MARYSVILLE — This year’s All-City Food Drive for Marysville generated 6,063 pounds of food donations and $1,243 in cash and gift cards on Saturday, Nov. 3.

April O’Brien and her son Trey were joined by Mary Vermeulen and her grandson Aden at the Fred Meyer for the day’s 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. shift.

“The first shift collected  six boxes full of food, which is not the norm,” April O’Brien said. “There’s usually hardly any take early in the day on the All-City Food Drive.

O’Brien noted that toothpaste and dog food seemed to be especially popular choices for Fred Meyer shoppers to give away, along with the standard assortment of canned fruits and vegetables.

“People have just  been so generous overall,” said Mary Vermeulen, who agreed that their collection site had probably taken in at least 400 pounds of food between 9 a.m. and noon. “We appreciate that generosity.”

The Marysville Pilchuck Volunteer Crew’s adult Dave Bodach and students Ashlynne Wright and Emily Ternes were hard-pressed to guess at how much food had been collected at their site at the Marysville Safeway since the start of the day, but by 12:30 p.m., they figured they’d taken in about $200 in cash.

“The donation amounts don’t seem noticeably less or more than previous years, but I do notice that our club has been doing more of these types of drives per year over the years,” said Bodach, who’s been taking part in such food drives for roughly the past dozen years, right around the time that a close relative found herself on the receiving end of such aid. “She needed the help she got. I’m aware that I’ve always been pretty blessed, so this is one way of giving back.”

Members of the Marysville Kiwanis and Key clubs tried to figured out between them how much money and how many pounds of food they’d collected at the Albertsons by 1 p.m.

“Has it been about 200 pounds?” asked Vicki Steffen of the Marysville Kiwanis Club.

“No, more like 300 pounds,” said Alwyn Galang, president of the Marysville Getchell High School Key Club.

“Probably more than that,” said Elaine Ferri, secretary of the Kiwanis.

“It’s nice to see the community turning out like this,” said China Zugish of the Key Club. “It’s rewarding to pile up all this food for the needy.”

“And it’s exciting to finally have a Key Club here in Marysville,” Steffen said. “We can use the extra manpower.”

Volunteers from the city of Marysville, Marysville Fire District, Kiwanis and Lions clubs, Soroptimist International, Lakewood High School, Girl Scouts and other local youth groups collected donations at the Fred Meyer, Albertsons, Grocery Outlet, Haggen, IGA and Safeway stores in Marysville and Smokey Point. Red barrels have been placed throughout the Marysville community since Nov. 3 and will continue collecting food and toys throughout the holiday season. Donations can also be dropped off at the Marysville Community Food Bank, located at 4150 80th St. NE, behind St. Mary’s Catholic Church.

For more information, contact Tara Mizell at 360-363-8404 or at tmizell@marysvillewa.gov. Volunteers for the toy store should contact JoAnn Moffit at 425-876-1010 or moffittbusichio@yahoo.com.