Second Harvest Food Bank teams up with WESH 2 News each holiday season to collect food for the food insecure. This was the 40th Anniversary of Share your Christmas. WESH 2 Executive Producer Marcie Golgoski has been instrumental in making this event which collects canned goods and other food for people for the holidays. Food insecurity has been in the news spotlight thanks to the government shutdown and SNAP delays.
The recent government shutdown in late 2025 caused significant delays and uncertainty for SNAP (food stamp) benefits, especially for November 2025 payments, as federal funding for the program was paused, forcing states to scramble. Some states issued benefits early or in partial amounts, while others faced major backlogs, with payments sometimes resuming only after the shutdown ended and funds were released, leaving many families without food assistance for weeks and relying on food banks.
The WESH 2 parking lot became the collection site for people who drove in to share their food items. The collection event ran from 6am to 1pm. It was still dark as I drove to the news station. It was also surprisingly cold for Central Florida.
Cars and SUVs would pull into the parking lot and then volunteers would lift food items out of the trunk or back hatch. From there the items were carted over to a sorting area. Under the tent items were then assembled into holiday boxes which could feed a family for a week. All those holiday boxes were then stacked on a skid and wrapped in cellophane. The skids must go ont eh 81 wheeler struck at the end of the day.
A news anchor was reporting about the event most of the morning. She interviewed volunteers and shared clips to social media. Her camera crew was busy shooting and assembling footage. At one point ai herald her announce that $2,000 had just been donated to Second Harvest. All the volunteers cheered. Then two Disney movie stars appeared. Chip and Dale skipped in and started waving to the volunteers and posing for photos. Chip would always extent his foot forward, raising his toe and spread his arms. Everyone posed for photos with Chip and Dale. Then the work of sorting and organizing the food items resumed.
When Chip and Dale left the site they looked over at me and gave a shy wave.
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