Mt. Olive Pickle Company and its fans together raised over $10,000 to help feed hungry neighbors.

Mt. Olive held a virtual food drive in conjunction with its 2020 New Year’s Eve Pickle Drop to benefit the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina. The company set a goal of $5,000 and pledged a $5,000 match.

Fans and friends of the company donated $5,385 through January 6, and the company made the $5,000 match, bringing the final total to $10,385. The total, according to Food Bank officials, represents 51,000 meals.

“We are grateful for the generosity of those who contributed to the food drive,” said Lynn Williams, public relations manager at Mt. Olive. “It’s amazing the good that happens when people come together to make a difference.”

Because of the pandemic, Mt. Olive opted to webcast the 21st annual New Year’s Eve Pickle Drop a compilation of previous Pickle Drop events. In keeping with the tradition of a canned food drive at the Pickle Drop, Mt. Olive also launched a virtual food drive.

The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, with its 900 partner agencies, serves 34 counties. It distributed the equivalent of 75 million meals in its last fiscal year, which included the first four months of the pandemic. Mt. Olive’s relationship with Food Bank extends to the first year the Food Bank opened in 1980.