'Biggest One Yet': Toyota Tundra Food Drive Nets Nearly Half-Million Pounds Of Food In Annual Haul Away Hunger Event
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A caravan of help for the food-insecure people in the Delaware Valley made its way to Citizens Bank Park on Friday. The donations will soon make their way to the holiday tables of many people in need.
Pair a company that sells trucks built to handle heavy loads with the Delaware Valley's largest hunger-relief organization and you will find new meaning to the expression "food drive."
For the 13th year, the Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association is partnering with Philabundance to Haul Away Hunger to help feed those hungry. CBS3 cameras captured pallets of food being carried through the streets of Philadelphia on Toyota Tundra trucks Friday.
"This is the biggest one yet. We've got over 80 trucks, 450,000 pounds of food, which sadly enough will feed the people that Philabundance serves for about a week," Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association President Paul Muller said.
At least 90,000 people will benefit from the truckloads of food, but organizers say it's just a fraction of the people who need help in the region. Most of them are working poor.
"There are about 700,000 people who require food and are food insecure. Of that, about 60% of them have somebody in that household that is working," Philabundance Executive Director Glenn Bergman said. "That's who the need is."
Along with 25 Toyota dealerships, numerous corporate sponsors, including CBS3, and all of the major Philadelphia sports teams contribute to the Toyota Tundra Food Drive.
If all of it seems a bit theatrical, organizers say that's the point -- to raise awareness about the great need for food assistance in the region.
"It's heartbreaking when you see it and it's so heartwarming when you can do something to make it a little better for somebody else," Muller said.
As the Haul Away Hunger event wraps up, Philabundance is hoping more companies and individuals will volunteer and donate throughout the year.
