The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department has delivered about 8,000 items of nonperishable food donated to Love Chapel food pantry.
The food and other items were collected through the department’s Pack a Patrol Car drive, which was so successful that the sheriff department had too much for a patrol car and had to transport it by trailer instead on Monday.
Contributions to the drive came from students in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, Women Behind the Badge, which is a support group for spouses of Columbus Police officers, and Girl Scouts.
The Bartholomew County Jail staff donated almost 5,000 items of the total and won a friendly competition between the sheriff department patrol division and jail personnel.
As an incentive, Sheriff Matt Myers said he agreed to work an eight-hour shift in the department that donated the most items to the Pack a Patrol Car effort.
Myers said the jail staff will be able to choose whatever duties and whatever shift they want him to work for winning the challenge of donating the most food. “These guys took it very seriously,” he said of the jail staff’s competitive effort to donate the most food.
The Pack a Patrol Car donation effort was an effort to partner with the community to help people in need during the holiday season, Myers said.
