Food and monetary collections continue Saturday, Dec. 14, outside the Jamestown Cycle Shop from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. where proceeds will then be transported to the St. Susan Center.

“It’s something special,” Martin told The Post-Journal. “You get emotional when you drive that truck over there and see the outpouring of support the community gives this.”

On Friday, Martin, Northwest Arena executive director and organizer of the food drive, was alongside several volunteers who were busy sorting food items inside a Jamestown Mattress Company truck. Over the last decade, the collections outside the local cycle shop on Thursday, Friday and Saturday have become a local tradition in the weeks before Christmas. Martin organizes the food drive with Dan Keefe, who began helping after the first year.

In the first year, $9,000 was raised. Shortly after, Martin learned the St. Susan Center’s food pantry freezer broke with an estimated cost totaling $8,900 to replace it.

Volunteers help sort donated food items Friday outside the Jamestown Cycle Shop ahead of the weekend delivery to the St. Susan Center. P-J photo by Jordan W. Patterson

“Talk about meaning to happen. It was something that was meant to be,” he said.

Last year, $11,500 was raised with more 5.5 tons of food and supplies collected. Martin hopes this year’s haul can surpass the previous one.

While Martin has come to expect a decent haul of food supplies, he’s still taken aback by the outpouring of support — especially this year with contributions from Ken Fischer, Lake View Cemetery grounds foreman.

Fischer donated last year after his mother, Kathy Fischer, passed away in October 2018. Kathy Fischer was the longtime business manager at the Jamestown YMCA.

At the time, Ken Fischer was looking for a way to honor his mother. He donated several food items to the food drive last year, but his efforts then were not enough from his viewpoint.

Fischer with assistance from several Lake View employees pulled into the Jamestown Cycle Shop parking lot on Friday with two work trucks worth of food supplies that was collected over the last few weeks. The food alone cost $575.

In his pocket were two envelopes with monetary donations. One was from the the Lake View Cemetery Board of Trustees that totaled $270. The other donation that was labeled in honor of Kathy Fischer totaled $900. Combined, the additional collections led by Ken Fischer amounted to $1,735 worth of donations.

“I did this all in memory of her,” he said to Martin.

For Bonnie Scott-Sleight, St. Susan Center executive director, it took a year in the role to fully appreciate the local contributions like Fischer’s. Scott-Sleight is in her second year in her role, and with more than 12 months of experience she feels better equipped to thank the community who have supported the St. Susan Center.

“It’s so overwhelming for us all at St. Susan’s,” she said. “It is such a giving time for everyone to come out and do this. I stopped in this morning and people were already lined up ready to give.”