Christmas came early this year for families needing food to get through the summer.

That’s because several local groups and businesses rounded up thousands of items of food for Help House’s “Christmas in July” annual food drive.

Help House is an Oak Harbor-based nonprofit organization that collects and distributes food to low-income families.

“Christmas in July” is a month-long event to boost donations during summer, which is a pretty slow time for food coming into Help House.

“People are hungry all year long,” said Jean Wieman, executive director of the Help House.

The 14th-annual drive was sponsored by the Soroptimists this year. The Soroptimists, along with the Venture Club, the Oak Harbor Lion’s Club, the Rotary and the Kiwanis, collected food in front of various supermarkets in the middle of July.

Christmas in July was a fairly successful food drive this year. Help House collected 7,000 food items and $4,600 in donations during the month-long collecting effort.

In addition to the service organizations, local churches and a food drive on the base also helped in the food-collecting effort.

Island Drug donated a large barrel full of food last Thursday to cap off the month-long event. To encourage donations, Island Drug offered a 40 percent discount on non-sale items for folks who brought in a minimum of eight food items.

While the Help House finishes a successful campaign, officials are concerned about increasing demand place on the Oak Harbor-based charity.

“This year however, our numbers our up considerably,” Wieman said adding that she didn’t know what is causing more people to come to Help House for assistance.

Last year, the Help House averaged 420 food baskets a month. However, that number spiked to approximately 500 food baskets a month this year.

Help House distributed more than 500 baskets this year which fed approximately 1,300 people.

The Wieman said Help House basically distributed another month’s worth of food out to families by the end of June.

While the Help House is trying to keep up with the increased demand for food, it is also dealing with a dwindling donations this year. Wieman said that the Help House is $10,000 behind in donations this year.

Seventy to 75 percent of the money Help House receives come from private donations.

Wieman said that amount is significant considering the Help House averages $90,000 in donations a year, Wieman said. She didn’t know what is causing the drop off in donations.

Donations pays overhead for Help House and buys food that augments items donated by the community.

With Christmas in July complete, the next major food drive takes place during the holiday season. Sign up sheets will be available Nov. 4.

In the meantime, however, the Help House is still accepting donations from the community.

Help House is located at 1091 SE Hathaway in Oak Harbor. It is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 675-0681.

You can reach News-Times reporter Nathan Whalen at nwhalen@whidbeynewstimes.com or call 675-6611