VIDALIA &045; It takes a lot of food &045;&160;and money &045;&160;to feed 225 families.

That’s the number of 50-pound boxes of food Feed the Hungry, a charitable food bank run by the Vidalia First Assembly of God, will hand out this month to needy families.

And those boxes don’t appear by themselves, which is why

program volunteers, with help from the Town of Vidalia and local businessmen, will collect money from cars passing through Vidalia Friday. Volunteers will be at the intersection of Carter Street, Mathews Street and Cross Street from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to collect donations.

For eight years Feed the Hungry has worked to help local families across the Miss-Lou, from Woodville to Sicily Island, La. To qualify, participants must apply and meet certain income requirements, program coordinator Linda Bonnette said.

&8220;It’s a well-established program,&8221; Bonnette said. &8220;But we couldn’t do this without the help that Vidalia and the sheriff’s office and the community has given us.&8221;

The red light drive, in which volunteers collect donations from cars stopped at the intersection, has become an annual fundraiser for the food bank. But this year, it’s coming a little early.

&8220;It’s one of their major fundraisers and we usually do it right before Christmas,&8221; Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland said. &8220;But they called us up and asked if we could move it up because they depleted their funds already because of the help they’ve given victims of Katrina and Rita. It will be kind of a Christmas in October.&8221;

The program hasn’t been shy about taking on new families. They’ve put together as many as 423 boxes some months. This month they’ll give out about 11,250 pounds of food at the monthly distribution date.