CONTRIBUTIONS STILL BEING ACCEPTED AT FESTIVAL FOODS THIS WEEK

Green Bay Packers fans last Sunday answered the call in fine fashion for the Annual Food Drive for Paul's Pantry, coordinated by the Packers Women's Association in conjunction with Festival Foods. A total of $13,432.53 was raised and 22,400 non-perishable food items were collected.

"We send out our enthusiastic appreciation to all the fans who contributed to this cause. It was a tremendous response," said Dr. Kaye Cole, who along with Laura Hawk co-chaired this year's effort. "We also thank Festival Foods for its partnership in the drive and encourage people to continue giving this week at Festival Foods locations. The schools were awesome, too. We look forward to sending players to three of the schools as a thank you for their work."

In 20 years of conducting the food drive, the PWA now has collected nearly 566,400 non-perishable food items and more than $190,000 for Paul's Pantry, a supplementary food distribution program for the needy in the greater Green Bay area.

Continuing through the end of this week, all Festival Foods locations will have bins in their stores to collect food for the cause. Green Bay and De Pere Festival Foods will be sending donations to Paul's Pantry and other Festival Foods locations will donate items to a local pantry at the end of the week. Festival Foods also will be conducting an in-store fundraiser where customers can buy two of a selected item with the second one costing five cents, with proceeds going to Paul's Pantry and other food pantries.

Twenty-one area schools also participated in the cause in the form of a food collection competition completed last week. Three schools, the top two collectors and a third randomly selected, will be rewarded with a visit from a Green Bay Packers player. The food currently is being collected and will be measured by taking the total pounds and dividing it by the school's total enrollment. The date and time of the players' visits will be coordinated in the near future.