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Nov 07, 2009 (The Orlando Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Christmas came a little early at Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida -- when a 24-foot-long refrigerated truck arrived at the food bank's doors, full of foods donated by Walmart.

But the best gift wasn't the milk and cheese and other perishable food inside: It was the truck, which the food bank gets to keep.

"The real beauty of this donation is the truck itself," said Greg Higgerson, vice president of the food bank. "The truck arrived full of food, but that's just gravy on top of what that truck is going to be able to do for us."

The truck will join the food bank's fleet of nine pickup vehicles, which range from vans to full tractor-trailers. Of those nine vehicles, eight are refrigerated.

The truck that arrived in Orlando on Thursday was one of 35 refrigerated trucks that Walmart donated to food banks around the country. Trucks were also sent to food banks in Miami, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Boston, Memphis, Tenn., and 29 other cities.

"In this economy, families and seniors across the country who rely on food banks have been hit especially hard," said Margaret McKenna, president of the Walmart Foundation.

The truck donation was the result of a partnership between Feeding America, a group of 205 affiliated food banks, and Walmart.

At Second Harvest of Central Florida, which serves six counties and last year distributed 22 million pounds of food, the new refrigerated truck will enable the food bank to pick up perishable foods. Since August, Second Harvest has been picking up food from 43 area Walmarts and 13 Sam's Club stores three times each week, Higgerson said.

"This retail pickup program is one of the main growth areas for us," Higgerson said. "And this new truck will enable us to be more responsive with our pickups."

Linda Shrieves can be reached at lshrieves@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5433.

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Linda Shrieves

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