Over the next few weeks, The Daily Leader and Bank of Brookhaven will collect monetary donations for local food pantries.

The news company and bank have partnered to organize the Holiday Food Pantry Drive for 20 years now.

Tens of thousands of dollars have been raised through the drive, and distributed to various food pantry organizations in the area. The 2023 pantries are St. Francis of Assisi/St. Vincent de Paul, The Greater Hope Foundation, Bethel AME and Mt. Zion Food Pantry.

Donations are now accepted at both The Daily Leader office on North Railroad Avenue and at the bank, either with bank tellers or through drive-through windows. Checks can be made to Holiday Food Pantry. Donations can also be mailed to Holiday Food Pantry, The Daily Leader, P. O. Box 551, Brookhaven, MS 39602.

Donations will be published in the newspaper as they are received. Donors for the drive have the option of giving in memory or honor of someone, anonymously, as a business or as an individual. The contributors’ names — unless requesting anonymity — and gift amount are publicized in The Daily Leader as they are submitted. A grand total of donations will also be printed in each issue.

Collection for the drive will end at 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15.

The need for food increases during the holidays. Many families rely upon food pantries to provide for emergency food needs during the Christmas holiday break.