AREA FOOD DRIVE GETS 2ND HELPING : ORGANIZERS OVERWHELMED BY CONTRIBUTIONS.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Barrels placed in lobbies, lunchrooms and storefronts across Ventura County are overflowing with donated food collected to aid relief programs across Ventura County over the holidays.

FOOD Share Inc. has collected more than 45,000 pounds in donations during the county food bank's first holiday collection effort. The drive ended Sunday, but donations have been so great that volunteers won't finish the barrel roundup until Friday, said Jeff Dronkers, the collection coordinator.

``It was well-received throughout the county,'' Dronkers said. ``It seems to keep growing. People are just doing them now and calling us to pick them up.''

More than 135 businesses and schools joined the Holiday Challenge, which began in mid-November. Dronkers said the food bank expects to reach the goal of 60,000 pounds of food.

The giving spirit was evident at Meridian Health Care Management in Thousand Oaks, where the 70 employees donated more than 900 items, said Carol Patterson, an administrative assistant who organized the company's collection effort.

``We were looking for something and wanted to keep it in our area, if possible,'' Patterson said.

``That was really well over our expectations,'' she said. ``We had four barrels, but we ended up collecting six barrels worth. We were really overwhelmed.''

Organizers of collection efforts said one factor that contributed to the drive's success was the convenience of dropping food in barrels at work sites.

There also was the promise that donated food would go to local relief programs.

``We normally do something every year. It seemed like an easy thing to do,'' said Laura Stenburg, a Southern California Gas Co. clerk who organized the collection effort for the utility's Simi Valley field office.

``The FOOD Share people delivered the barrels and picked them up.''

FOOD Share, which will award a trophy to the organization that brings in the most food, plans to renew the Holiday Challenge annually.

The 60,000-pound goal is based on the anticipated need for men, women and children served by the food bank's member relief programs.

The food bank also has to make up for cuts in federal food programs, officials said.

Food items collected during the drive were mostly canned meats and vegetables, peanut butter, cereals, rice, beans, soups and juices. Flour, sugar and oil also were donated.

The drive is important for the quality of goods donated because they complement food available from surplus programs or purchased in bulk from manufacturers, officials said.

Since opening in a two-car garage in 1977, FOOD Share has grown to provide dry and perishable food to more than 180 pantries, kitchens and other relief programs across the county.

FOOD Share now operates out of a large Oxnard warehouse that has been expanded and features more refrigerated storage than a year ago.