ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – The 19th annual Soup for Seniors food drive, organized by the Local Office on Aging in Roanoke, officially begins Wednesday, January 29 across 26 collection sites in the Roanoke Valley.
A special event hosted by Black Dog Salvage in Roanoke will unofficially kick off the drive on Saturday and Sunday.
The initiative seeks to provide food for home-bound and low-income seniors throughout the Roanoke Valley during one of the coldest times of the year.
“It’s the peak of winter, the coldest month, fuel costs are high, and seniors on fixed income need an infusion of food to get them to spring,” said Local Office on Aging president and CEO Ron Boyd.
His office has set the goal mark at 55,000 pounds of food for this year’s drive.
He said that would feed 3,000 seniors in need across the Roanoke Valley, where roughly one in four people is over the age of 65.
“Especially when you get [to that age], you need more assistance many times and it’s just important with that vast population and seniors on a fixed income,” said Boyd. “They just need help.”
Over the nearly two decades of its existence, Soup for Seniors has grown so successful that it has allowed the Local Office on Aging to stock a year-long food pantry housed at their Roanoke office.
“People brought some of their donations, some of their canned goods in late so now we’ve been able to establish our emergency food pantry that goes all year long,” said Boyd.
Food can be dropped off at the collection sites until February 5, at which point it will all be taken to the central collection site to be sorted for distribution.
Boyd said that the production relies on the help of roughly 600 staff members and volunteers each year.
To find out where you can donate food, make a monetary donation, or how to get involved with volunteering, visit the Local Office on Aging website.