City of Blackwell hosts food and toy drive

The City of Blackwell is hosting another drive to support community families in need. Code Enforcement Officer Cindy Gaddis, who led the city’s last drive, said city officials are hosting a food and toy drive through Dec. 15 as a way to make sure no families go hungry this holiday season – and to ensure that “kids in our community will have something under the tree.”

The city will accept donations at City Hall, 221 W. Blackwell Ave., and the Blackwell Police Department, 224 W. Blackwell Ave. Citizens are encouraged to bring unopened and unwrapped toys as gifts. The city will team up with Blackwell Public Schools officials to assess families who will be in need this holiday season.

Food donations should consist of: canned soups, stews, peanut butters and other nut-based butters, bags or cans of dried beans and peas, barley and quinoa, bags of rice and pasta, whole-grain cereal, canned fruits and vegetables, rolled oats, unsalted nuts and seeds, shelf-stable milk and substitutes, low-sodium pasta sauce, unsweetened apple oil, olive and canola oil, dried fruits, honey, canned tuna and meat, popcorn kernels, infant baby formula, instant breakfast drinks, mayonnaise, 100% juice, baby food and boxed potato dishes. The city previously hosted a Thanksgiving food drive.

The City of Blackwell and the Blackwell Fraternal Order of Police donated turkeys and boxes of food to the House of Prayer to give local families Thanksgiving meals.