An annual food collection effort that has been going every year in Salina for nearly 30 years is winding down. Volunteers have been busy this week picking up, and delivering food collected during the just completed Project Salina food drive.

Project Salina is an annual drive to collect food for the hungry. Each May multiple businesses, churches, and other organizations unite in an effort to collect food for five agencies that serve meals, or distribute food, throughout the year. The agencies include Ashby House, the Salina Rescue Mission, The Emergency Aid Food Bank, the Salvation Army, and the Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas.

Project Salina provides about 40% of the annual food needs. The agencies typically see a lot of donations during the holidays, but by the summer months their shelves are getting bare.

This year marks 28 years of the effort. Project Salina began back in 1990. It started as an effort to help agencies that provide food when their need is the greatest, in the summer months. The agencies typically see a lot of donations during the holidays, but by the summer months their shelves are getting bare.

In that first year, 23 organizations gathered 56,465 food items for three local agencies. The effort has grown over the years. Last year, over 200 businesses and churches participated in the effort, gathering over 245,000 food items for five agencies.

Rocking M Media radio stations this year collected egg noodles, with a goal of collecting 500 bags. Thanks to the generosity of radio listeners, the stations surpassed the goal and ended up collecting 544 bags of egg noodles.