Toyota 'Hauling Away Hunger' with Philabundance

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Christmas is just one week away, and Toyota is helping put the "drive" in food drive, with hundreds of thousands of donations for those in need around the Delaware Valley.

It is Toyota's 9th Annual Haul Away Hunger event and an impressive caravan of pickup trucks arrived in South Philadelphia to a bit of Philly fanfare.

Volunteers and organizers jumped into action ready to fill waiting trailers. All of the donations go to Philabundance, the area's largest hunger relief resource.

This year the "haul away" hit a special milestone.

Paul Muller, President of the Tri State Toyota Dealers Association, explains, "The first year I think we had 50,000 pounds of food and 12 trucks, and whatever we did. And this year we have 250,000 pounds of food."

The Tri State Toyota Dealers Association plus 26 business partners, including 6abc, donated funds that Philabundance uses to feed people all year - not just during the holidays.

Stefanie Arck-Baynes is with Philabundance. She tells us, "Because they're giving us a flexible donation, we're able to use the money and purchase food when we need it throughout the year, particularly in the summer when it's an issue because kids are out of school and they lose their school meals."

Muller says, "This 250,000 pounds of food, Philabundance is going to go through in little more than a week. So this is a need that needs to be met 52 weeks a year, not just the week before Christmas."