NORFOLK, Va. — The 27th annual Mayflower Marathon food drive surpassed collection goals set for food banks in the region.
On Monday and Tuesday, more than 200 church groups and soup kitchen organizers lined the block, waiting to deliver the Thanksgiving meals.
Crews at the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore boxed up pounds of potatoes, turkeys, and greens and packed them into cars.
The food bank's CEO, Chris Tan, said people from all across the region showed up with donations to help feed their neighbors.
"For the three food banks we surpassed our goal, we did 756,000 meals which is an amazing testament to the generosity of our community," Tan said.
Volunteer Krystal Hilton said the operation is a community effort.
“It has been a lot of traffic coming through, lots of organizations," said volunteer Krystal Hilton. "All the organizations that are coming are really, really grateful they are able to help out as many people as they can, so it is just one hand feeding the other."
Once this distribution is done, Tan said there is still more work to do. He said donations are down 23%.
"We know our lines are 30% bigger than at the height of COVID," Tan said. "So, that is a pantry that usually serves 600, serving 1,000. We don’t see as a food bank anytime soon when that is going to dissipate.”
With Christmas around the corner, Tan hopes people will keep stepping up to help feed those in need.
"The best part about this holiday season is it brings a lot of attention to our work and a lot of people are very generous during the holiday season," Tan said.
Any organization interested in signing up to deliver food donations next year can go through the process of becoming a partner agency with the food bank.