For 17 hours on Wednesday, generous donors stopped by the NBC26 and Festival Foods' 'Food for Neighbors' food drive at the West Mason Street grocery store in Green Bay. They dropped off gifts of food and put bills and coins into the Red Cross collection containers to benefit more than 85 people displaced after an apartment fire in Manitowoc.
"I feel so sorry for them. I want to go down there and help them out, and donate as much as I can," said Renee Kuntz of Green Bay.
Dennis Loy of Hobart says the food drive provides a convenient way to give. "I wish I could be at some of those locations where the disasters occur, so this is one way of kind of balancing it out."
Bill Hampton, Senior Development Officer with the American Red Cross, says when tragedies like this happen, the community always bands together. "I think everyone realizes that, 'Wow. This could be me, or this is my neighbor. Where can I help? How can I help?'"
The Red Cross' Lee Borofka says the monetary donations will help the fire victims replace what they lost. "New supplies, clothing, furniture, food, any of those items. This money will go towards helping those people get back up on their feet."
Kuntz hopes it will also show the fire victims that the community has their back as they begin to recover. "I just want to lift somebody else's life up, that's all."
On Thursday, NBC26 will drop off the food donations to Peter's Pantry in Manitowoc. They will work with the Red Cross to get the goods into the hands of those who need it.
NBC26 would like to thank the community and Festival Foods for supporting the effort!
