TOTALS FROM THIS YEAR'S FOOD DRIVE:
Brazos Center - $70,962 and 169,300 lbs of food
Navasota - $3,600 and 14,900 lbs
Madisonville - $5,300 and 9,000 lbs
TOTAL: $79,862 and 193,200 lbs (New records)

While student choral, band, and orchestra groups provided first class entertainment at the Brazos Center, across the parking lot, it was a different sound that folks at the Brazos Valley Food Bank love to hear: The sounds of clanking cans, and boxes being loaded for a trip back to the warehouse.

Sounds not just heard in Bryan, but also in Navasota and Madisonville.

"Everybody just kinda pitched in a little bit and just made a showing and let everybody know we're behind this thing," said an employee for the City of Navasota.

"We've almost raised over nine thousand pounds and over $5,000," said an employee of Mid South Synergy, in Madisonville.

Lots of businesses chipped in.

"Every year we put on a canned food construction contest," said Paul Collins, of the Brazos Valley Council of Governments.

Even some start up businesses got in on the act. A few girls from Sul Ross Elementary donated proceeds from a lemonade stand. This year, there was no shortage of little kids with big hearts.

"We said it's really good for other kids because right now the economy is low and so I think it's good to give food to them," said Kaleigh Kavanaugh, who donated with her mother and little sister.

As the day passed, Cart after cart filled to the brim. By evening, a line of cars waited to do the same thing.

"I just told them it's for people in the Brazos Valley who don't have a lot of food and it's gonna be going to a good cause," said a woman donating in Bryan.

Proof, during this season of caring, that people in the Brazos Valley genuinely care about their neighbors