HOLMES BEACH – Shoppers at the Public grocery store on East Bay Drive helped stuff the school bus Sunday to help restock the shelves of the Food Bank of Manatee.

The annual Stuff the Bus event raised 66,000 pounds of food in the form of canned goods and non-perishable food. This was not as much as the last Stuff the Bus event in Feb. 2014, but there was a reason for that, according to Cindy Sloan, Vice President Director of the Food Bank of Manatee.

"We collected 112,000 pounds in 2014, but that was in season when there were a lot more people here," she said. "Publix stores has been very generous to allow us to hold it in their parking lots, but we had to hold it during another month this year, and we did, just when the need was highest."

The Holmes Beach Publix collected the most food, 8,500 pounds. Westgate was close behind with 8,260 pounds.

"The people of the Island have always been very generous," she said