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Some Lincoln County students don’t have enough food at home when they leave school for the weekend and that’s where the Family Resource Youth Services Center (FRYSC) tries to fill the gap. 

Typically the food is gathered from some local churches and through grant funding but this year FRYSC is partnering with the Stanford Police Department (SPD) for a first-ever food drive. 

You might have noticed a SPD cruiser sitting outside of Walmart over the last few weeks. That’s part of the food donation drive for the FRYSC in each school. The food will be divided among each center in the district.

The Cram the Cruiser food drive was spearheaded by School Resource Officer James Mayfield, according to LCMS FRYSC Coordinator Rachel Hicks. 

“He got this going for us. This is our first attempt at getting people to help donate food,” Hicks said. “He’s new to us and he has done wonderful trying to help us out.” 

Hicks said it takes a lot of food to keep all the students fed all year, even during the summer. 

“It’ll be used to put in weekend backpacks for kids who don’t have enough food at home. If they sign up, they can pick up their bags on Fridays,” she said. “It takes a lot. We do it all year long, even during the summer if they need it, during holidays, it takes a lot of food to keep that going. There’s never enough.”

The SPD cruiser will now move to Save-A-Lot in Stanford for the next few weeks and the public is encouraged to open the unlocked doors and fill it up. 

Hicks said all four doors can be opened and people can put as much food as they’d like inside. 

The food drive is for non-perishable food items such as snack crackers, canned fruits and vegetables, Ramen, pasta cups and cereal bars.