Mike Wolanin | The Republic Members of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office unload donations from their Pack-a-Patrol-Car food drive at the Love Chapel Food Pantry in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Nov. 21, 2025.
Long-time Love Chapel volunteer Pat Rafferty told Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office employees to slow down and wait for another skid— the record amount food they brought as part of their annual food drive was stacked so high it was beginning to lean.
The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office brought not one, but two trailers of food they gathered from its annual Pack-A-Patrol Car food drive to donate to community members in need at Love Chapel and the Salvation Army.
Donated food that deputies collected over the course of six days outside of area grocery stores totaled 7,200 pounds, by far the most the office has ever donated and 3,200 pounds more than last year.
About 20 sheriff’s office employees gathered the food outside of Jay C, Sam’s Club and Kroger over the course of several weekends, Sheriff Chris Lane said, explaining to people why they were there and soliciting donations.
“But people knew for the most part (why),” Lane said. “It’s a big day…People really gave this year.”
Even before the trailers arrived amid the spitting rain on Friday, Center Street on the city’s east side was a flurry with activity as people brought carts and bags of food into the pantry and community members lined up just before it closed for the day.
Ed Reuter was dropping off some donated food and said he and neighbors held a food drive in their addition a day before, gathering about 20 cases of canned goods and other non-perishable food items.
This is the 10th year of the drive, and comes at a time when the need is about as high as ever, even before the always-busy month of December for the food pantry.
Love Chapel Executive Director Kelly Daugherty previously told The Republic the food pantry is on pace to serve a record of at least 2,000 families this month, after several thousand Bartholomew County residents lost their SNAP food benefits for at least part of November.
The haul donated by the sheriff’s office comes a week after community partners, including the City of Columbus, Cummins Inc., Centra Credit Union, Toyota Material Handling North America, Love Chapel Foundation and Heritage Fund of Bartholomew County, donated $300,000 to Love Chapel to help the food pantry meet surging demand following the lapse in SNAP payments.
The $300,000 donation is the largest one-time cash donation in Love Chapel’s over 50-year history, Daugherty said.
Patra Crane, volunteer coordinator at Love Chapel, observed just how much the community has stepped up in the past month.
“The response immediately was overwhelming, people were trying to help before we even were sure (SNAP benefits were going to lapse),” Crane said. “I’ve probably had the same amount of volunteer applications in the past month than I had all last year.”
