Oaklawn food drive raises record amount
Oaklawn Racing & Gaming team members and local patrons teamed up for the fourth consecutive year to give back to the community with their Yes We Can Food Drive, collecting canned and other nonperishable food items for local charities.
Food items were accepted between Nov. 8-15 and delivered to Jackson House and the First United Methodist Community Food Pantry on Tuesday, just in time for Thanksgiving.
“This was the first year giving to the First United Methodist food pantry and they were just
so happy to have the food,” said Jennifer Hoyt, Oaklawn media relations manager. “They all came out and helped us get it in the building. They were definitely very appreciative of it; so was the Jackson House.”
The result of this year’s drive was a record 15,000 items gathered, compared to last year’s 10,000.
“We received 5,000 more this year, and we’re able to keep track of how many items we received because every person that came and donated one item received two entries into our drawing, so we knew exactly how many entries we had,” Hoyt said.
During the drawing on Sunday names were called every 15 minutes to receive a cash amount.
“It was the Oaklawn members — we do our own food drive among the team members — and the public,” Hoyt said of the source of the food donations. “From the Winner’s Circle at the top of the escalator all the way down to the lobby was filled with food.”
Items collected included various types of canned goods, Ramen noodles, peanut butter, jelly, bottled water, and pasta. Two box trucks were required to disperse all of the goods to their destinations.
Hoyt said that while the charities were made aware of the food drive about a week before it started, they didn’t realize how much of it they were actually going to receive until the day of the delivery.
“This is a real blessing,” the Rev. Michael Mattox, senior pastor at FUMC, said in a news release. “All this food will help a lot of people.”
“We just appreciate the willingness that our patrons have shown and I think this is great because they all seem to enjoy it,” Hoyt said. “It’s one of our most popular promotions.”