Beverly 'Just Love' Drive Collects More Than 1,700 Pounds Of Food

Beverly MA

22 February, 2021

6:43 PM

Description

BEVERLY, MA — A day for love turned into a day of giving at Beverly High School amid the coronavirus health crisis this year. The "For Your Love" food drive held on Valentine's Day collected 1,742 pounds of food and $1,000 in cash donations to be split between Beverly Bootstraps and Family Promise of the North Shore, including organizer Arlene Verde. "My family and I had no idea what to expect," Verde told Patch. "Would people come? Did I do a good enough job getting the word out? Do I have enough volunteers? Is this even a good spot to have a food drive?" Verde said the number of volunteers and donors were unexpected. She gave special recognition to Robert Trigilio, who works at New England BioLabs and got the word out to that company's employees who were "super generous," as well as Ellen Trigilio, who was "super instrumental" in sorting, stacking and packing food for Beverly Bootstraps. Verde also expressed appreciation to Patch for helping promote the event. "I was inspired by the outpouring and streams of cars that came to (help mitigate) food insecurity," she said. "We can talk all day about the bad (of the pandemic). And as important as it is to acknowledge, I feel it's so much more productive and beneficial to shift our energy and focus on how we can come together for positive action." Did you find this article useful? Invite a friend to subscribe here. (Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)