BEDFORD – On Saturday, the annual “Stuff A Bus” food drive was facilitated at Jay-C Plus Foods Store located on West 16th Street, which saw community members brave the weather and come together to donate items for those in need.
The annual event, presented by Rogers Group and hosted by 1340 AM WBIW, 105.5 WQRK, and 102.5 LiteFM radio stations, helps to fill the shelves of L.I.F.E. Food Pantry in Bedford. This year the event brought in nearly 6,000 items donated by the community for the L.I.F.E Food Pantry.
Through the efforts of representatives from Rogers Group, L.I.F.E. Food Pantry, Jay-C Plus, and 1340 AM WBIW, 105.5 WQRK, and 102.5 LiteFM radio stations, the items were able to be sorted and stacked before heading out to the shelves of the pantry.
Director of Community Relations for the Pantry, Donnie Hall, was present during the event as he has been over the past 12 years of working with the pantry, and knows how important it is to come together as a community.
“It’s important that we are a community together. It’s a good time to share what we have been blessed with to help others, to help those in need is what this is all about,” Hall said. “You can always stop by the pantry to make a donation. It doesn’t have to be today, or tomorrow, you can always help when you can.”
Rogers Group has sponsored Stuff A Bus since 2019 and continues to put emphasis on being involved in the communities in which they operate. Saturday was no different, as Rogers Group Indiana Sales Manager Ken Walschlager and his wife Pam made their way out to help collect the food and make a donation of their own.
“We at Rogers Group think it is important for people to know that we live and work here too,” said Ken “When an opportunity such as this comes around, we want people to know we care enough to show up and do our part to try and help. Personally, Pam and I enjoyed the chance to represent Rogers Group and we are looking forward to being a part of this again in the future. We find it quite easy to support such a worthy cause.”
Community members came out in droves to support the pantry such as Bedford Mayor Sam Craig, and other local businesses helping to do their part in the community. Crane Credit Union was one of the many groups that came by and donated two full grocery carts to help support those in the community.
“We are so happy to do our part in helping those in our community as part of our Crane Cares initiative,” said Crane Credit Union Bedford Branch Manager Laura Turner.
L.I.F.E. Food Pantry is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization that was started in 1987. It is a cooperative ministry supported by more than 40 churches throughout Lawrence County. L.I.F.E. Food Pantry provides emergency food assistance every 30 days and emergency rent or mortgage/utility assistance. In addition, L.I.F.E. sponsors “Life Blessings” in which each student is given a bag of nutritional food on Fridays to take home to help with food insecurity. The pantry provides an average of 12,000 items each month to families in need, living in Lawrence County.
To find out more about L.I.F.E. Food Pantry you can visit their Facebook page or you can call them at (812) 279-4442. Donations can be made Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 1204 I Street in Bedford.
1340 AM WBIW, 105.5 WQRK, and 102.5 LiteFM radio stations and Rogers Group would like to thank the following sponsors who helped make this event happen:
- TRISTAR
- Spartan Mechanical
- Carpenter Realtor Barry White
- Lawrence County Community Foundation
- Lawrence County Equipment
- Thomas Insurance Services
- Smoot Eye Care
- White River Royal Spa
- Hoosier Hills Credit Union
- Sipes Body and Glass
- Golden Corral
- SR Mechanical
- Family Drug
- Mays Greenhouse
- Benish Real Estate Group
- Mitchell Manor
- Bobcat of Daviess County
- Day and Carter
1340 AM WBIW, 105.5 WQRK, and 102.5 LiteFM radio stations and Rogers Group would also like to thank Jay-C Plus Foods Store for the support and hospitality they’ve given toward this “Stuff A Bus” event this year.
