Community continues to support MSP food drive

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Wakefield - Once again the community has come together to support several food banks across the Gogebic Range, donating 31,810 pounds of food to the Michigan State Police Wakefield Post's annual food drive.

"I'm very, very happy. The community stepped up and was very generous. They made all this possible," said post commander First Lt. Don Horn.

The donations were collected over the past two weeks, according to Horn, and distributed Thursday to food banks in Ironwood, Bessemer and Watersmeet.

While it was too early to tell if the post was able to retain the honor of having the highest weight collected around the state, the almost 16 tons of donations was considerably higher than the post's winning effort last year.

Horn said the post collected approximately 24,000 pounds of donations last year, to earn the title of highest weight in the state for the third straight year.

"We'll see where we land this year," Horn said.

All state departments around Michigan participate in the collection event, according to Horn, which has been going on for the past 28 years.

Horn thanked the community for its support.

"I think the people understand people need help and they're very generous in doing so, in helping their community," he said.

Horn also thanked SuperOne foods for partnering with the department the past five years.

"It's for the community, we love doing it," Ironwood store manager Lawrence Glatczak said. "Plus, the state police came to us and said can we help them - you betcha."

Along with the community's donations, the post also received help in distributing the goods as students from Ironwood and Bessemer were at the post Thursday to help move the mountains of donations into waiting trucks and vans.