The Orange County Sheriff’s Office food drive is coming up on Wednesday.

Sheriff Charles Blackwood says the Sheriff’s Office has worked to make donating food as easy as possible this year.

“Citizens can roll in here, make a U-turn, we’ll have deputies standing out to take their contributions,” he says. “They don’t even need to get out of their comfortable air-conditioned cars.”

Blackwood says the summertime can be a big burden on area food banks.

“Some of the school programs where kids usually have a meal provided for them, they’re not able to get that,” he says. “This is a time that we can reach out as a community and do something that helps out those who are less fortunate.

“The school is one issue, but we’ve got many layers of our population in Orange County, and throughout this area, that are unable to provide a meal for their family. And we want to fill that void if we can.”

Blackwood adds a very small amount of non-perishable food being donated can go a long way.

He says they have a lofty goal this year of filling up one of the Special Emergency Response Team box trucks.

“This is not your momma’s mini-van,” he says. “I mean this is a big, big truck.

“We’re talking about a lot of food. This is a chance for our community to step up, and I’m talking about greater Orange County.

Blackwood says the food collected will be distributed between the Orange Congregations in Mission, Efland Cheeks Community Center, and the Rogers Road Community Center.

You can bring non-perishable food to the Sheriff’s Office on Margaret Lane in Hillsborough on Wednesday from eight o’clock in the morning until four in the afternoon.

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