200 pounds of food donated to area food banks

Area food banks desperate for food on their shelves get a giant-sized donation Friday.

200 pounds of organic tomatoes is donated to the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. This food will help feed families fighting to keep their children from going hungry. Right now, the price of food is up, unemployment is up and summer donations to area food banks are down.

"Last month for the first time we gave grocery bags to 1,000 families. They can come once a month and this was a record for us,” says Iron Gate executive director, Connie Cronley.

Families like Melvin Morgan have come here daily to get a warm meal and a friendly smile.

"I got laid off. I was a fork lift driver and I got laid off and I got arthritis in my ankles and I just couldn't go out and look for work like everyone else can,” says Morgan.

Making sure his three grandchildren don’t go to bed hungry is his number one priority.

"Sometimes it can be real hard,” says Morgan.

If you would like to donate non-perishable items to the Iron Gate or any food bank, some of the things they can accept are things such as peanut butter, bottled water and canned meat.

Southwood Landscape and Garden Center is joining the fight against hunger and donated 200 pounds of tomatoes from its gardens.

"These were grown organically which means they were grown without the use of pesticides and fertilizers,” says Brenda Schulte Baird.

This means that Melvin’s family won’t have to worry about where their next meal will come from for at least a few more days.

In May, the Iron Gate fed 785 families and more than 1,000 people. 511 of them were children under the age of 17.