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Duke and Durham Police Host Free Carnival Saturday to Benefit Food Bank

Missy Baxter

First Sgt. Larry Michels, left, and Lt. Michael Linton of Duke Police load a donation bin to deliver to the Durham Food Bank during last year's food drive.

As skyrocketing grocery bills prompt more Durham families to seek assistance from local food banks, the Duke community is pitching in to help.

In the past six weeks, Duke staff, faculty and students donated more than 1,200 pounds of peanut butter, canned soup, dried beans and other food in collection bins around campus for the 2nd Annual Summer Food Drive, organized by the Duke and Durham police departments.

More donations are expected to roll in from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Free Family Funday Carnival, which is open to the local community. The carnival, featuring live music, dance performances, a rock climbing wall, inflatable rides and games, will be held at Swann's Mill, a new residential development off Hebron Lane in north Durham.

Admission is three nonperishable food items per person. The carnival will be held rain or shine.

Donations help fill the pantry of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina's Durham Branch, which provides assistance in Durham, Orange, Chatham, Person, Vance and Granville counties.

"The Summer Food Drive is crucial because all of the agencies we support are seeing a huge increase in requests," said April Morgan, the food bank's outreach coordinator. "In May, the postal letter carriers held a food drive, and we received 45,000 pounds of food, but all of that is already gone. As the economy gets tougher, the need continues to grow."

Support for the Summer Food Drive has come from the Duke University Athletic Association, Duke Life Flight, Duke EMS, Facilities, Office of the Provost, John Hope Franklin Center and the Duke Hospital Occupational & Environmental Safety Office. Swann's Mill developer D.R. Horton Inc. is an event sponsor.

"Duke Life Flight is also planning to treat the crowd at the carnival to a helicopter take off, if weather permits, and we're also hoping to have a visit from the Duke Blue Devil mascot," said Duke Police Major Phyllis Cooper, the campus food drive coordinator. "This is a great way to help families in our community while having fun."