Volunteers at SERVE gatherered food and gifts Thursday morning, then turned around and distributed them to families at Westminster College.
SERVE, Inc., an ecumenical nonprofit whose goals are to meet areas of human needs, distributed the products through its Adopt-a-Family program.
Families in cars lined up along the street near Mueller Leadership Hall to receive the gifts.
For 26 years, Adopt-a-Family has provided essential groceries for Callaway County households that are living in poverty, and gifts for children, disabled adults and seniors over the age of 60, according to a SERVE news release.
Courtney Harrison, executive director at SERVE, Inc., said the distribution ran very smoothly.
"We have a lot of volunteers who are hard at work," she said.
30 volunteers were helping with the Adopt-a-Family program.
Families were assigned time slots in which they could pick up their gifts. They were to do so between 9 and 10 a.m., Harrison said.
She said the distribution was set up so all cars didn't come in at the same time.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Harrison said, the program transitioned into a drive-up format. The format since then has been successful.
"It has gone very well," she said.
She also said she is grateful that Westminster College allows SERVE to hold the event on the site. It took a lot of work, around two weeks to get set up for the program's distribution. SERVE organized all the food and gifts that came in last week.
SERVE volunteers help distribute meals and gifts Thursday morning at Westminster College as apart of the Adopt-a-Family program. Adopt-a-Family provides essential groceries for Callaway County households that are living in poverty, and gifts for children, disabled adults and seniors over the age of 60.