Inmates Deliver Donations to Food Bank

Donations are down for the Benton County Sheriff's Office food drive, just days before the final collection takes place.

Two inmates and a deputy spent Monday morning collecting bags of canned food and other items from barrels set out at local businesses, before delivering everything to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

"The inmates enjoy it," says Capt. Mike Jones. "When you visit with them, and they're out there picking up the food and delivering it, it's a sense that they're doing something very worth wile."

The inmates dropped off nearly four hundred pounds of food Monday, but according to the sheriff's office, overall donations are down from last year.

 "The economy is down and people are strapped," Jones says. He says the drive brought in 4500 pounds of food last year, but the totals are closer to 2,500 pounds so far this year.

Marge Wolf, the president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, says donations are down across the board, forcing the food bank to buy more to keep their pantries stocked.

"There's a lot more people out there that are looking for help and a lot more organizations looking for help," Wolf says. "People have no idea how important these food drives are. Without these type of food drives we can't do what we do."

The drive wraps up on Thursday, and Jones hopes to collect a little more than 3,000 pounds total. He says anyone who wants to participate can go to one of the locations listed below before Thursday.