Santa hitches a ride to Minden on CareFlight landing at the Carson Valley Inn on Friday.
The annual Share Your Holiday Food Drive raised $91,779.19 in donations and 23,783 pounds of food in 12 hours on Friday, according to event sponsor KTVN Channel 2.
The results are preliminary for one of the biggest food drives of the year.
The Share Your Holiday Food Drive sponsored by KTVN Channel gathered food and cash donation for the Carson Valley Community Food Closet.
“It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year and it’s generally how we get the majority of our stock, so this sets the tone for all of what happens next year as far as giveaways, amounts and product we have,” said executive director Sarah Sanchez.
The drive has brought literally hundreds of tons of food and tens of thousands of dollars for the food closet’s coffers since it landed at the Carson Valley Inn in 1999. The three-decade old drive has been ongoing since 1992, but in its early years the closest worked out of the Governor’s Mansion in Carson City.
Volunteers are key to the operation, as they help unload vehicles, then weigh, and load the food closet truck.
“Everything is happening now thanks to our volunteers,” Sanchez said. “Without them we don’t have the capacity to do what we need to do. They make things tick and work and we’re grateful for all the presents we get today.”
Santa Claus arrived with an assistance from Care Flight on Friday morning.
Carson Valley Medical Center donated $4,500 to the food closet, while the East Fork Professional Firefighters Association raised $7,800 by passing the boot on Giving Tuesday.
