The fourth annual Fill the Bus food drive is collecting food for Community Action Partnership Food Bank.

The food bank which helps feed hundreds of needy families in Boundary County.

The  Fill the Bus buses will be parked from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday Jan. 17  at Safeway and at Akins Harvest Foods in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. day,  a day of service.

“ We will have food donation bags for sale the week prior to event at both stores,” said Pam Moe. “All food collected will be delivered to the food bank the same day.”

Last year Boundary County Middle School brought 716 food contributions to the “Fill the Bus” project. The seventh-grade students also helped fill and presell the bags of food donations at what was then Boundary Trading Co.

The food on the bus which was parked at  Boundary Trading Co.  weighed 2,820 pounds. Rich Beck of Beck’s furniture truck was parked at the old Safeway it did not get weighed but it is estimated that the food weighed  500 pounds.

Cash donations totaled $829 which was more than last year and not as much as the previous year, but a good amount.

There were a total of 78 volunteers including Bonners Ferry High School and Boundary County Middle School students, teachers, retired teachers, basketball teams, cheerleaders, Echo Springs students, PTO moms, Rotary club members, retired citizens, unemployed citizens and many other concerned members of the community.

Volunteers are still needed, please call 610-6923.