Fair Approves Plan to Collect Canned Food

The Orange County Fair Board has approved a canned-food collection drive during this year’s fair, scheduled for July 7-23.

Norm Whan, president and founder of Canning Hunger in Brea, told the fair board Thursday that 675,000 people turned out for the county fair last year. If each of them had donated a couple of cans of food from their cupboards, he said, that would have gone a long way toward feeding some of the county’s hungry people.

“A critical shortage of food” continues to be a countywide problem, Whan said.

Under the plan approved by the board, agencies that work with the homeless and hungry will provide volunteers to work three-hour shifts at the fair, collecting canned goods at the gates and later distributing the food to those in need.