Grocery Cart Challenge Helps The Food-A-Bago Food Drive

A few years ago, Andy Kipp, owner of the Old Union Hotel stopped by our Food-A-Bago with a grocery cart full of non-perishable food to donate to Broome County Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse (CHOW.) He then challenged another business. And so it began with the Food-A-Bago grocery cart challenge.

Most years before that, the first part of each week during our food drive was slow. Not surprising, since most people are at work or school. The majority of food donations came in towards the end of the week and certainly on the weekend when people have more time available to stop by our camper.

Since the grocery cart challenge was so successful that first year, it's really grown in popularity over the years. Of course the challenge is all in good fun, and the result is a lot of food donations to help families in Broome County who are in need of some assistance.

We've just completed Day One for the 2019 Food-A-Bago, and I have never seen so much food donated in such a short time. A good portion of it has been through the grocery cart challenge. On Monday, eight organizations stopped by with grocery carts full of food and challenged certain businesses in the area. They may be friends, relatives, friendly competitors, etc. That, in addition to all the individual donations, it was probably the best Monday we've had in Food-A-Bago history, and we've been doing this food drive for 19 years.

That is not to say, we are close to our goal. The camper has plenty of room to fill with non-perishable food and we have a huge Broome County CHOW truck beside the camper to fill, so keep it coming!

You'll find us in the Hillcrest RV camper located in the parking lot of the Weis Food Market, 1290 Upper Front Street Binghamton through Friday from 6 am to 6 pm, Saturday and Sunday from 8 am to 8 pm and Monday November 11th from 6 am to 8 am.

Even if it's only one item of food, or a dollar, it all goes to feed the hungry in Broome County. This is also your opportunity to spend some time with Whale personalities along with radio personalities from our sister Townsquare Media families. OK, we get lonely and could use the company.

We appreciate your help again this year, as does Broome County CHOW and certainly those who need a bit of assistance to feed their families at a difficult time in their lives.