October 3, 2025 – Inspired to donate to the WSOY Community Food Drive, but you don’t know what local pantries need most? We have you covered. The local pantries in Macon County have provided the WSOY Community Food Drive with a comprehensive list of items that they need the most.
CANNED MEATS–Such as chicken, tuna, beef, hash, turkey, ham, and sausages. These items are especially important this year due to the termination of a federal program that allowed our local pantries to purchase fresh proteins like chiken and beef from local producers. Proteins are an essential nutrient…but are also more expensive and are often not included in public donations due to their price point.
CANNED BEANS–Such as Kidney beans, chili beans, pinto beans, black beans, garbanzo beans. These also serve as an excellent source of protein.
CANNED FRUITS –Such as peaches, pears, pineapples, mandarin oranges, fruit cocktail, apples, and apricots.
CANNED VEGETABLES–Such as carrots, peas, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, greens, corn, beets, and yams
CANNED SOUPS and PASTAS–Such as chicken noodle soup, beef stew, cream of mushroom and canned pastas such as ravioli.
CANNED SAUCES–Such as pasta sauce, apple sauce, tomato sauce, gravy and enchilada sauce
CANNED DAIRY–Such as condensed milk, evaporated milk, cheese sauce and dairy free options
DRY PASTA–Such as spaghetti and macaroni
DRY RICE –Such as white and brown rice and instant rice
DRY CEREALS AND OATS –Such as whole grain breakfast cereal, instant oatmeal and old-fashioned oats.
BOXED MEALS–Such as Mac and Cheese, Instant potatoes, hamburger helper, and poptarts.
BOTTLED JUICE–Such as apple, orange and cranberry
CONDIMENTS–Such as ketchup, mustard, relish, mayo
JARS PEANUT BUTTER and GRAPE JELLY–or other nut butters and fruit jelly/preserves
GRANOLA BARS, TRAIL MIX, JERKY and BEEF STICKS, DRIED FRUIT and FRUIT CUPS
BULK ITEMS –Any of the items above can be donated in bulk (Sams, Costco sizes). These items will be donated to Good Samaritan Inn to prepare their noon meal program and provide bagged lunches.
Please note that perishable items will NOT be accepted at the WSOY Community Food Drive as we have no logistical way of keeping them fresh and separate from the non-perishables.
WHERE DO THE ITEMS GO?
All food donations will be split between Catholic Charities, The Salvation Army, and the Northeast Community Fund. Any bulk wholesale donations (think “Sam’s Club” size containers) will be donated to The Good Samaritan Inn for their feeding program. This is also due to logistics. During the food drive, volunteers are loading giant pallets of food, which are shrink wrapped and delivered to our largest pantries via multi semi trucks on Friday and Saturday. Due to the size of the loads and the limited space of many smaller panties, we find this to be the best solution to help the most people. Plus, local pantires such as Northeast Community Fund often help fill the gaps and help stock the shelves of local smaller pantries when they run low.
DONT FORGET TO CREDIT YOUR FAVORITE SCHOOL!
Anyone can credit a school of their choice to help them win cash prizes thanks to our community partners. And thanks to a gift from the Heart of Illinois Community Foundation, the prize money has been DOUBLED! The 1st place school will receive $5000, 2nd place will get $3000, 3rd place will get $2000, 4th place will get $1500, and 5th place will get $1000!
Drop off your donation today!
For more information, go to WSOYFoodDrive.com
