City Hall, Fire Department take Tuna Trophies

With the 2024 March of the Mayors food drive wrapping up earlier this month and providing thousands of meals to local families, the City of Laurel would like to thank everyone who donated tuna for the city’s part in the food drive and especially acknowledge the work and generosity of city employees who made donations and participated in the city’s first tuna collection contest.

Employees at City Hall, the Laurel Fire Department, and the Laurel Police Department competed to see which group could bring in the most canned tuna. Of the three, City Hall brought in the most cans and received the “Big Tuna” trophy.

The first, second, and third floors of City Hall also competed with each other to see which floor could bring in the most donations. Third floor, which includes the City Council chambers, City Council Clerk Sharon King’s office, the Human Resources and Safety departments, and Inspections won a  ‘Lil Tuna’ trophy for their contributions.

Additionally, the Laurel Fire Department did a great job bringing in tuna and delivering it to the Extra Table packing party on March 7, 2024, so a Lil Tuna trophy was also presented to Fire Chief Leo Brown for display in the fire department’s trophy case until next year when the departments will compete again.

Each year, Extra Table, a non-profit organization established by Hattiesburg entrepreneur Robert St. John, hosts its annual March of the Mayors food drive wherein cities within a region of the state are assigned a healthy, non-perishable food item to collect. Once the cities have collected their items, they deliver them to a central location for a packing party where volunteers pack up shoebox sized containers with a selection of items collected from each city. The shoeboxes are then packed on pallets and distributed to partner food pantries throughout the area.

For the Pine Belt Region, the City of Laurel collects canned tuna, while Collins and Magee collect spaghetti noodles, Columbia collects dried beans, Ellisville collects granola bars, Hattiesburg collects peanut butter, Lumberton and Petal collect canned fruit, Purvis and Sandersville collect canned green beans, Poplarville and Wiggins collect rice, and Sumrall collects canned corn.

This year’s partner agencies include USM Eagle’s Nest, Christian Services, Petal Children’s Taskforce, Sumrall Food Pantry, Brother’s Keepers Ministries, Hope Community Collective, UMS Magee Pantry, the Baptist Association and the Good Samaritan Center in Laurel.