Local residents will be able to pick up food at a drive-thru food drive Monday at 11 a.m at the Lauderdale County Agri-Center.

The Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department, the Meridian Police Department and MS Crisis Foundation are running the food giveaway. It is part of the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box program, where surplus food from farms nationwide is distributed to U.S. residents.

“This whole concept came about because of COVID and because you had so many farmers who couldn’t harvest their product, be it dairy or produce,” Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie said. “And it’s going to waste.”

Some farmers have had to dump milk or throw away perishable products during the pandemic, according to the USDA. In the food box program, the federal government buys products from farmers and distributes it to people in the U.S., Sollie said.

This will be the fourth food drive that the sheriff’s department has hosted this fall. Sollie said that members of local organizations have volunteered at the giveaway in past weeks.