“Truckload of Food” event treats families with free food boxes this Halloween

It is no trick. A collaboration of community leaders and volunteers will be handing out 1,188 free 30-pound boxes of food and gallons of milk for families Saturday in Winona.

The event will run simultaneously with Winona Main Street Streets & Treats starting at 2:00 p.m. To accommodate a drive-thru format, vehicles are asked to enter Center St. and go to the parking lot behind the Winona 7 Movie Theatre.

Jovy Rockey Jewelry secured the fresh food boxes to distribute to the community through the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box program. Teamsters Local 120, a nonprofit labor union, was contacted to see if they could coordinate the effort.

“This is going to take a village,” Cuyler Elmore with Teamsters Local 120 said. “We do have quite a few volunteers lined up, but with something like this, the more the merrier.”

Those who wish to volunteer can send an email to pslattery@teamsterslocal120.org. The organization asks they wear masks and gloves and arrive for the event at noon.

“We choose to do this in Winona because we have plenty of members including myself there, and we thought it would be a great time to get into the community and help out,” Elmore said.

To keep the flow of traffic moving, Teamsters Local 120 asks people to join the lineup from Center Street and follow the directions of volunteers.