"At a time where things tend to be a little bit slow. What a great shot in the arm for us," Andy Souza said. "And it's just exciting for staff to see this come in. To be part of this whole process. But more than that to be able to reach back out in the community and get this food back out to folks that are still hurting."
During the past three weeks ABC30 has been pushing people to donate non-perishable items into collection bins at the six Valley Vons locations. And on Tuesday, Smithfield and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union combined to donate $70 thousand pounds worth of ham. This comes at a time when donations are down but the need is greater than ever.
UFCW coordinator, Mike Fursman said, "Everybody thinks okay it's Christmas times coming. Easter time is right there. It's the process throughout those times in-between, so you can get to those holidays. So you can feel more comfortable when the holidays do come around."
Local celebrities from Fresno State and city leaders helped volunteers unload the product. And right away the food is going to local pantries.
David Fisher with the North Fork Grace Community Church said, "I feel real good because I came down here today for this. But today is when we have our big truck that comes up and brings us 15-hundred pounds of food up. So they're distributing food up there right now to probably around 280 families."
But there's still time for you to donate goods to the food bank. Workers will make a final collection at every Vons location on Thursday. And almost two tons of food has already been collected.
