TAVARES — Employees of the Lake County Board of County Commissioners last week finished off one of its most successful charity food drives to date and one of the first that didn’t accompany the holiday season.

Department of Public Works employees Gary Steverson (left) and Truman McCall (right) get help from John Provance, President/Chief Executive Officer of United Way of Lake/Sumter Counties, while dropping off the donated food.

The month-long drive collected more than 3,600 pounds of donated food from employees that was delivered on Oct. 28 to the United Way office in Leesburg.

“Local food banks are in desperate need of donations,” said Phyllis Hegg, an office associate with the Lake County Department of Public Works, who along with Patricia Cotoia from the Department of Environmental Utilities coordinated the food drive. “All of the stories in the media about people losing their jobs and houses was enough of an incentive for us to begin the drive when we did.”

In addition to collecting non-perishable food from County offices, the departments of Public Works and Environmental Utilities collected money from employees who did not want to shop for food to donate. A raffle was also organized to encourage employees to donate food to receive tickets for a gift drawing.

“When the food was delivered, it was so appreciated,” Hegg said. “It seems the need this year is far surpassing the need of past years.”