E.L.F. food drive set for Wednesday, Thursday

The annual E.L.F. - Everyone Loves Firefighters - food drive is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

Havre Fire Department will coordinate volunteers to collect food for the Havre Community Food Bank in time for the holiday season. Firefighters will also announce their presence with lights and sirens

Wednesday, food will be collected from from the west side of Havre - Fifth Avenue is the dividing line - and food from the east side will be collected Thursday.

People who want to volunteer to collect food are asked to show up to the fire hall by 5:30 p.m. Collecting will begin at 6 p.m. and, afterward, the food will be sorted at Van Orsdel United Methodist Church.

The number of volunteers needed, firefighter Cody McLain said, are about 30 to 50. And it's better if people ride together in groups so they can tackle sections of the city more efficiently.

"We'll direct them in what to do ... we'll be in the fire truck and ambulances," McLain said.

People who are planning to donate are asked to have canned goods and other perishable items ready to go.

"We ask people to put food on the porch so we can get it and go," he said. "It makes things easier to grab."

McLain said the E.L.F. food drive is very important because the holiday season is coming up. Food bank representatives have said half the food for the year is collected during the E.L.F. drive, McLain said, and an average of 8,000 pounds of food is usually collected during this drive.

"We have even gotten close to 10," he said. "The community is extra generous about food drives."

The food bank will be putting together food baskets for people in need.