28th annual Food For Families set for Friday at H-E-B Plus!

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press 

For the 28th year, the annual Food For Families food drive will take place at the Copperas Cove H-E-B Plus! and other H-E-B locations in nine counties throughout Texas. 
The store will serve as a collection site from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. Friday, with a staff of volunteers from local organizations on hand to weigh, sort, and load the donations prior to them going to their final destinations—local food pantries within Coryell County.
Non-perishable food products are needed, to include items like canned meats such as chili, tuna, stew, and chicken; canned vegetables, cereal, baby food, peanut butter, dry beans, rice, flour, sugar, cornmeal, along with pastas and sauces. 
At the 2016 event, a total of 61,451 pounds was collected in Copperas Cove, with CCISD schools donating a large portion of the donations as collected by each campus. Throughout the entire event, 1,834,598 pounds of food was collected at all Central Texas locations.  
The Copperas Cove H-E-B Plus! has also been selling pre-bagged and pre-weighed bundles of food, with each bag containing items like canned vegetables and canned fruit, along with other ingredients to make a home-cooked meal. 
Cash donations will also be accepted at the event, with every dollar of the cash donations being used to purchase food from the Capitol Food Bank. 
This year, the Copperas Cove H-E-B Plus! is hoping to collect 75,000 pounds of food during the 14 hours of the event.