WINONA LAKE – Lakeland Christian Academy is making it as convenient as it can for people to donate to Combined Community Services during its seventh annual food drive, according to guidance counselor Carmen Flores. Students will drop off 5,000 grocery bags Monday in Winona Lake and Warsaw neighborhoods, then pick up the bags full of donated non-perishable food items Wednesday. Owen’s donated all the grocery sacks. For a list of the neighborhoods, visit the LCA Facebook page at facebook.com/lakelandchristianacademy Flores said pick-up Wednesday will be after 8 a.m. The sacks should be put in a visible location like the end of the driveway. The food will be picked up rain or shine, Flores said. If a bag gets missed, call LCA after 2 p.m. at 574-267-7265. Local furniture stores donated their trucks and drivers to load the donated food items. Superior Excavating will weigh the trucks before and after pick-up so the amount of food donated can be measured. Fliers stapled to the bags will list what CCS needs. The list includes peanut butter, jelly, macaroni and cheese, canned tuna in water, canned chicken in water, oatmeal, cereal, spaghetti sauce, noodles, ramen noodles, baking mixes, healthy and low-sodium foods and gluten-free items. Seventh-graders Alex Hawblitzel and Parker Stewart are participating in the food drive for the first time this year. “It seems fun,” Hawblitzel said. “I think it’s a good idea to spread the word and get a bunch of people involved with it,” said Stewart. In 2013, LCA collected over 11,000 pounds of food. “We take it all to CCS. The Warsaw Parks Department gives us picnic tables to sort it on. We sort, box and put the groceries away for CCS. When their pantry is full, we put it in their storage room,” said Flores. Student leader and sophomore Riley Kline said the food drive was a chance for the school to get out in the community and be the “hands and feet of Jesus” while helping a good cause. Hannah Bakehorn, also a student leader and sophomore, said it would be cool if they could top last year’s record of 5-1/2 tons. “Topping that would be awesome,” she said. “There’s so many families, even in our own community, who don’t have as much as we do. In Warsaw, there’s so much we can do to help.”
