TAVARES – The Lake County Board of County Commissioners, the County’s constitutional officers, the Public Defender’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office held a ceremony today at the Lake County Administration Building, located at 315 W. Main St. in Tavares, to present food items donated during the Lake County food drive to the local Kids Against Hunger organization.

The month-long food drive began June 1 and netted a total of 4,380 pounds of food, which included items such as single-serve cereal, pre-baked toaster pastries, cereal bars, macaroni and cheese, fruit cups, self-serve cans of spaghetti and soups.

“I’m amazed at the generosity of the citizens and county employees who contributed in this effort to help the children of our community,” said Sean Parks, Lake County Commissioner. “This illustrates the positive impacts that can be made when a community comes together for a good cause.”

In addition, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office presented Kids Against Hunger with a check for $1,150, while $150 was donated by citizens in The Villages. Furthermore, the CVS store located at 860 Avenida Central in Lady Lake pledged to match all donations made at the store, by its customers.

Kids Against Hunger will use the donated food items to fill backpacks with five meals each of breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as snacks, juice boxes and shelf-stable milk, which will be distributed to children in need, throughout Lake County.

There are currently over 2,700 homeless students living in Lake County, and 60 percent of Lake County’s students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

For more information about the food drive, call Andrea Kennard at 352-343-9850, or Niki Booth at 352-343-9888. For more information about Kids Against Hunger, call 352-343-6700.