Curves collecting for food bank

During the month of April, Curves of Austintown will participate in the 13th annual Curves Food Drive to collect nonperishable food and cash donations to benefit their local food bank.

Curves will waive the membership fee for new members who donate 20 pounds of nonperishable food or make a minimum donation of $30.

“Our goal is to top the donation that we made last year,” said Patti Wirtz of Curves Austintown. “This is a great opportunity for the members of our Curves community to help strengthen the Austintown community, too. Everything that our members donate at our club will benefit The St. Vincent DePaul Food Bank.”

In addition to the food and monetary donations each gym collects, Curves International is offering gyms the opportunity to win cash prizes for their local food banks.

Prizes will be awarded to clubs with the most food collected, clubs who beat their 2010 donation level by the largest amount and to two randomly-selected clubs drawn from all the clubs who enter the contest.

Curves clubs have donated more than 61 million pounds of food in the U.S. and Canada since 2004.

“The past few years have been difficult for many families,” said Curves founder Diane Heavin. “Curves’ annual Food Drive is one way that everyone in the Austintown area can make a real difference for a local family that is struggling. We encourage everyone, not just our members or those who are thinking about joining our gym, to make a cash donation or drop off a bag of nonperishable food items in April.”

For information about Curves of Austintown, located at 4421 Mahoning Avenue, and the 2011 Curves Food Drive, contact a Curves of Austintown staff member at 330-793-9802 or curvesaustintown@att.net.

For information about Curves, visit www.curves.com.