Just because the Patch RV has rolled out of Land O’ Lakes doesn’t mean our effort to collect food for those in need has ended.

The Patch Give-A-Ton Food Drive continues through the end of this month. To get involved, just drop off a nonperishable food donation at one of these participating businesses:

• Walton's Ice Cream & Coffee, 6757 Land O' Lakes Blvd
• Craven Chiropractic Clinic, 5420 Land O' Lakes Blvd
• East-West Animal Hospital, 1524 Land O' Lakes Blvd
• Oasis: A Pregnancy Care Center, 3632 Land O'Lakes Blvd. No. 108

During the food drive, Patch’s 19 Florida sites are teaming up to collect at least one ton of food for Feeding America Tampa Bay in advance of the upcoming summer vacation.

According to Debbi McCarthy, director of development for Feeding America Tampa Bay, the agency serves a poverty population of some 700,000 people.

“Florida is ranked fourth in the nation for family hunger in households containing at least one child,” McCarthy said. “In the past 12 months, the food bank supplied more than 2 million pounds of food to its 10-county service area – enough to provide more than a million and a half meals every month to those who would otherwise go hungry.”

With summer just around the corner, the need for support is growing even stronger, McCarthy said.

“Summer is a particularly difficult time for food insecure children, who have no access to the federally funded school meals,” McCarthy said. “Heartbreakingly, many children face a long, hot, hungry summer.”

To get involved, just drop off your donation at one of the participating businesses or just go to Feeding America Tampa Bay’s donation page and look for the Give-A-Ton Food Drive option.