Once again proving that when we're needed, we answer the call, our community donated almost two tons of food and over $1,000 to the Racine County Food Bank.

Food and cash were collected on Thurs., Dec. 15, during the first Mount Pleasant-Sturtevant Holiday Food Drive, organized by a group of local officials to help stock the shelves of the Food Bank after learning the Holiday Train would not stop in Sturtevant this year.

Dan Taivalkoski, executive director of the Food Bank, tallied it all up on Fri., Dec. 16: 1,680 pounds of food and $1,073.54 plus a $1,000 check from Canadian Pacific Railway, sponsors of the Holiday Train. Earlier this fall, a CP Rail spokesperson said a donation would still come, but it was unknown at the time how much the check would be.

"We did good," said South Shore Fire Chief William Bouma when he was given the news about the totals. "Now that we have a year under our belts, we know what we have to do next year."

Before the event even started, representatives from Shorewest Realtors dropped off about 700 pounds of food.

And once the party started (inside because of cold winds) bags and boxes of food just kept coming in the door. Donation buckets grew heavy with coins and cash as members from the community came out to enjoy some time together, great music from the True Life Ministries choir and the Smiler Grogan Case jazz trio, face painting and balloon decorating sponsored by Ruud Lighting, goodies given by the Piggly Wiggly on Washington Avenue, and, of course, a visit from Santa who arrived on a fire truck to hand out candy canes to kids of all ages.

"This was really great," Taivalkoski said during the event. "It's nice to see how many people came out."