the Newark warehouse on Friday afternoon to deliver the haul. Volunteers of all ages spent the afternoon unloading the busses. A fourth bus was unloaded yesterday. It was filled with items collected on Saturday at the Middletown and Newark Acme stores. In total, 35,784 pounds of food were collected – 15,422 more than last year!

On Nov. 9 and 10, iHeartRadio collected frozen turkeys, holiday non-perishable food and financial donations as part of the 20th annual Turkey Round Up.

The Turkey Round Up was held at Food Lion stores in Middletown and Dover. iHeartRadio on-air personalities encouraged listeners to participate throughout the event both days.

Food Bank staff and community volunteers assisted by collecting donations and carrying turkeys to refrigerated trucks.

When all the donations were accounted for, generous donors provided 469 turkeys, 3,861 pounds of food, and $11,269 in cash to the Food Bank of Delaware.

Thanks to the help of many hard-working volunteers, Thanksgiving meals will be distributed to income-qualified families statewide through local organizations and mobile pantries sponsored by Chesapeake Utilities Corporation.

In addition to a turkey, families will receive a traditional Thanksgiving meal box that includes all the fixings – mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, canned vegetables, ingredients to bake a pie, corn muffin mix, stuffing and a turkey roasting pan!

Thank you, DART First State, iHeartRadio and our community for a great week!