“I’d gladly take a pie to the face for this cause,” said Dakota County Sherrif Joe Leko at the launch of the fifth annual Sound the Siren food drive in April.

On Wednesday, June 25, that is exactly what happened.

The Sound the Siren food drive pits the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office and the Hastings Police Department against one another to see which organization can raise the most money and items to be donated to Hastings United Way’s Food 4 Kids program.

This year, the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office raised $1,930 and 158 food items, while the Hastings Police Department raised $1,889 and 3,580 food items.

Those totals mean that yet again, Sheriff Leko received a pie to the face, courtesy of the Hastings Police Chief Dave Wilske and the Hastings Police Department.

United Way of Hastings’ Food 4 Kids program provides weekend meals to students after discovering that “there were students in Hastings coming to school hungry on Monday mornings,” according to the program’s website.

The program confidentially provides an average of 200 meal bags per week to students across the district.

Donations to the program are accepted on the United Way of Hastings’ website where monetary donations are able to buy food at significant discounts.

For food donations, especially needed items include oatmeal packets, soups, individual peanut butter cups, macaroni and cheese, beef sticks and beef jerky.

For more information about United Way of Hastings, visit www.unitedwayofhastings.org.