Christmas Cheer Food Drive Collects 64,259 Pounds of Food Tunica-Biloxi Tribe, Paragon Casino Resort and KALB-TV sponsor Food Drive benefiting the Food Bank of Central Louisiana
The results of the 2025 KALB-TV Christmas Cheer Food Drive are complete, and 64,259 pounds of non-perishable food items were collected from Avoyelles, Grant, Natchitoches, Rapides and Vernon parish schools, according to Jayne Wright-Velez, executive director of the Food Bank of Central Louisiana. Sponsored by the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, Paragon Casino Resort and KALB-TV, local schools participated in the drive to help collect food for the Food Bank of Central Louisiana.
The total amount collected in Avoyelles parish was 14,063 pounds, 9,468 pounds in Grant parish, 2,175 pounds in Natchitoches parish, 27,144 pounds in Rapides parish and 11,409 pounds in Vernon parish.
The following schools led their parish in donations:
Avoyelles – Plaucheville Elementary School (2,154 pounds) and Bunkie High School (5,205 pounds).
Grant – South Grant Elementary School (4,040 pounds), Grant Junior High (616 pounds) and Georgetown High School (1,780 pounds)
Natchitoches – Fairview Alpha Elementary School (395 pounds), Natchitoches Central Junior High School (955 pounds) and Natchitoches Central High School (95 pounds).
Rapides – Tioga Elementary School (2,117 pounds), Pineville Junior High (2,178 pounds) and Bolton Academy (8,385 pounds). Bolton Academy also took home the top prize for donating the most pounds per student (15.33 pounds per student).
Vernon – Rosepine Elementary School (1,923 pounds), Vernon Middle School (1,626 pounds) and Rosepine High School (4,821 pounds).
Eight thousand dollars in prize money from the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe and Paragon Casino Resort will be distributed to these schools for their outstanding efforts to help the Food Bank of Central Louisiana.
“We are so thankful for the contributions from the students and their families who donated food for the Christmas Cheer Food Drive. We realize that these donations are indeed sacrifices with the cost of food today,” said Jayne Wright-Velez, executive director of the Food Bank of Central Louisiana. “We are also grateful for the support of all the school personnel from the participating schools in all five parishes, the City of Natchitoches Public Works Department, the Vernon Parish Police Jury and Vernon Parish Sheriff’s Office, Grant Parish Police Jury and Grant Parish Sheriff’s Office, Paragon Casino Resort, the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office, KALB and the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe.”
