HANCOCK – Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly have been doing its annual food pantry donation drive for more than 30 years, and the tradition continues Nov. 7 when members of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at Michigan Technological University will be collecting bags of food.

Julie Beck, LBFE elder services coordinator, said 4,000 grocery bags will be placed in the Gazette on Tuesday. People are asked to fill the bags as much as possible with non-perishable food, which will help stock the organization’s food pantry.

The food collection is a national event for Lambda Chi, Beck said. Locally, in years past the goal has been to collect 10,000 pounds of food, but the average is about 7,000, which it’s hoped will be surpassed on Nov. 7.

“This year the boys are trying to be a little more creative,” she said.

Although fraternity members will be picking up bags in many communities, Beck said donors can drop them off at local grocery stores and at the LBFE office at 527 Hancock Street in Hancock.

Beck said the Lambda Chi food drive is the largest of the year for Little Brothers, but sometimes it isn’t enough to fill the food pantry.

“What we don’t get from the food drive, we get from the Community Action Agency Western Upper Peninsula Food Bank,” she said.

Beck said the food items requested for the food pantry include canned meats and fish, especially sardines, meals in a can, such as chili and spaghetti, side dishes, such as Rice-A-Roni and tuna helper, and chicken or tomato soup.

Andy Jensen, Lambda Chi external vice president and chair for philanthropy said the LBFE food drive has been one of the fraternity’s activities sine the early 1993.

“It benefits the community and it’s our way of giving back,” he said. “It’s a fun event.”

The local chapter breaks down into teams for the food collection, Jensen said, and there’s a competition to see which team can collect the most food between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

“It’s very much a contest,” he said. “It’s a friendly competition.”

The only prize for collecting the most food is bragging rights, Jensen said. Last year, a total of about 8,000 pounds was collected.

“I wanted 12,000 (pounds) this year,” he said.

Locations covered by the fraternity are Atlantic Mine, including Canal Road, South Range, Dodgeville, Hurontown, Painesdale, Trimountain, Houghton, Hancock, Ripley, Chassell, Calumet, Laurium, Dollar Bay, Hubbell, Tamarack City, and Lake Linden.

Drop off Locations are Family Dollar and Pat’s Foods in Calumet; Pat’s Foods in Hancock; Festival Foods in Houghton; and Louie’s Super Foods in Lake Linden.

For people who live in apartments, Jensen said bags for donation should be placed where drivers can see them.

“It’s always been outside,” he said.

If a donor’s bag hasn’t been collected by 3 p.m., Jensen said Little Brothers should be called at 482-6944.

Although the bags in the Gazette have a flyer attached to them indicating they’re for the food drive, Jensen said people can supply their own bags as long as food drive is written somewhere in plain view on the bag.

Jensen said staff at LBFE are appreciative of the fraternities efforts collecting food.

“They have said before that we keep them open,” he said.