Exceeding a goal of $25,000, Salt and Light Ministries collected over $35,000 just through donations left in cans, said Nathan Montgomery, executive director for Salt and Light.

The organization distributed donation cans—resembling an oversized Campbell’s soup can— to 260 businesses in Champaign County as part of their Can-less Food Drive, an effort to raise money by collecting donations instead of canned food. Salt and Light will use the collections to purchase food for its own pantry, which Montgomery said is the largest emergency food pantry in the county. He said this total will fuel Salt and Light more than expected.

“Of course, the community really came out and responded to (the food drive),” he said. “It’s almost half of our annual budget for food.”

The organization spends $75,000 a year purchasing food for families in Champaign County, which boils down to about $1500 a week. Although this may seem like a bulky amount, Montgomery said Salt and Light is getting more food for less compared to purchasing from a grocery store. The organization buys food for cheap from the Eastern Illinois Food Bank, a group that distributes products to food pantries in 14 Illinois counties. Because of this, he said it made more sense for Salt and Light to receive monetary donations over food.

“If they give us $10, we can turn that into $100,” Montgomery said.

Serving as an early hindrance, a man was arrested for stealing from the cans just a few days into the food drive. But since he stole from only a fraction of cans, Montgomery said “it wasn’t as though he took a big chunk out.”

For the future, Salt and Light looks to establish a similar fundraiser when the University is in session, Montgomery said. With the success the organization saw without distributing cans on campus, he said there is a good chance donations will add up quickly if the University was “more saturated” with Salt and Light’s cans.