PuroClean Home Emergency Services recently conducted a holiday food drive across its southeastern Indiana service area.

Pat Polley, who runs the business with her husband, Chuck, said they facilitate the food drive with agencies in the towns they serve by giving them grocery sacks to use to collect food.

Several weeks later, they return to pick up the food and deliver it to local food pantries.

“We make this event more fun by including some healthy competition,” Pat said in a news release. “When I pick up the food, I also weigh it. Then I award winning agencies with office lunches and trophies.”

This year, she said Jackson County donated the greatest amount of food, 975 pounds. The food was donated to Anchor House Family Assistance Center and Pantry in Seymour and the Shed for You community building in Brownstown.

Pat said they had fun with a challenge between three State Farm agencies in Jackson County. Kayla Stice State Farm in Brownstown challenged Gary Thompson State Farm and Gary Welker State Farm in Seymour. The winner, Gary Thompson with 380 pounds, retained possession of the State Farm Food Drive Challenge trophy that he originally won in 2017.

These agencies, along with Moore and Shepherd, Reedy, Surface and American Family, combined to make Jackson County the region that gave the most food.

“Jackson County is a very generous community, and we are so impressed by this heartwarming show of Christmas spirit,” Pat said.

To cap off the food drive, PuroClean will make a matching monetary donation to the state food bank to be directed to the region.

With the first food drive in 2017, Pat said they collected more than 1,600 pounds of food across the service area. This year was the second time for the drive, and 2,438 pounds of food were collected and delivered to nine different pantries in Jackson, Jennings, Jefferson, Switzerland and Ripley counties.

PuroClean Home Emergency Services provides restoration services to homeowners who have been affected by events involving water, fire, mold or biohazard. In its line of work, the business primarily markets to insurance agencies.