Mower County residents who applied to the Salvation Army for Thanksgiving baskets this year have plenty of reasons to give thanks.

The Salvation Army of Austin met the needs of more than 500 families this year, a record number of families in need according to Lori Blanton, a case worker at the Salvation Army.

“Last year we did a final number of 399,” Blanton said. “It was really way over what we expected.”

It’s not surprising the Salvation Army was able to help everyone in need, considering the record amount of food donations the Salvation Army received this year. Two of the largest community food drives were organized by Austin High School students, and local letter carriers and postal workers, which ended up raising more than 21,000 pounds that were delivered to the Salvation Army in the same week in November.

“I believe both those drives were up from last year, so it’s a nice, extra blessing,” Blanton said. “Right now we have a little extra room, (which only happens) about once a year.”

Austin High School competed to raise the most amount of food for the second annual Channel One Student Food Drive. AHS, which won last year’s competition by collecting 12,000 pounds of food, collected just over 12,500 pounds this year.

The National Honors Society and the Chemical Health Action Initiative were among many different groups at the high school, such as AHS’s student council, Diversity club and Youth Leadership that encouraged students to get as much donated food as they can. Students brought in food during the annual Homecoming Battle of the Connects for extra points, along with fundraising efforts at various sporting events, such as the last Volleyball home game on Oct. 19 and the Harvest Bowl, which was free to anyone who brought in two non-perishable food items or more.

High school students went trick or treating for donations on Halloween in one of the big donation events planned, according to Sharon Alms, the NHS adviser. AHS’s Youth Leadership, which normally collects food shelf donations, gave permission for students to sign up and get more kids on routes across the town. While Alms won’t know how many students are participating until later on this week, at least two dozen students will be out and about on Halloween, if not many more.

“High schoolers love to go trick or treating, but they’re obviously too old to be doing it,” Alms said. “This lets them go out again.”

More than 40 High school students went out trick or treating for donations, according to Alms. Halloween alone brought in about 1,700 pounds of food. Another 1,700 pounds came from a fundraiser at Hy-Vee where for three hours on a Friday night and three hours on a Saturday morning residents could donate food for the cause.

Ellis Middle School did their part to contribute to the school’s total as well. Students raised more than 1,800 food items during their annual food drive week, setting a record number of donations and forcing Liaison Officer Mark Walski to make good on his promise to let students “arrest” him by handcuffing him while he wore an orange jumpsuit.

“It was a good thing for the kids, to motivate them and get them bringing in food for the food shelf,” Walski said.

Even though AHS raised a record amount of food, it wasn’t enough to bring them victory in the Channel One competition. This year, all 20 participating schools raised about 77,000 pounds of food, according to Alms. Competing schools collected about 53,000 pounds of food last year, with Tyson Foods distributing about 28,000 pounds of protein amongst the schools to give to their local food shelves. In order to win, schools had to raise the most pounds of food per student, in order to give smaller schools a fair chance at winning.

The same week AHS donated all of their food to the Salvation Army, the annual pre-Thanksgiving food drive took place. It’s happened in Austin for the past four years, thanks to the efforts of local letter and rural carriers partnering with several organizations around town. Four years ago, the local Salvation Army put out a call for more food donations, since it was running dangerously low on food near Thanksgiving, one of its busiest times of the year.

Troy Nelson, an Austin letter carrier, decided to get his co-workers together to put on a food drive in the same way the National Association of Letter Carriers puts on theirs: getting people to put food out near their mailboxes and getting volunteers to pick it up. Any food left out after the designated time would be collected by mail carriers during their normal stops.

“Everybody kind of felt the same way I did,” Nelson said of putting together the food drive.

Volunteers from AHS and Riverland Community College picked up the food on a Saturday in early November, with the Austin Jaycees paying for postcards sent to every resident in the Austin city limits. The final total from that food drive came to more than 9,100 pounds and a $50 check.

Other organizations conducted similar food drive events and contributions from churches and support groups throughout town have also made a difference this year, Blanton said. While she didn’t have an exact count of how much food had been raised before Thanksgiving, it’s more than enough to last for a while, although there is always a need for food. Earlier this year, Blanton said the shelter goes through about 10,000 pounds a month on average, and the need rises during the holiday season.

Kids need gifts, too

The annual Angel Tree program started yesterday at the Salvation Army. The Angel Tree helps kids and young adults up to 16 years of age whose families aren’t in the best financial shape get the happy holidays they deserve by getting gift donations from community members who “adopt” kids on the tree, which is at Oak Park Mall.

To help Mower County kids on the tree, contact the Salvation Army in Austin for more information. Families who wish to sign up for Christmas dinner baskets as well as getting children on the Angel Tree need to stop by the Salvation Army and bring a picture ID, Social Security cards or medical bills, and their kids’ wish list by Dec. 10. The Angel Tree program will wrap up Dec. 20.