The Brightside: DART’s Stuff the Bus Food Drive Returns for the Holidays

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — In the newest edition of Brightside, DART is stuffing the bus, bringing thousands of pounds of food to the Food Bank of Delaware just in time for the holiday season. Sponsored by Choptank Electric Cooperative.

The Delaware Administration for Regional Transit, better known as DART, is partnering with the Food Bank of Delaware for its annual Stuff the Bus Thanksgiving Food Drive, helping make sure no one spends the holiday hungry.

“We’re really just helping people that need food or in food security, and especially during the holidays, it’s really important that they have stuff to eat and to be with their family as well,” said Molly Donaldson.

For the past 29 years, DART has supported the Food Bank of Delaware and the surrounding community. Over that time, the organization has collected 692,000 pounds of food. This year, the goal is to add another 15,000 pounds to that total.

“Most of it’s just our nonperishable items, you know, canned goods. We have some items that they can’t take, which is like marshmallows and like other candies and stuff. But, you know, like the hearty stuff, like the veggies and the cans and all that kind of good stuff,” Donaldson said.

Donations can include Cheerios, coffee and tea bags, peanut butter and canned chicken. The food bank is also accepting household items, including laundry detergent, diapers and pet food.

With the donation site set up at a Giant grocery store, community members have been stopping by to drop off items.

“Had people that would slow down as they’re driving past us just to see, like, what’s going on, or people asking, like, oh, how can we help? What can we donate, kind of stuff like that,” Donaldson said. “So it’s great to see people going in and, like, getting stuff maybe for themselves and then also for us, or solely going in to get stuff for the event.”

With prices continuing to rise, lending a helping hand can make a difference for families during the holiday season.

“We’re all human. So we all should just care about each other, and food is important and other items are important just to live life generally,” Donaldson said.