BUCHANAN — While the Christmas holiday is months away, United Way associates were getting into the holiday spirt Wednesday morning.

Clad in blue Santa hats, the workers sorted through hundreds of donations at Buchanan Middle School, during the second annual Christmas in June food drive, which garners donations for food pantries across Berrien and Cass counties.

To help, local businesses contributed food donations and dropped them off at one of three locations on Wednesday. In addition to the middle school, donations were collected at Upton Middle School in St. Joseph and Brookside Learning Center in Cassopolis.

Campaign Relationship Coordinators Erin Glaske and Diane Binder commended area businesses for assisting with the effort.

“We had a lot of generous employees,” Binder said. “It’s really going to help a lot of families.”

This year’s event drew even more participating from area businesses. This year 51 businesses signed up to participate, about 20 more than last year. This year 34 food pantries will receive the donations on Thursday.

The inaugural Christmas in June event took place last year, after United Way of Southwest Michigan officials said they noticed that many local food pantries were struggling to keep their shelves stocked during the summer months. 

“There are so many people giving in Christmas time, which is how we turned this event into Christmas in June,” Binder said. “It’s part of that same feeling of giving. And we found that everybody is very generous and has big hearts, no matter what time of year it is.”

For families in need who come to the local pantries after donations are collected, the feeling can be similar to that of Christmas joy, Glaske said. A Watervleit pantry told Glaske after last year’s event that many families were grateful to have an abundance of food to choose from.

“Their faces lit up, because they saw things that they don’t normally see,” Glaske said. “Pantries stock the things they can afford and provide basic needs, but these kids got to see snacks and stuff like mac and cheese that they don’t always get. We are excited to see those faces again.”

Prior to collecting the donations, United Way asked pantries what donations they most needed. Local companies could pick a category that they wanted to collect items for, such as pantry staples like sugar, salt and flour. 

While a final number of items collected was not yet available before the time of press, Glaske and Binder said they believe they will surpass their goal of raising at least 30,000 food items.

The event coincides with United Way’s Day of Action, where employees spend a day serving their local communities. This year, Glaske and Binder said the Christmas in June was spread out over two days, one for gathering and sorting items and the other for distributing the donations.

Much like Santa and his sleigh, United Way said they enjoy bringing a little “Christmas” cheer to those who work tirelessly to help others.

“The pantries thank us profusely,” Glaske said. “We remind them that we are the ones organizing it, but it’s the community who comes together to raise all the items.”

To learn more about United Way, visit uwsm.org.