Marathon food drive aims to help local food banks

http://www.wsiltv.com/story/35520310/marathon-food-drive-aims-to-help-local-food-banks

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WEST FRANKFORT, IL –(Sean Conway, WSIL-TV Please click on the link above to read the story and accompanying video.  Here is an excerpt below. )

Food pantries tend to thrive during the holiday season, but shelves tend to go bare as summer closes in. So a West Frankfort man decided to help with a “marathon food drive.”

Bill Cardin, of West Frankfort, just couldn’t let that happen. He became involved in the fight against hunger after learning just how many Americans struggle to eat.

“At least one in six people in this country go to bed hungry every night, and that’s just not okay with me” explained Cardin.

So he organized the first annual 5,000 Can Marathon food drive, using his contacts from several years of working with the Boy Scouts.

He says pantries thrive in the holiday season, but tend to suffer in the summer season.

“We found out when we brought the food to the food banks at that time, they were very happy to have it,” said Cardin. “And they said it was a great time for them up until about December people gave a lot of donations.”