An annual food collection effort that has been going every year in Salina for over 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 six agencies that serve meals, or distribute food, throughout the year. The agencies include:

• Ashby House
• Salina Rescue Mission
• Emergency Aid Food Bank
• Salina Salvation Army
• Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas
• Salina Grace

Project Salina provides about 40% of the annual food needs for the agencies.

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 organizations participated. The effort has grown over the years. The 2023 Project Salina food drive collected over 6,700 food items and over $110,000 in cash donations.

Meridian Media radio stations this year collected cereal. Thanks to the generosity of radio listeners, the stations collected several hundred boxes of hot and cold cereal.