Four Knights from Council 11369 participated in a modified Christmas version of the Andy Skrobola Memorial Food Drive at the St Michael Family Life Center in Canfield on December 22 from 9am to 11am.

About 50 families were notified of the event; unfortunately, only about 15 came.

Others may have stopped in at a Saturday December 19 similar event at the Covelli Centre, sponsored by Gleaner’s Food Bank.

Gleaners provided milk and other fresh items for our giveaway, and the council and the Canfield Lions Club worked together to hand out $100 Rulli Brothers Market certificates.

Names of Canfield School District residents in need and participants in Judge John Durkin’s Mental Health and Recovery Program were informed of the food giveaway.

The program had to be modified due to COVID-19.

We thank the Canfield Lions Club for their fundraising effort and for matching the $50 our council was offering in vouchers, with their generous $2500 donation.

Thanks to Joe Lordi with Gleaners and his lifetime of dedication to feeding the hungry in the Youngstown area.

And thanks to Brother Miros Maszczak for all his efforts in putting this event together.

The council also purchased 180 hams for distribution to several non-profit agencies for Christmas, obtaining the hams for a discounted 99-cents a pound from Fresh Mark.

The hams went to St Vincent dePaul Society, the Beatitude House, Our Community Kitchen, Dorothy Day House, the Rescue Mission, the Salvation Army, and St Paul Monastery.

We hope for a more normal food drive in 2021, carrying on with Andy Skrobola’s wishes for an event involving several organizations, combined with an event involving food and not just money handouts.