St. Cloud Metro Bus Jolly Trolley Food Drive This Week

Originally published November 29th, 2023

Updated 9:14 a.m. December 13th, 2023

(KNSI) — The St. Cloud Metro Bus Jolly Trolley Food Drive is hitting the streets this week.

Metro Bus and its community partners are collecting nonperishable food items on December 13th at Lunds and Byerly’s, and December 14th at Coborn’s in Sauk Rapids.

CEO Ryan Daniel says Metro Bus is committed to helping those in need. “Every person in our service area deserves to have food on the table this holiday season and all year. The Jolly Trolley Food Drive’s mission is to do everything we can to meet those needs and hopefully spread some cheer!”

The food drives run from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. each day. Donations will go to area food shelves, including Catholic Charities Emergency Services, the Promise Neighborhood of Central MN and the St. Cloud Area Salvation Army.

People can also drop off monetary donations that will be matched dollar for dollar through the Stearns Bank Community Challenge to help out food shelves. Financial contributions help greatly as food shelves have purchasing power five times that of a normal consumer, so for every $1 donated, it buys $5 worth of goods.

In 2022, the Jolly Trolley collected 7,400 pounds of food and $1,800. Since it started in 2011, people have donated 45,000 pounds of food and $25,000.

Daniel added that the Jolly Trolley “is a way for Metro Bus, as well as our partners, to give back to the community that has supported us for decades. We care about our community and those who use our services. The food drive is a great way to support our neighbors who are in need. The last couple of years have been difficult for everyone but we appreciate the help of our partner businesses and their employees to keep the Jolly Trolley full during the pandemic.”

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